character limits in meta tags

[root123]

What should be the ideal character/ words limit in title & meta-tags (meta-description, meta keywords)...???

[AbhishekSingh]

Ideal character/ words limit in title = 60 - 80, meta-description = 150. But it may change with time span and SE.

[root123]

Ideal character/ words limit in title = 60 - 80, meta-description = 150. But it may change with time span and SE.

Thanks very much for the info....

[seowebdesigner]

as abhishek said, 90-80 is ideal keyword limit for google search engine and when u search any keyword term on the google u can count the words on the description on the listing..!!!!

Needs only to put keywords before 140 words including spaces...!!!

It helps you lot...!!!

[ToolInventor]

very nice test on the number of keywords in meta - http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/seo-blog/index.php/google-you-can-put-50-words-in-your-title-tag-well-read-it/

(it's not my blog and I am not affiliating it)

[catanich]

What should be the ideal character/ words limit in title & meta-tags (meta-description, meta keywords)...???

I have not seen any real rule on the length. I use the following as a guideline. In the Google SERPs, Google displayes the following:

Title is 65 characters being displayed on the first line
Description is 158 characters being displayed on two lines.


As for the keyword metatag, I keep it to only the keyword phrase(s) that are targeted by the page. ~32 characters.

[Wit]

It's absolutely no use to have long "keyword" and "description" metatags. Keep them concise and unique to every page. You can add every keyphrase that you ever hope to rank for, but better not to. Instead, make a new page that is more directly targetting those phrases.

A chain of 7 keywords, some 'overlapping', is nice to aim for. Description: a snappy and readable sentence, nothing more.

[catanich]

It's absolutely no use to have long "keyword" and "description" metatags. Keep them concise and unique to every page. You can add every keyphrase that you ever hope to rank for, but better not to. Instead, make a new page that is more directly targetting those phrases.

A chain of 7 keywords, some 'overlapping', is nice to aim for. Description: a snappy and readable sentence, nothing more.

You are correct but what do you use for a Maximum character limit or count for each of the meta tags?

[Wit]

I will NEVER reach the maximum. If I reach the edge of my text editor, I'm doing the wrong thing :)

[mit]

Title should be small and unique, absolutely what you page is about. Don't go more than 3 keywords in Title.

It would be better if you can use a page for 3 keywords.

Well, if you want to use keywords and description tags also, then try to make a useful sentence with a worth meaning, don't go with just the keywords - 150 characters are enough I think.

Best of Luck.

[weblaunchphxx]

What should be the ideal character/ words limit in title & meta-tags (meta-description, meta keywords)...???

Don't worry about meta tag they do nothing with a SERPs but title tag should be below 70 characters and it is important factor for ranking.

[aira]

If you are using meta tags, inlude your keywords and make it specific, short and simple.

[weblaunchphxx]

If you are using meta tags, inlude your keywords and make it specific, short and simple.
Does it really work for SERPs?

[Wit]

No...........

[weblaunchphxx]

Then why aira asking for meta tags.

[Wit]

Beats me.

Some of the minor search engines (i.e. not Google) still use (some) meta tags as .01% of their algorithm. I'd spend my valuable time on other stuff instead.

[weblaunchphxx]

Beats me.

Some of the minor search engines (i.e. not Google) still use (some) meta tags as .01% of their algorithm. I'd spend my valuable time on other stuff instead.

Can you name them?

[Wit]

Either Yahoo or MSN (or both) for starters ;). In fact they might all* use the "keywords" meta for .01% of their respective algos, but the fact remains that the meta tags have been SO heavily spammed in the past that they have become useless to search engines for RANKING purposes.

The only use a "keywords" meta tag has for me is if it appears on my competitor's pages, so I can easily work out which phrases he/she is targetting hehe. So I would advise everyone to keep using the tags :D

[weblaunchphxx]

Either Yahoo or MSN (or both) for starters ;). In fact they might all* use the "keywords" meta for .01% of their respective algos, but the fact remains that the meta tags have been SO heavily spammed in the past that they have become useless to search engines for RANKING purposes.

