SERP Snippet Preview

Google cuts titles and descriptions off by how wide they render, not by how many letters they contain. A title full of wide letters like W and M runs out of room around 50 characters; one full of narrow letters like i and l can fit 65. The character counts shown are the usual rule of thumb; the pixel width is what actually decides whether the end gets replaced with an ellipsis.

About 580 pixels for the title and 920 pixels for the description on desktop, measured in Google's own font sizes (20px and 14px Arial). Mobile shows slightly more of the title and wraps the description over more lines, so anything that fits on desktop is safe on mobile too.

No. Google rewrites titles it considers unhelpful (keyword-stuffed, too long, or identical across many pages) roughly a third of the time, and swaps the description for a page excerpt whenever it thinks that answers the searcher's query better. A clear, specific, correctly sized title and description is the best way to keep your own version — it doesn't guarantee it.

Usually yes, at the end after a separator ("Page Topic | Brand"). It builds recognition across results and Google often appends the site name anyway if you leave it out. Just count it toward the width — a long brand name is a common reason the important part gets cut off.