Meta title and description checker

How long should a meta title and description be?

Aim for a meta title under about 580 pixels (roughly 50–60 characters) and a meta description of about 140–155 characters. Google doesn't publish a character limit for either. Its title link documentation and snippet documentation say results are shortened to fit the device, so the real limit is width in pixels, not characters. A title full of wide letters like W and M gets cut sooner than one full of i and l, which is why this checker measures pixels.

The widths used here are the ones most SEO tools work with: about 580 px for a desktop title, about 920 px for a desktop description and about 680 px on mobile. They are close approximations, not rules Google has published. For the detail behind them, read the meta description character limit guide and the meta title best practices.

What this checker looks at

• Pixel width and characters for the title and description, on desktop and mobile.
• Where Google is likely to cut it, shown in the preview with an ellipsis.
• Your main keyword: whether it appears, and whether it is near the start of the title, where it is most visible.
• Your H1: whether it exists, its length, and whether it matches the meta title closely enough that a Google rewrite still makes sense.
• Common mistakes: a title that is too short to describe the page, a repeated store name, all caps, or a description that just repeats the title.

Is there an H1 character limit?

No. Google sets no character limit for the H1, and nothing is cut off on the page. The H1 is the visible heading shoppers read, so write it for them: say what the page is, usually in 20 to 70 characters. On Shopify, themes print the product or collection name as the H1, so the product title is your H1.

The H1 matters for one more reason: Google's title link documentation lists the main visible heading as one of the sources it uses when it rewrites a title. If your meta title and H1 describe the same thing, a rewrite still reads well. This checker flags an H1 that is missing, very long, or about something different from the title. More detail is in Shopify meta title best practices.

Why Google sometimes shows a different snippet

Even a perfect-length description can be replaced. Google chooses the snippet text from the page when it thinks that matches the search better, and rewrites title links that are vague, stuffed with keywords or don't match the page's main heading. Write a description that answers the search intent for the page, and keep the title consistent with the H1. If yours keeps being replaced, see why a Shopify meta description isn't showing in Google.

Where to change these in Shopify

1. Open the product, collection, page or blog post in your Shopify admin.
2. Scroll to Search engine listing and click Edit.
3. Change the Page title and Meta description, then save.

Doing this one product at a time is fine for a handful of pages. For a whole catalog, see how to bulk edit meta tags on Shopify.