The only use a "keywords" meta tag has for me is if it appears on my competitor's pages, so I can easily work out which phrases he/she is targetting hehe. So I would advise everyone to keep using the tags :D

Does google support the meta tags?
Because everybody wants to rank in google due to its popularity.

[Wit]

No.

Google ignores the "keywords". They will only look at the "description" to decide IF a page should be INDEXED or not for a certain phrase. For instance if the word/phrase in question does not appear on the page itself.

Example. A couple of months ago, Google (partly) fixed the googlebombing issue. Basically, if a page (like for example G.W. Bush' personal page) does NOT have the word or phrase (like for example "miserable") on it, then that page will not rank anywhere for that word/phrase even tho it has a gazillion links poining to it with the 'right' anchor text (in this example: miserable failure).

Now, some tests including a recent one by MichaelV have shown that if you include the word/phrase in your "description" meta element, then Google will at least return the page on the SERPS. This doesn't mean they will rank it high (most certainly it will rank last unless it has a gazillion links pointing to it) but they will at least consider it as an option for the search word/phrase.

[weblaunchphxx]

No.

Google ignores the "keywords". They will only look at the "description" to decide IF a page should be INDEXED or not for a certain phrase. For instance if the word/phrase in question does not appear on the page itself.

Example. A couple of months ago, Google (partly) fixed the googlebombing issue. Basically, if a page (like for example G.W. Bush' personal page) does NOT have the word or phrase (like for example "miserable") on it, then that page will not rank anywhere for that word/phrase even tho it has a gazillion links poining to it with the 'right' anchor text (in this example: miserable failure).

Now, some tests including a recent one by MichaelV have shown that if you include the word/phrase in your "description" meta element, then Google will at least return the page on the SERPS. This doesn't mean they will rank it high (most certainly it will rank last unless it has a gazillion links pointing to it) but they will at least consider it as an option for the search word/phrase.
What is the strategy of all seatch engines about the title tag?

[tomfrederick]

The main 3 Meta tag limits are as ....
Title meta tag : 3-5 keyword phrase
keyword meta tag : 25-30 keyword phrase
Description meta tag : 250 characters

[catanich]

The main 3 Meta tag limits are as ....
Title meta tag : 3-5 keyword phrase
keyword meta tag : 25-30 keyword phrase
Description meta tag : 250 characters

I think these are the Upper Limits for sure. When I got to this level though, the page(s) will drop due to "Over SEOing" or "Keyword Spaming". I am using only the "primary keyword phrase" and a "secondary keyword phrase" now in the title meta tag and try to get within ~80 characters.

As for the Description meta tag, I left justify as much as possible the "primary keyword phrase" and keed the character count below ~130.

My logic behind this is that this is all the characters Google will display in the SERPs.

As for "Keyword Metatag" with or without, you will get the same results. I only use it now for documenting what keyword phrase I am targeting.

[root123]

length of Title Tags and Meta Tags differ from search engines to search engines. But still the rule of thumb is to to keep your tags meaningfully short consisting of the key terms.
But again this works only when you have the terms proportunately placed within the body text of your page.

[weblaunchphxx]

Title tag is your most important tag in seo. So, try to put your target keywords in your title tag but it should be limited to 70 characters.

[~DaRk-EyE~]

Title tag and Description tag are the keys for a successful keyword targeting. It gives a lot of weight during keyword search from search engines..

[terryson01]

title should be short and related of site. title should be 60 - 70 characters and description 160 - 175 characters.

[Wit]

...and description 160 - 175 characters.Why is that?

[10minutes]

I tend to limit my Meta Desciption to 150 - 160 characters. The reasoning is simple really. If you perform a Google search you'll find that Google only displays about that many characters.

I also stick to about 60 characters for the Title. Browsers cut Title's off to display things like, "- Microsoft Internet Explorer" or other additional text. I've also read in the past from people like Greg Boser that 70 characters would suffice.

Your Title and Meta Description are marketing tools first since these two items are what search engines like Google use within the SERPs. Should you write a long title and Meta Description only to have it get truncated then you could lose out.

John Jones

- 10 minutes of SEO, SEM & Internet Marketing