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Will Google Read All the Text From a Title That Is Too Long?

POP blog author Kyle Roof
Kyle Roof
November 17, 2021

Many SEOs seem to get worried if their titles are "too long". Too long means that the end of a title is cut off by an ellipse (....) when displayed in the SERPs. The concern is that Google won't consider any of the text that has been cut off.

According to MOZ, Google will display 50-60 characters in a title in a SERP.

MOZ advice

When we did this test a couple of years ago, we found that Google will index a page based on the clipped - meaning not visible - text in the SERPs test.

We decided to give this test a re-run and see if any of the recent Google updates have influenced its result.

Will Google read all the text from the title that is too long or will it read just the visible part of the title? Let's find out!

We set up the test like this..

Hypothesis: Google reads everything a in a title even if some of the title text is clipped by an ellipse (...) and the text is not visible in the SERPs

As a test setup, we created a page with a title containing 128 characters. That title is "too long" for all of it to be displayed in the SERPs. A fake keyword was put at the end of the title. That keyword will cut off.  The fake keyword only exists in the title and nowhere else on the page.

Character counter

Here is what we discovered

The page became indexed by Google.

page is indexed by Google

Final Takeaway

Things really don't change too much in Google. Checking old tests is always a good way to stay up-to-date and it's nice to see that this hasn't changed either. We truly believe that Google is only trying to get the edge cases and will pretty much leave 70-80% of all SEO alone. Incidentally, the title that appears in the SERP for the test page is 59 characters.  MOZ for the win!

If you’re interested in getting involved as a tester, we will show you exactly how to set up and run tests using the scientific method. You will even get paid and get FULL credit amongst a group of over 4000 digital professionals to boost your reputation and authority. Just shoot an email to support@internetmarketing.gold, and we’ll support you in becoming the next SEO tester.

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