SERP simulator
Type a title and meta description to see roughly how they look as a Google result, and where Google is likely to cut them off. Nothing is fetched: it measures your text in the browser as you type.
No account. No credits.
Google result preview
Approximate0 characters (audit range 10 to 60)
0 characters (audit range 70 to 160)
Your page title appears here
Your meta description appears here. Google may show text from the page instead.
A desktop approximation: the title is cut at about 600px and the description at about 920px, the widths preview tools commonly use. Google publishes no fixed widths and often rewrites titles and snippets. See Google's guidance on title links and snippets.
To start from the tags a live page already has, use the meta tag checker.
Beyond one URL
Audit every page on your site
This tool checks one URL. A site audit in IndexZero starts from your sitemap, follows robots.txt, and checks every page it reaches for 27 technical and on-page issue types. The free plan audits up to 50 pages per run, paid from its 2,000 monthly credits. No card needed.
One page is a spot check
Hand the whole site to your agent
Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP client to IndexZero and paste this. It runs on live data from your IndexZero workspace, and those runs spend credits. The free plan includes MCP access and 2,000 credits a month.
Run a site audit of example.com and list every page whose title is too long, too short or duplicated across pages. For each one, suggest a rewrite that keeps the words the page ranks for at the front.
Why the cut is measured in pixels
Google sets no character limit for titles or descriptions. It truncates them to fit the width of the result, so a title of narrow letters fits more characters than one full of capitals and wide letters. This simulator draws your text with a font close to Google's desktop result and cuts the title at about 600px and the description at about 920px, the widths preview tools commonly use.
The character counts under each field use the IndexZero site audit's thresholds: a title between 10 and 60 characters, a description between 70 and 160. Those are rules of thumb. The pixel measure is closer to how the cut actually happens.
What Google may show instead
The preview shows what your tags ask for. Google decides what to show, and it often differs:
- Google builds title links from several sources, including the title element, the main heading, og:title and anchor text pointing at the page. Boilerplate, stuffed or outdated titles are the usual reasons it picks something else.
- Snippets come mainly from the page content. Google uses the meta description when it describes the page better than the text it would otherwise pick for that search.
- Results can carry dates, sitelinks, ratings and other rich features this preview does not draw.
Writing a result that earns the click
- Put the words that describe the page first, so they survive the cut.
- Give every page its own title and description. Repeated ones are a common reason Google rewrites them.
- Keep the brand short and at the end of the title, unless the brand is what people search for.
- Use the description for the facts a searcher wants at a glance: price, date, location, or what the page lets them do.
Frequently asked questions
- How many characters fit in a Google title?
- There is no fixed number. Google cuts titles by width, at roughly 600px on desktop, so the count depends on the letters. Most titles under 60 characters fit, and a title of wide capitals can be cut sooner.
- How long should a meta description be?
- Google sets no length limit and truncates descriptions to fit the device. The IndexZero site audit flags descriptions under 70 or over 160 characters. Write for the searcher first, and check the cut in the preview.
- Is this exactly what Google will show?
- No. It is an approximation of the desktop layout. Google may rewrite the title, pick a snippet from the page text, and add dates, sitelinks or ratings the preview does not draw.
- Can I share a preview?
- Yes. The title, description and URL are kept in the page address, so copying the address shares the preview. Anyone who opens it sees the same result.
- How do I check the tags a live page already has?
- Use the meta tag checker. It fetches the page, reads its title, description, canonical, Open Graph and Twitter tags, and prefills this same preview with them.
Further reading
- Keyword research with an AI agentStart from the queries you already rank for, expand a few seeds into scored keywords, cut the ones you can't win, and save the rest for tracking.
- Rank tracking with an AI agentChoose what to track, price a check before it runs, cap what a run may spend, and read position changes without over-reading noise.
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