Shopify's title and description limits
Shopify's Help Center sets these limits for the search engine listing on products, collections, pages and your homepage:
- Page title: you can enter up to 70 characters. Shopify recommends keeping it to 60 or fewer to avoid shortened titles in search results.
- Meta description: Shopify recommends about 160 characters.
Shopify notes that text past these limits gets shortened in search engine results. A title cut off at "Acme Insulated Water Bot..." loses the part that tells a searcher what the product is.
What the checker tests
- Title over 70 characters: fail, because Shopify will not accept it.
- Title from 61 to 70 characters: warning, because it may be shortened.
- Meta description over 160 characters, or under 70: warning.
- ALL CAPS words in the title.
- Whether the description repeats the first main keyword from your title.
Where to edit these in Shopify
Open the product, collection, page or blog post in your Shopify admin, scroll to Search engine listing, and click the edit icon. Shopify shows the page title, meta description and URL handle there. For the homepage, go to Online Store > Preferences.
Note that the SEO page title is separate from the product title shown on your store. Your on-page product name can be longer. The SEO title is what appears in Google.
Writing a better Shopify SEO title
- Put the main keyword first. Shopify's guidance says to put your most important keywords near the beginning of the title.
- Make each page title unique. Product variants and collections should not share one title.
- Add your brand at the end if it fits, for example "Insulated Water Bottle 32 oz | Acme".
- Write for people. A readable title gets more clicks than a list of keywords.
Writing a meta description that earns the click
Say what the product is, who it is for, and one reason to choose it, in about 150 to 160 characters. Lead with the most important part, since search engines may show less on mobile. Shopify recommends natural, readable phrases rather than keyword lists.
Selling on marketplaces too?
Marketplace titles follow different rules. Amazon caps titles at 75 characters, Walmart at 150 and TikTok Shop at 200. Check them with the Amazon checker, the Walmart checker and the TikTok Shop checker.