Guide
Product title optimization
A feed title is not the title on your product page. Google Shopping allows 150 characters, shows about 70, and matches it against searches with no keyword field to help. Optimizing it means putting the words shoppers type first (product type, brand, the attribute that separates this variant), dropping anything promotional, and doing it with rules so 5,000 SKUs get the same treatment as the five you checked by hand.
We connect your store, build the feed and keep it in sync. Updated 2026-10-27.
At a glance
- Google Shopping title character limit: 1 to 150 characters; longer titles are truncated with a warning. Shoppers usually see the first 70 or fewer, so the deciding words go first.
- Google Shopping description character limit: 1 to 5,000 characters; Google advises putting the most important details in the first 160 to 500, because the rest sits behind a click.
- Never in a title or description: price, sale text, shipping, dates, your store name, capitals for emphasis, symbols or HTML. Those belong in their own attributes.
- On the feeds we have profiled, the average title uses about 20 of Google's 150 characters. Most catalogs lose more to short titles than to long ones.
What product title optimization changes, and why the feed title matters most
Shopping ads have no keyword list. Google decides which searches a product can show for mostly from the title, then the description, product_type and google_product_category. A page title like 'The Willow' tells a shopper on your site everything they need, because the photo and breadcrumb do the rest. In a Shopping grid next to forty other sofas it tells Google nothing.
Product title optimization is the work of rewriting that title for the channel: adding the product type, brand, material, size or model number shoppers search for, moving them to the front, and removing what the channel forbids. Google is explicit that variant details belong in the title too ('Skater Dress, Small, Black') as well as in the color and size attributes, so a shopper can tell which variant they are clicking.
Google Shopping title and description character limits
| Attribute | Allowed | Visible | Rule of thumb |
|---|---|---|---|
| title (Google) | 1-150 characters | About the first 70 | Product type and brand inside the first 70; specs after |
| description (Google) | 1-5,000 characters | First 160-500 before a click | Lead with what the product is and its key specs |
| structured_title (Google) | 1-150 characters | As title | Google asks for this attribute when the title was written by generative AI |
| title (Meta catalog) | Up to 200 characters | Meta recommends 65 | Keep a shorter variant for Meta |
| description (Meta catalog) | Up to 9,999 characters | Plain text only | No links, no all-caps |
Google limits from the Merchant Center title and description attribute pages; Meta limits from Meta's catalog fields reference. Checked 2026-10-27.
A title formula per vertical
Google does not publish a formula per category, so the patterns below are the ones we use as a starting point. Each puts the searched noun and the differentiating attribute inside the first 70 characters. Brand goes first only when shoppers search by brand; for unbranded furniture or food it wastes the most visible words.
- Apparel: Brand + gender + product type + material or fit + color + size. 'Marlow Women's Linen Shirt, Relaxed Fit, Sand, M'.
- Electronics: Brand + product line + model + key spec + color. 'Soundline ANC-1 Wireless Over-Ear Headphones, 40 h Battery, Black'.
- Furniture: Product type + material + dimensions + color or finish. 'Dining Table, Solid Oak, 180 x 90 cm, Oiled Finish'.
- Beauty: Brand + product + key benefit + size. 'Lumen Hydrating Face Cream with Hyaluronic Acid, 50 ml'.
- Food and drink: Brand + product + flavor or variety + weight or count. 'Northfield Organic Rolled Oats, Gluten-Free, 1 kg'.
How to optimize product titles across a whole catalog
Rewriting titles by hand works for a hundred products and fails at the first price import. The durable approach is one rule per column: an expression that combines brand, the store title, color and size into the feed title, with a condition that falls back to the store title when an attribute is empty. Each column takes one rule, so where the store title is full of promotional words, build the title from clean attributes rather than cleaning it in a second step. The store's own titles stay untouched, and every new product picks up the rule on the next sync.
Where the source simply lacks the words (a store title of 'The Willow' with no product type anywhere), a rule cannot invent them. That is the case for a merged source (a sheet that adds the missing attribute by SKU) or an AI config that rewrites the title from the description, category and brand. Textfinity's feed hygiene profile shows the length distribution of the title column first, so you can see whether the problem is too short, too long or both before choosing.
Title rule (advanced transform)
[brand] + " " + [gender] + " " + [product_title]
+ ", " + [color] + ", " + [size]Examples
Worked examples, by situation
Four catalogs, four different title problems, and the rule that fixed each one.
Variant details into the first 70 characters
Before
Title: Relaxed Shirt Vendor: Marlow · material: Linen Option values: Sand / M
After
Marlow Women's Linen Relaxed Shirt, Sand, M
How we set it up
We map title as an advanced expression: [product_vendor] + " Women's " + [product_metafield_custom_material] + " " + [product_title] + ", " + [variant_color] + ", " + [variant_size], with color and size read from the variant's option columns (advanced expressions name Shopify fields with underscores). 43 characters, all of them searchable.
