Search result preview: see where your title gets cut off

By Matt Kerr·Published 6 November 2026

Type a title and a meta description to see them as a search result shows them. A result cuts a title off at about 580 pixels, roughly 65 Latin characters, and this preview cuts it where Docket does, so you can move the important words to the front before anything goes live.

Title

Meta description Burst pipe or no hot water? A licensed plumber at your door within the hour, day or night. Upfront prices, and every repair guaranteed for a year.

Page address (optional)

Free, no sign-up required. Nothing to install, and nothing you type leaves your browser.

1. Type or paste a title.
2. Type or paste a meta description, and the page address if you like.
3. Watch the preview. Anything past the red mark will not be shown, so move what matters in front of it.

You will see:

• The title and description laid out as a search result, with the cut-off point marked in red
• Each one's width in Docket's units, against 25 to 65 for a title and 70 to 165 for a description
• The two HTML tags, ready to paste into the page's head

These are words you typed. To see the titles a site really serves, Docket reads every page and reports the missing, repeated and cut-off ones.

Will Google cut off my title?

If it is wider than about 580 pixels, yes. Docket turns that into a width of 65, counting an East Asian character as two because it renders about twice as wide as a Latin one. Under 25 wide, a result has little to show. Google can also replace a title it thinks does not describe the page, so a title that fits is necessary, not sufficient.

How often well-known sites go over

On 6 November 2026, Docket read the homepages of the 110 well-known sites in its measurement sample with its own fetcher and width rule. 77 answered with a page. 31 did not return one to a plain request (22 of them answered 403, access denied) and 2 showed a bot check; those are left out.

Homepages only, measured 6 November 2026. The sites are not named: the figures are the point, not who they belong to.

A short title can be right for a name people already type into a search box. It is a poor choice for a page that has to be found by what it does. A long one loses its end first, so a brand name added after the words that matter is the cheapest thing to lose.

How long should a meta description be?

Docket uses 70 to 165 wide. Google sets no fixed limit and often writes its own snippet from the page when the description does not match what someone searched for. Put the reason to click in the first sentence, so it survives a cut.

A preview checks words; an audit checks the site

This shows one title you typed. It cannot tell you that a dozen pages share the same title, that a template left a page with none, or that the live title differs from the one you meant to publish. Docket reads every page of a site and reports each of those, with the rest of its 99 checks, ranked by what to fix first. To check a page that is already live, use the title and meta tag checker.

Related

• Write title tags that fit
• Write meta descriptions for every page
• Fix duplicate title tags
• Title and meta tag checker

Common questions

Will Google cut off my title?

Yes, if it is wider than about 580 pixels, roughly 65 Latin characters. On 6 November 2026 11 of 75 well-known homepages Docket measured had titles that wide.

How long should a meta description be?

Docket uses 70 to 165 wide. Google sets no fixed limit and may write its own snippet when the description does not match the search.

Does the preview send what I type anywhere?

No. The preview runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent to Docket or anyone else.