This translation has not been editorially reviewed yet. The German version is authoritative. Deutsche Fassung →
Checking title and meta description: what appears in the search result
The title is the clickable heading of your search result, the meta description is the text below it. The check verifies whether both are present, and whether their length falls in the range where they display in full. The title affects ranking; the description only affects the click decision.
- If the title is missing, the search engine invents one from the page content — usually worse than what you would have written. If the description is missing, it picks an arbitrary text excerpt, often from the middle of a sentence.
- The length limits aren't arbitrary: titles that are too short waste space in the result; ones that are too long get cut off mid-word. What matters is that the core statement comes first — whatever falls off the end should be dispensable.
- In practice, the most common finding isn't a missing title, but an IDENTICAL title across many pages. To a search engine, these pages then look interchangeable.
FAQ
How long may a page title be?
What matters isn't the character count, but the pixel width — search engines truncate by display width. The range checked is chosen so the title usually stays fully visible; the finding names the specific value at its location.
Does the meta description affect ranking?
No. It helps decide whether someone clicks your result — and that has an indirect effect. It hasn't been evaluated as a ranking factor for years.
Why does Google show different text than our description?
Because search engines treat the description as a suggestion. If it matches the search query worse than an excerpt from the text, the excerpt gets shown instead. A good description increases the chance that your version gets used.