Strip promotional text the store added to titles
Before
SOUNDLINE ANC-1 Headphones - FREE SHIPPING!!! 20% OFF
After
SOUNDLINE ANC-1 Headphones or, rebuilt from columns: Soundline ANC-1 Wireless Over-Ear Headphones
How we set it up
We map title with remove from regexp (?i)\s*-?\s*(free shipping|\d+% off|sale)!*. That is the one rule the title column gets, so it cannot also fix the brand capitals. To do that and add the product type, we replace it with an advanced rule over clean columns: [brand] + " " + [model] + " " + [product_type].
Product type first, in the market's language
Before
title: The Willow (Oak, 180) description: Dining table, solid oak, oiled finish, 180 x 90 cm
After
Esstisch Willow aus Eiche, massiv, 180 x 90 cm, geölt
How we set it up
We set up an AI config that enhances the title from title, description and category, translated into German, and map title with replace from AI config with the store title as fallback, so unreviewed products still ship a title.
Cut at a word boundary, not mid-word
Before
Stoneware Dinner Plate Set of 4 with Reactive Glaze in Ocean Blue, Dishwasher and Microwave Safe, Chip Resistant Rim, Ideal for Everyday Dining and Entertaining Guests
After
Stoneware Dinner Plate Set of 4 with Reactive Glaze in Ocean Blue, Dishwasher and Microwave Safe, Chip Resistant Rim, Ideal for Everyday Dining and
How we set it up
We map title with replace from regexp ^(.{0,150})(?:\s.*)?$ to \1, which keeps the longest run of whole words under 150. Feed hygiene's length distribution on the source title shows how many products were cut, so the store can fix the worst by hand.
Copy this plan
Plan: optimize every title in one afternoon
Steps 1 and 2 tell you which problem you have; steps 3 to 5 fix it for every product at once.
01
Connect the catalog and read the title profile
Look at the length distribution and completeness of title, brand, color and size. Short titles and empty attributes decide the formula.
What we set up: We connect your Shopify store or feed URL and send you the title length distribution and attribute completeness from feed hygiene.02
Pick a formula per product group
Use the vertical patterns above. If the catalog spans apparel and accessories, write two formulas and switch on product type.
03
Build the title rule
Combine or advanced for the formula; a condition that falls back to the plain store title when a part is empty, so no title ends in a dangling comma.
What we set up: We build the formula as an advanced rule on title, with the condition color matches regexp ^\s*$ falling back to the store title.04
Clean what Google forbids
Remove promotional words and HTML. A column takes one rule, so a title built in step 3 from clean attributes needs no cleaning; use remove from regexp on the title only where the store title goes out as it is, and on the description.
What we set up: We use remove from regexp on title where it has no other rule, and remove from regexp <[^>]+> on description to strip HTML.05
Generate titles where the data runs out
For products whose source has no product type or spec, generate titles for that subset with AI and map them with a fallback to the formula.
What we set up: We set up an AI config that enhances titles, and give the title rule the condition is accepted in AI config: replace from AI config, otherwise the step 3 rule.06
Publish and compare in Merchant Center
Let Merchant Center fetch the feed, then compare impressions and clicks by product in Google Ads after a few weeks. That reporting happens in Google Ads.
What we set up: We register the feed URL in your Merchant Center as a scheduled fetch, with access you give us or on a short call.
Customization tips
Make it yours
Optimize for the first 70, not the full 150
Google allows 150 characters and advises using them, but only about 70 show. Filling the tail with specs helps matching; burying the product type after a long brand line hurts clicks. Write the first 70 for people and the rest for matching.
One title column per channel
Meta recommends 65 characters, Google shows about 70 and allows 150. Keeping one rule per feed lets the Google title carry specs while the Meta title stops at the noun and color, instead of a compromise that suits neither.
Test in groups, not product by product
Change the formula for one product type, leave a similar one alone, and compare in Google Ads after a few weeks. Rewriting everything at once makes it impossible to tell what helped.
Keep the landing page consistent
Google wants the title to match the product on the landing page. Adding attributes is fine; describing a different variant, a bundle the page does not sell, or a size the link does not open is not.
FAQ
Questions about product title optimization
What is the Google Shopping title character limit?
Titles can be 1 to 150 characters. Google truncates anything longer and shows a warning in Merchant Center. Shoppers usually see only the first 70 characters or fewer, depending on screen size, so the product type, brand and key attribute should come first.
What is the Google Shopping description character limit?
Descriptions can be 1 to 5,000 characters. Google recommends putting the most important details in the first 160 to 500 characters, because shoppers have to click to see the rest. No promotional text, links, capitals for emphasis or comparisons with other products.
Should the brand go first in a product title?
Only when shoppers search by brand, as in electronics, beauty and branded apparel. For unbranded or house-brand furniture, food and home goods, start with the product type and put the brand at the end or leave it out; the brand attribute is still sent separately.
Can I put 'sale' or 'free shipping' in a Shopping title?
No. Google's title rules exclude price, sale price, sale dates, shipping, delivery dates and your company name. Use the sale_price, shipping and promotion attributes instead. A remove-from-regexp rule can strip these words from store titles that already contain them.
Set up for you
We'll show you how long your titles really are, then fix them by rule.
Send us your store URL. We profile your title lengths, build one title rule for every product and generate AI titles where the data runs out, for you to review before they go live.
Tell us your store and channels. We reply within 24 hours.