# Meta title and description checker

Check any page’s meta title and description: pixel widths, a desktop and mobile Google preview, duplicates, noindex and a fix for each issue. Free.

Canonical: https://ignura.com/tools/meta-tag-checker
Last updated: 2026-10-28
Author: Ignura

Paste a URL to check its title and meta description: pixel widths, a desktop and mobile Google preview, and a fix for each issue.

## How long should a meta title be

As long as it needs to be to name the page, with the words that matter first. Google has no character limit; its [title link docs](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/title-link) say long titles are cut to fit the device. This checker warns past about 600px on desktop and under 30 characters, where a title usually says too little to win the click.

One title per page. If a page has two `<title>` tags, browsers and crawlers can disagree on which one counts.

## How long should a meta description be

Long enough to sum up the page in a sentence or two. Google’s [snippet docs](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/snippet) set no limit, but the result shows about two lines: roughly 920px of text on desktop and 680px on a phone by our measure. Under about 70 characters is usually too thin to help.

If the page has no description, Google writes a snippet from the page text. That’s fine for some pages, but you lose the say over the pitch.

## Why Google rewrites titles

Google swaps in other text when it thinks the title doesn’t describe the page well: it’s very long, stuffed with keywords, the same on many pages, or missing. It often uses the main heading instead. A title that matches the H1 and the page’s content is less likely to be rewritten.

Descriptions are rewritten more often, usually to match the words someone searched for. That’s why this checker treats both as your best offer, not a guarantee.

To see your title and description side by side as you write, without a live page, use the [SERP preview tool](https://ignura.com/tools/serp-preview). To check the structured data on the same page, use the [schema markup checker](https://ignura.com/tools/schema-markup-checker).

## FAQ

### Does this checker see what Google sees?

It reads the HTML your server sends, before any JavaScript runs. Google can run JavaScript, so a title set by a script may still count for Google, but not for crawlers that skip JS.

### Why does the description fit on desktop but not on mobile?

Phones give the snippet a narrower box, so the same text wraps sooner and gets cut earlier. Put the point of the page in the first sentence.

### Is anything I check stored?

No. The page is fetched once to read its tags, the checks run in your browser, and nothing about the page, title, description or keyword is saved.

### Should every page have a unique title and description?

Yes. Google’s docs ask for a distinct, descriptive title on each page and a description that summarises that page, not boilerplate shared across the site.

## Read next

- [SERP preview tool](https://ignura.com/tools/serp-preview), for drafting a title and description before the page is live
- [Schema markup checker](https://ignura.com/tools/schema-markup-checker), for the JSON-LD on the same page

Book a 15-minute call about your website: https://ignura.com/book