How to write good meta titles and descriptions
Practical rules for page titles and meta descriptions: length in pixels, wording and uniqueness, and how to preview and generate the tags.
Updated: 3 November 2026
The page title and meta description are the first things a visitor sees about your page in search results. They do not guarantee a better ranking, but a clear title and description help people decide to click, and they help search engines understand the page. Here is how to write them well.
What they are
The title (the title tag) appears as the clickable headline in search results and in the browser tab. The meta description is a short summary that search engines often use under the headline. Search engines may rewrite either one, especially if it does not match the page, so write them to describe the page honestly.
Write the title
- Describe the page in plain words and put the most important words first.
- Give every page its own title. Duplicate titles make pages hard to tell apart.
- Keep it short enough to show in full. Titles are cut by width in pixels, not by a fixed number of characters, and about 600 pixels on desktop is a commonly used guide. Google does not publish an exact limit.
- Put the brand name at the end, if you use it at all, and avoid stuffing in repeated keywords.
Write the description
A description should say what the page offers and why it is worth opening, in a natural sentence or two. Around 150 to 160 characters is a commonly used guideline, but the real cut-off depends on the device and the letters used, so do not rely on a character count alone. Mention what is useful, such as “free”, “no sign-up” or “works in your browser”, only if it is true.
Preview before you publish
Because the limit is in pixels, preview your text. The SERP Snippet Preview measures your title and description with your browser’s fonts and shows an approximate desktop and mobile result, so you can see where the text will be cut. This works for Arabic and other languages too, where character counts are especially misleading.
Generate the tags
- Enter the title, description and full URL in the Meta Tag Generator.
- Optionally add a share image, site name and Twitter or X handle.
- Copy the generated block into the head section of your page.
- Check how the page will look when shared with the Open Graph Preview.
Common mistakes
- The same title and description on every page.
- Titles that are vague (“Home”) or only a list of keywords.
- Promises the page does not keep. Misleading titles tend to be rewritten, and visitors leave quickly.
- Descriptions that are cut off before the useful part.
Remember that your headings and URL matter as well. The Heading Structure Checker and URL Slug Checker help you check them, and good titles work best on pages that already deliver what they promise.