How long should a title tag be in 2025?
How long should a title tag be in 2025? Optimizing title tags is very important to improving your visibility in Google’s SERPs – but no character limitation to fear. Here’s why. The title tag is among the most crucial SEO factors. It can potentially make a big difference in your rankings. In my experience, optimizing title tags can provide rankings with a big boost. There are numerous different methods to optimize a title tag. One is to ensure it is within the 55- to 60-character range (which I believe is somewhat dated today). Other SEOs advise that it is fine to have title tags of up to 70 characters (or more). There are also fears that having the title cut off in search results or reworded by Google can harm organic performance and click-through rate. This article discusses the grounds for such fears, Google’s official position regarding title length, and my observations after analyzing 10,000 title tags of Google’s SERPs. Example of title tag cut off in SERPs Technically, the character limit of a title tag Google can show in SERPs is in pixels. When your title tag is excessively long, Google can truncate it like so. The Title Tag Change and the Fallout In August of 2021, Google altered the process of generating titles in search result snippets. Google frequently displays searchers a title other than your HTML title tag. HTML title tags can be rewritten in SERPs when they are: Too long. Packed with keywords. Absent or duplicative “boilerplate” language (e.g., home pages could be labeled as “Home”). When the update was out, it brought a storm into the SEO world. Numerous SEOs reported instances where the title rewrite went “horribly wrong.” Some anecdotes received were about title tag being redirected to the URL slug. Chatter within the SEO industry also exposed a number of other incidents of Google replacing a site’s tags in the search results with other elements from the page, such as: H1 tags. Image alt texts, File names. Everything from the page from the source code of the page itslef. Their big takeaway from this update seems to be that “Google wants shorter titles in the SERPs.” That was a panic-inducing change for some folks in the SEO space leading even me to advocate for straight-up short titles instead of calls for rewrites. The Confusion Across the board, everyone understands that Google is looking for shorter titles in the SERPs. But does that mean they will use the titles that get shown in the SERPs rather than the HTML title for rankings? For this, many SEOs believe that longer titles will either be shortened or re-written by Google, and that they won’t be on the list for rankings, but rather the new title that appears in SERPs will be the one considered for rankings. What is Google’s official statement about title length? On a Search Off the Record video, John Mueller of Google requested Gary Illyes on the topic of length of title tags: “I had a question which is, perhaps, perhaps it’s a yes or no, Gary. Does there ever seem to be an advantage to having title tags which are greater in length than is displayable, and segments of it?” To which Illyes replied with a very definite and specific answer, “Yes.” He continued: “The title length, that’s an externally fabricated metrics… Technically, there’s a limit, like how long can it be anything in the page, but it’s not a small number. It’s not 160 characters or whatever– 100, 200, 20, or whatever.” And advised to: “Try to keep it accurate to the page, but I wouldn’t think too much about how long it is and whether it’s long enough or way too long. If it fills up your screen, then probably it’s too long, but if it just one sentence that fits on one line or two lines, you’re not going to get a manual action for it.” If we go back to Google’s documentation on SERPs titles (a.k.a., title links), no recommended length or character limit is mentioned for the title tag. Would longer titles affect rankings? If longer title tags can be truncated or rewritten in SERPs, wouldn’t that affect rankings? The answer is no, as per Mueller’s response during Google’s SEO Office Hours on Dec. 11, 2020. Whether your titles are truncated or rewritten in SERPs, Google still uses the HTML title tag for ranking purposes – not the visible version. I don’t think we should abbreviate titles unnecessarily. Title tag is one of the handful of ranking signals we can control outright, and I always try to utilize it to its full potential without resorting to spammy actions such as keyword stuffing. My analysis I would like to lay this argument to rest, so I proceeded and examined the titles for a randomly chosen set of 100 keywords that belong to a wide variety of categories as follows: Top of funnel (TOFU). Middle of funnel (MOFU). Bottom of funnel (BOFU). Local intent keywords. Navigational intent keywords. Niche-specific keywords. Seasonal/trending keywords. Long-tail keywords. Examples of the sorts of keywords that are: “How does solar energy work.” “What is machine learning.” “History of electric cars.” I did this for each of the 100 keywords and then checked the top 100 results for each keyword to see what their title lengths were. This is what the graph and data reveal: Position Range Average Title Length 1-10 42.2 11-20 42.9 21-30 44.2 31-40 44.4 41-50 44.1 51-60 44.3 61-70 44.5 71-80 44.4 81-90 44.8 91-100 45.8 Here’s what this data indicates, along with my experience Google appears to favor rendering shorter titles. The length of the average title in the complete sample (100 keywords × 100 URLs = 10,000 titles) is between
3 SEO priorities to win organic traffic in 2025
