Google accepts up to 150 characters in a product title. A shopper comparing four cards in the results grid reads maybe the first 70 of them. Everything you put after that is written for a crawler, not a customer.
What you'll take away
- One skeleton, three fillings — brand, product type, then the attributes that separate your listing from the identical one beside it.
- The vertical decides the order — apparel leads with gender and colour, electronics with the model number, consumables with flavour and pack size.
- Promotional words cost twice — they match no query, and Google's editorial requirements disallow them.
- Audit by export — read the first 70 characters of every title you already have. That is the whole exercise.
Why the front of the title does the work
Two readers process every product title, and they want opposite things. Google's matching layer reads all 150 characters to decide which queries your listing is eligible for. The shopper reads until the card runs out of room, which on a phone happens somewhere near character 70. Both readings matter. Only one of them decides the click.
So the front of the title is where the deciding attributes go. If your size, colour, or model number sits at character 90, the matching layer still parses it and the human comparing four near-identical listings never sees it. That is the gap most feeds fall into: all 150 characters filled, the differentiator buried at the end.
Attribute words also have to appear in the title text itself to compete for attribute-bearing queries like nike running shirt navy medium. A listing that carries colour and size only in the structured fields leaves that traffic to whoever spelled it out.
The truncation point moves, the principle doesn't
Google has never published a fixed cutoff, and the visible length shifts with device, layout, and surface. Treat 70 characters as a planning number rather than a rule. Anything you would hate to lose belongs well before it.
The base pattern, then the vertical twist
Nearly every title that works is the same skeleton with different attribute slots filled in:
Generic: Brand + Product Type + Differentiating attributes
Apparel: Brand + Gender + Product Type + Colour + Size
Electronics: Brand + Model number + Product Type + Key spec
Consumables: Brand + Product + Flavour or scent + Count + Pack sizeWhat changes between them is which attribute earns front placement, and that is a question about how people shop the category rather than a style preference.
| Vertical | Front-loaded attributes | The query it's aiming at |
|---|---|---|
| Apparel | Gender, colour, size | mens hoodie grey large |
| Electronics | Model number, capacity or screen size | 980 pro 1tb |
| Consumables | Flavour or scent, count, pack size | cold brew concentrate unsweetened 32 oz |
| Home and furniture | Material, dimensions, colour | oak dining table 180cm |
Apparel is filtered and searched by gender, colour, and size, so those words belong in the string. Electronics live on model numbers and the one spec that separates variants: 1TB against 2TB, 43-inch against 55-inch. Consumables are variant-heavy, and flavour or pack count is what a returning customer types when they already know what they want.
Four rewrites
These pairs show the shape of the fix. They are illustrative examples, not measured results from a specific store.
Apparel
Before · 85 characters
Ultimate Comfort Tee - Super Soft Cotton Shirt for Everyday Wear, Great Fit Guarantee
After · 55 characters
Gildan Men's Short Sleeve T-Shirt, Cotton, Navy, Medium
The first title spends its visible window on adjectives no query contains. Nobody searches "super soft". They search navy, medium, cotton. And Great Fit Guarantee is worse than dead weight, because promotional phrasing in a title is a policy problem as well as a matching one.
Electronics
Before · 81 characters
High-Speed SSD Drive for Gaming and Creative Work - Blazing Fast Storage Solution
After · 50 characters
Samsung 980 Pro 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 Internal SSD
Buyers in this category search part numbers. "980 pro 1tb" is a real query with real intent behind it. "Blazing fast storage solution" is a phrase that exists only in marketing copy, and the shorter title wins on both readings.
Consumables
Before · 70 characters
Premium Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate - Smooth, Bold, Delicious (32 Oz)
After · 69 characters
Chameleon Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate, Unsweetened, 32 fl oz, 2-pack
Same length, completely different reach. Flavour and pack size are the decision variables in this category, and a shopper who buys the unsweetened version searches that exact word. Bury it at character 100 and your listing looks identical to the sweetened one next to it.
The recycled title
Before · 42 characters
AMZ-4472-BLU / Mens Running Shoe Size 10.5
After · 49 characters
Brooks Ghost 15 Men's Running Shoe, Blue, US 10.5
Internal SKUs help your warehouse. They match nothing in an auction. Feeds inheriting titles from a PIM or a marketplace export often lead with codes like this, and the fix belongs in the feed layer rather than in a mass rename of your catalogue.
Why promotional words are a double loss
Google's editorial requirements disallow promotional text in the title field, including phrases like "free shipping", ALL CAPS, and decorative symbols. So a title stuffed with them competes for fewer queries and carries a disapproval risk at the same time. The words that read as salesmanship are exactly the words nobody types.
The audit, in four passes
You do not need a tool to start. Export your titles and run these against the file you already have.
Run this against your export this week
What actually changes when you fix them
Title rewrites get more airtime than any other feed lever, and the honest answer about impact is that it depends on where you started. A store shipping manufacturer defaults has the most room, because its titles matched few queries to begin with. A store with competent titles moves less. Anyone quoting you a universal percentage is guessing.
The mechanism is what you can count on. More of the title matching more queries, and the attributes that decide the purchase sitting where the shopper actually reads.
Common questions
How long should a Google Shopping product title be?
Use the full 150 characters Google allows, but treat the first 70 as the part that sells. Front-load brand, product type, and the attributes that separate this listing from its neighbours, then use the remaining space for specs and synonyms that help matching without needing to be read.
Does word order in a product title matter?
Yes, for the shopper. Google parses the whole string, so order has limited effect on eligibility, but the visible portion of a Shopping card is decided by character position. An attribute at character 20 gets compared. The same attribute at character 100 does not.
Should colour and size be in the title if they are already feed attributes?
Put them in both. Structured attributes drive filters and variant grouping, and the title text is what competes for attribute-bearing queries like "navy medium cotton t-shirt". Duplication between the two fields is expected rather than a mistake.
Can rewriting titles get my products disapproved?
Rewriting itself is safe. What triggers disapprovals is the content you add: promotional text, ALL CAPS, decorative symbols, or claims the landing page does not support. Keep the rewrite descriptive and the risk stays where it was.
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Editorial note
Written by Muhammad Norafif
This article was published on August 21, 2026 and last updated on August 21, 2026. NextFeed builds product feed management software for Shopify, Google Shopping, Meta, and other commerce channels.