A merchant runs their title through a character counter, sees 58 characters, and assumes it’s safe. Google rewrites it anyway. The character count was fine. The pixel width wasn’t — a title full of wide capital letters can blow past Google’s display limit at a character count that would look perfectly safe for a title written in lowercase. A real title tag checker looks at width, not just count, and that’s the gap most quick checks miss.
Want an automatic check across your whole catalog instead of one page at a time? Plug In SEO‘s Scanner flags missing keywords in titles, descriptions, and image alt text.
This is the checking side of the equation, not the writing side. Want a full walkthrough of how to write a good title tag in the first place? Read our title tag guide. This post is a title tag checker and meta description checker in one. What to look at, what the numbers actually mean, and where the common shortcuts go wrong.
What a title tag checker actually needs to measure
The bottom line: Google truncates titles based on how much horizontal space they take up on screen, not how many characters they contain. A character counter alone can give you false confidence.
Wide letters and capitals like W and M eat far more pixel space. Narrow ones like i, l, or lowercase f barely use any. That means two titles with the same character count can render completely differently in search results. One fits cleanly. The other gets cut off mid-word. Google’s practical desktop cutoff sits around 600 pixels, while mobile typically allows a bit more room before truncating.
A study of 81,000 title tags found titles between 51 and 55 characters had the lowest Google rewrite rate, around 40%. Titles over 70 characters were rewritten nearly 100% of the time.
If you only have a character counter, aim conservatively. 51-55 characters is the safest range this data actually supports, not the commonly repeated “under 60.” So if you can preview pixel width directly, trust that over a raw character count every time.
Your meta description gets rewritten more often than you’d think
The bottom line: Google rewrites roughly 63% of submitted meta descriptions, so writing a good one is necessary but doesn’t guarantee it’s what shows in results.
That doesn’t mean the description is pointless. It means treating it as a strong suggestion rather than guaranteed display copy. Keep it in the 150-160 character range for desktop, closer to 120 for mobile. State the actual value proposition in the first sentence. That’s the part most likely to survive a rewrite even when the rest gets trimmed.
How to check your title tag and description manually
Run this against your top product and collection pages:
- Check pixel width, not just character count, if a tool lets you preview it. A 58-character title in all-caps can truncate where a 65-character title in sentence case doesn’t.
- Aim for 51-55 characters as your safest title range. That’s the band with the lowest measured rewrite rate in the largest study available, not just a round number.
- Keep your meta description to 150-160 characters, with the key point up front. Assume Google might trim or rewrite the rest.
- Check for duplicate title tags across similar products. Near-identical products with copy-pasted titles is one of the most common technical issues a checker catches.
- Check that every product image has real, descriptive alt text. Missing alt text is a content gap a checker should flag the same way it flags a missing keyword in the title.
Where Plug In SEO fits
Plug In SEO’s Scanner checks whether your target keyword appears in the title and description, and it flags technical issues like double meta tags — two title or description tags on the same page, usually from a theme and an app both writing one. It flags gaps across your whole catalog instead of one page at a time. For fixing what it finds, the bulk meta editor sets titles and descriptions across your whole catalog from one Liquid template, using variables like {{ product.title }} so every product still gets its own unique title instead of the same duplicated text. You get a live search-preview before saving, so you can check length and phrasing before it goes live.
Frequently asked questions
Is a character counter enough to check my title tag?
Not fully. Google truncates titles by pixel width, not character count. A title with wide capital letters can get cut off at a character count that would be safe for a title in sentence case. Preview pixel width directly if you can, and use that instead.
What’s the safest title length to aim for?
51-55 characters, based on a study of 81,000 title tags that found this range had the lowest Google rewrite rate, around 40%. Titles over 70 characters were rewritten nearly 100% of the time in the same study.
Why does my meta description show different text in Google than what I wrote?
Google rewrites roughly 63% of submitted meta descriptions. Write a strong one anyway, with the key value proposition in the first sentence, since that’s the part most likely to survive if Google trims or replaces the rest.
Can Plug In SEO fix duplicate or thin titles across my whole catalog at once?
Yes. Its Scanner flags double meta tags and missing-keyword titles across every page. The bulk meta editor then sets titles and descriptions from one Liquid template with variables, so each product keeps a unique title instead of duplicated text, with a live preview before you save.
How is this different from the title tag writing guide?
That guide walks through how to write a good title tag from scratch. This post is the checking and auditing side instead. What to measure, what the numbers actually mean, and how to verify existing titles and descriptions rather than write new ones.
Check your whole catalog, not one page at a time
Plug In SEO’s Scanner flags missing target keywords across titles, descriptions, and image alt text on every product page. Know what needs fixing before you go page by page.