Google SERP Snippet Preview

Your search listing is an ad you don't pay for — three lines that decide whether the searcher clicks your result or the one below it. Google gives those lines hard limits: titles are cut around 60 characters (technically a pixel width, but 60 characters is the reliable working rule) and descriptions around 160. Write past the limit and your carefully crafted copy ends mid-sentence with an ellipsis, often cutting off exactly the part that was meant to earn the click.

This preview shows the truncation before Google does. Enter the title, description and URL, and you get the snippet as the searcher will see it: the URL rendered breadcrumb-style (domain › path › parts, the way Google now displays addresses), the title clipped at 60 characters and the description at 160, each with an ellipsis where the cut lands. Below the preview, a character report gives each field an explicit verdict — 52/60 OK, or 178/160 TOO LONG — so you know precisely how much to trim.

Writing to fit is a craft worth the ten minutes. Put the distinctive keywords early in the title, where they survive truncation and catch the scanning eye; leave boilerplate like your brand name for the end, where losing it costs little. Make the description a promise the page keeps — include the primary keyword (Google bolds matching terms, drawing the eye), state the concrete benefit, and end with a reason to act. Note that Google sometimes rewrites descriptions when it judges another passage more relevant to a query; a well-written description within limits is your best odds of being shown as intended.