3 SEO priorities to win organic traffic in 2025 With AI interfaces consuming search real estate, see where organic clicks are still occurring and how to capture them before the window closes. AI didn’t kill search – it just made winning organic traffic more complicated. As AI interfaces and changing search behavior shape the environment, SEO now takes more than basic tactics. Information demands are as great as ever, yet with zero-click searches, AI-powered suggestions, and booming platforms, gaining visibility in 2025 requires a more strategic, data-based approach. The state of search today: Top trends driving strategy As the head of leading SEO strategy at an agency, I’m consistently asked, “With AI all around, how do we adjust our methodology to organic?” Rather than speculate, I’ve consolidated the recent data I’m sharing with clients and what’s actually working. Here are a few headline trends and stats to consider. Google Search volume is still exploding despite AI Google now handles over 5 trillion searches per year, or roughly 13.7 billion searches per day. This growth shows that demand for information remains strong even as AI interfaces proliferate. ChatGPT’s user base has surged As of February, ChatGPT has 400 million weekly active users, up 33% in three months. Of those, around 37.5 million interact with search-like queries on a daily basis, which accrues to a total market share of 0.25%. Early brand indicators indicate referral traffic from AI chat platforms is extremely qualified. Users have faith in AI suggestions and submit very targeted questions, for example, “What is the optimal solution to problem X? Zero-click searches are the new normal Almost 60% of U.S. Google searches now conclude without a click, according to SparkToro. This trend opens up new possibilities for on-SERP visibility and raises the bar for competing with Google’s AI Overviews and direct answers from ChatGPT. What does this imply for your organic strategy? And, more importantly, how can you make sure your SEO work pays off today – and in the AI-driven future? Before we panic, note that success in this new environment is still built on a solid SEO foundation. The fundamental strategies that cut it from 2015 to 2023 are still essential but now require an AI-smart wrapper. This post addresses the fundamentals of contemporary SEO and how I’m modifying them based on research, observation, and experience. Each section is ranked according to what my agency prioritizes first. 1. Funnel‑driven content distribution The most significant choice is where you play in the funnel. AI is affecting the top of the funnel more than any other phase. Zero‑click rates for information queries are around 60-70%, and MOFU and BOFU queries still generate actual clicks. From a SparkToro clickstream study: Funnel stage Query type % of all searches Zero‑click rate (Estimates) Top‑of‑Funnel (TOFU) Informational (e.g., “What is X?”, “How to Y?”) 52.65% (SparkToro) High (→ overall US zero‑click is 58.5%, and informational queries skew above that) Middle‑of‑Funnel (MOFU) Commercial research (e.g., “Best X 2024”, “X vs. Y”) 14.51% (SparkToro) Moderate (likely around overall average, ~50–60% zero‑click) Bottom‑of‑Funnel (BOFU) Transactional + Navigational (e.g., “Buy X online”, “Brand site”) 32.15% nav + 0.69% trans ≈ 32.84% (SparkToro) Low (< 20% zero‑click; most users click an ad or result) When should you prioritize TOFU? TOFU still plays a role in establishing topical authority, but it has trade‑offs. Informational content can increase internal linking and authority, but infrequently generate clicks or direct ROI. Advantages Brand visibility when your name is seen on general searches, even without a click. Creates a base for topic authority by answering essential questions in your domain. Aids indirect ranking benefit through enhanced internal linking and site organization. Disadvantages Top effort with low short-term return. Too much informational content will reduce overall site engagement metrics. That being said, if you opt to go after TOFU, accept that the actual play is winning the AI Overviews. In order to do that, the classic featured snippet tactics are effective and ought to be included within your TOFU content. Tip: Optimize for on‑SERP value, if you opt to go after TOFU. Begin with a 1–2 sentence definition. Continue with concise lists or tables under H2 headings. Add FAQ schema so AI Overviews continue to attribute your brand. Prioritizing TOFU concerns We prioritize TOFU if the client must create topical authority by further discussing topics that they have not previously touched upon. However, we do it when the MOFU and BOFU content has been drained for the keyword environment. Our primary focus remains on the rankings of MOFU and BOFU. MOFU is our sweet spot Each SEO initiative has time and resource limitations, so we need to strategically target our efforts. The real question is where to target – on a few select pages or a huge list? The response varies according to the objective, but generally, the target is to enhance revenue in a speedy manner. Considering these limitations, optimization at the MOFU and BOFU stages tends to produce better results than TOFU for most websites. Commercial intent questions such as “best CRM software for SMBs” continue to generate clicks and conversions. Despite accounting for just 14.5% of searches, they have a significantly lower zero-click rate. Appearing in top three positions on these terms has had the most significant bottom‑line effect on our clients. Winning at MOFU Produce “best X” and “X vs Y” content, often pulled into ChatGPT and Google AI answers. Use these pages as hubs, with concentrated internal linking to indicate their significance. Link acquisition should be prioritized around these comparison/consideration articles. BOFU is still key for making the sale Transactional and navigational searches like “YourBrand login,” “product price,” or “coupon codes” experience lowest zero‑click rates. These terms tend to suggest users are willing to buy or interact. While search volume is lesser, conversion potential is gigantic. Important BOFU strategies Track rankings tightly and optimize on-page factors for user experience and readability. Include concise calls to action and schema for price, product, and offer information. Use remarketing to re‑engage