January SEO Update : Google drops headline character limit

Google in its latest January SEO Update mentioned, “Removed the 110 character limit for the headline property in the Article structured data documentation. There’s no hard character limit; instead, we recommend that you write concise titles as long titles may be truncated on some devices.”

Google in its latest January SEO Update mentioned, “Removed the 110 character limit for the headline property in the Article structured data documentation. There’s no hard character limit; instead, we recommend that you write concise titles as long titles may be truncated on some devices.”

This change is in contrast to its previous guidelines mentioned in the Structural Data Article that mentioned, “The title of the article. The value should not exceed 110 characters.”

This also means that errors due to title limit will not be visible any more. Though the same has been eliminated, Google has also emphasized on using concise and to the point headlines through its Title Links Guidance. It says, “Write descriptive and concise text for your “title” elements.

So, if you were struggling to fit your headlines within the 110 character limit, its time to no longer worry about it. Even if you go beyond it by a few more, you are still fine. However, the main thing you should focus on is how the headline appears on different screens.

The headline length is one of the most important aspects of SEO and it can have a huge impact on your search engine rankings. It’s important to get it right in order to maximize your SEO potential. The best headline length for SEO according to SEO experts is generally considered between 50-60 characters, including spaces. This length will ensure that your headline is seen in its entirety in the search engine results page (SERP), and that it isn’t truncated as well.

Having a headline of this length will also reduce the likelihood of keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing is when a website or page has too many keywords in the headline and other content, which can cause the search engine to flag the page as spam. In addition, it can make the headline look unnatural and cluttered, which will reduce its effectiveness.

It’s also important to keep the headline length consistent throughout the website or page. Having different headline lengths in different pages of the website can cause confusion for the search engine and could result in lower rankings. Additionally, it could make it difficult for the user to navigate the site, as they may not be able to identify the topic of a page quickly.

When creating a headline for SEO, it’s important to keep in mind the headline length. A headline that is too short or too long can have a negative impact on the page’s ability to rank high in the SERP.

It is always a good practice to be concise and to the point with the least amount of words that reflect the content of the article. At the same time, it’s also fine to use as many words as you feel necessary. Important is to be mindful of how it will look on the Google Search Results page, which is what Google wants us to keep in mind as well. All this combined, is expected to help improve visibility and engagement on your website.