How long should a YouTube title be?
YouTube lets you type up to 100 characters, but that doesn't mean you should use them all. In search results, suggested videos and on phones, titles are usually cut after roughly 70 characters, sometimes less on small screens. Anything after the cut is hidden behind “…”.
A good rule: make sure the first 60–70 characters make sense on their own and contain the words people search for. Use the remaining space for extra context that is nice to have but not essential.
Reading the checker
- The big counter shows how many of the 100 characters you use. It turns red if you go over, and the part that won't fit is highlighted.
- Visible before truncation fills up to 70 characters. When it is full, the rest of your title may be hidden in search.
- Search result preview shows your title next to a thumbnail with the likely cut-off, and lists the words that would be hidden.
Counting follows what you see: an emoji counts as one character.
Tips for titles that get clicked
- Front-load the keyword. “Sourdough bread for beginners: no-knead method” works better than “My honest thoughts after a year of trying sourdough”.
- Be specific. Numbers, results and timeframes (“in 10 minutes”, “under $50”) set clear expectations.
- Match the thumbnail, don't repeat it. The thumbnail and title should work together, each adding something.
- Avoid clickbait you can't deliver. Viewers who leave quickly send a negative signal.
- Skip angle brackets. YouTube won't accept < or > in titles or descriptions; the checker flags them.
Descriptions
Switch the field to Description to check the 5,000-character limit. Only the first one or two lines appear before “…more” in most places, so start with a sentence that summarises the video and includes your main keyword. Put links, chapters and credits further down.
Reusing your title elsewhere
The Fits on other platforms? panel checks the same text against TikTok, Instagram, X, Pinterest and more, which helps when you cross-post a video or promote it with a short post. Pinterest pin titles, for example, also stop at 100 characters.
Examples: what gets cut off
A title like “How to Cook Perfect Rice Every Time (Stovetop, Rice Cooker and Instant Pot Methods Compared)” is 92 characters. In search results, viewers will usually see something like “How to Cook Perfect Rice Every Time (Stovetop, Rice Cooker and…”, which still works because the important part comes first.
Compare “In This Video I Finally Show You My Complete Method for Cooking Perfect Rice”. The first 70 characters are mostly filler, and “perfect rice”, the phrase people search for, is at risk of being hidden.
Shorts titles
YouTube Shorts use the same 100-character title limit, but on the Shorts player the title sits over the video and only the first line or so is readable. Keep Shorts titles short and punchy, and put the key phrase in the first few words. If you cross-post the same clip to TikTok or Instagram Reels, use the platform switcher to check the caption against those limits too.
Before you publish
Read your title out loud, check it on the preview, then look at it next to your thumbnail. If both say exactly the same thing, change one of them so each adds information.