Title & Description Length Checker

Knowledge Base

Why Truncation Matters

Every platform cuts titles and descriptions at a different point: in search results, on mobile, and in the app itself. The words that get cut off are invisible to a huge share of your audience, so your hook and your call-to-action both need to land before the cutoff, not after it.

Front-load the Important Words

Put your strongest keyword and hook in the first 40 to 60 characters of a title. Put your call-to-action (subscribe link, offer, timestamp) in the first 1 to 2 lines of a description. Most platforms fold the rest behind a "more" link that a large share of viewers never tap.

Search vs. Feed Truncation

Platforms often truncate differently depending on where the text appears. A YouTube title might show fully on desktop search but clip on a mobile notification. This tool uses the tightest commonly-cited limit for each platform so your copy is safe everywhere.

FAQ

Q: Should I always max out the character limit?
A: No. A shorter, punchier title usually outperforms a long one crammed with keywords. Use the limit as a ceiling, not a target.

Q: Do emoji count differently?
A: Some platforms count emoji as 2+ characters internally. This tool counts by character for simplicity. Leave a small buffer if your title is emoji-heavy.

Titles that survive truncation

Every platform cuts titles at a different point, and the cut happens where the reader is deciding. What survives is the beginning, so the words carrying the meaning belong at the front. A title reading Episode 47 of the Media Production Show, featuring a discussion about loudness spends its visible portion on information the reader already has or does not need.

The limits differ by surface as well as by platform. The same title truncates at one length in a search result, another in a subscription feed and another on a phone in portrait. Designing for the shortest of them is the only approach not requiring a separate title for each place.

Write titles a stranger can evaluate. A regular listener recognises a guest's name, and somebody meeting the show in search does not, so a title consisting only of a name asks a question rather than answering one. Naming the subject alongside the person works for both audiences at once.

Avoid front-loading brackets and prefixes. A title starting with a bracketed series tag, an episode number and the show name has spent its visible characters before reaching the content. Those elements have their own fields in most systems and rarely need repeating in the title itself.

Episode numbers are worth thinking about rather than defaulting to. A sequential number in the title helps a serialised show where order matters, and works against an evergreen one where most listeners arrive from search years later and a high number signals a backlog to catch up on. Most hosts carry a separate episode number field, which keeps the ordering without spending title characters.

Emoji and special characters count against the limit and behave unpredictably. Some platforms count an emoji as several characters, some strip them from search results, and some render them differently across operating systems. Where a title is close to a limit, plain text is the safer choice.

Vocabulary

Truncation point. The character count at which a platform stops displaying a title and adds an ellipsis. Varies by platform and by where the title appears, so the safe approach is designing for the shortest one.

Front-loading. Placing the most important words at the start of a title so they survive truncation and get read first. The single most effective habit for titles across every platform.

Character count. The number of characters in a string, counting spaces and punctuation. Platforms measure limits in characters rather than words, so a title of few long words can truncate earlier than one of many short ones.

Search snippet. The short extract a search engine shows beneath a result. Usually drawn from the description rather than chosen by you, which is why the opening of a description deserves the same care as a title.