Character Limits Cheat Sheet for Google, Ads and Social

By Neha·Published October 19, 2026

You write the perfect line for your Instagram bio, paste it in, and the app refuses the last six characters. Or your Google Ads headline gets rejected, or your page title shows up in Google with "..." where your city name should be. Every platform has its own limits, and they are scattered across a dozen help pages.

This character limits cheat sheet puts the ones that matter for a small business in one table, checked against each platform's own help pages as of October 2026, and explains the one that confuses everybody: Google's titles, which are cut by width, not by a character count.

Short answer: As of October 2026, Google Ads headlines allow 30 characters and descriptions 90. A Google Business Profile description allows 750. An Instagram bio allows 150, a standard X post 280, and a YouTube title 100 with a 5,000-character description. Google sets no character limit for page titles or meta descriptions; it cuts them to fit the screen width, so put the important words first and preview them.

The character limits cheat sheet

Every number below comes from the platform's own help or developer pages, linked in the sections that follow. Limits change, so check the source if a number matters for a big campaign.

Some fields are missing on purpose. We could not find an official, current number for Google Business Profile posts, WhatsApp Business profile and catalogue fields, X Premium long posts or email subject lines, so those are covered in words below instead of with a number that might be wrong.

To check your own text against several of these at once, paste it into the free Character Counter. It counts characters, words and reading time, and shows bars for a Google title, a meta description, an X post and an email subject line.

Why do Google titles and descriptions have no fixed limit?

Because Google cuts them by space on the screen, not by counting characters. Its help page on title links says there is no limit on how long a title can be, but the title is truncated in results as needed, typically to fit the device width. Its page on snippets says the same about meta descriptions.

Width matters because letters are not the same size. A capital W takes far more room than a small i. So a title written in capitals is cut much earlier than one in normal case, and two titles with the same character count can end in different places. A phone screen also fits less than a laptop.

Many SEO tools, including our counter, use about 60 characters for a title and about 160 for a description as a rough guide. These are rules of thumb, not numbers Google publishes. Google does not publish a pixel figure either.

What to do instead of counting:

1. Put the important words first: the service and the city, such as "AC Repair in Andheri West | Same-Day Visit".
2. Avoid capitals for emphasis. They eat width.
3. Preview it. The Google Result Preview measures your title and description by approximate pixel width and shows where they are likely to be cut.

Two more facts from Google's own pages. Google may rewrite your title if it thinks it does not describe the page well. And snippets are mostly built from the page content itself, with your meta description used when Google judges it more accurate. Our guide on writing SEO titles and meta descriptions has formulas and Indian examples.

Google Business Profile limits

The business description on your Google listing allows 750 characters. Google's help page on editing your Business Profile says not to exceed 750 characters, and not to include links of any kind or focus on prices and offers.

Use the space for what you do, the areas you serve, what makes you different and how long you have been running. Put the most useful line first.

For posts on your profile (updates, offers and events), Google's current help pages do not state a character limit, so we have left the number out. Shorter posts are easier to read on a phone anyway: one clear offer or update, a date, and a button.

Our Google Business Profile optimization checklist covers the description, categories and posts in detail.

Google Ads limits

A responsive search ad, the standard Google search ad, gives you 30 characters per headline and 90 per description. Google's help page on responsive search ads also sets:

• Headlines: at least 3, up to 15. Google mixes and matches them.
• Descriptions: at least 2, up to 4.
• Display path: two optional fields of 15 characters each, shown after your domain, such as yourshop.in/ac-repair/pune.
• Wide characters: each character in Chinese, Japanese or Korean counts as 2.

Thirty characters is short. "AC Repair in Pune, Same Day" is 27. Write several headlines with different angles: the service, the area, the price or offer, and a reason to trust you.

The Google Ads Headline Checker checks each line against these limits and flags common reasons for rejection, such as exclamation marks in headlines, whole words in capitals and phone numbers in the text. For the money side, read Google Ads for small business before you spend.

Instagram limits

An Instagram bio allows 150 characters, according to Instagram's help page on adding a bio. Spaces and emoji count.

For captions, Meta's developer documentation for publishing through its API gives a maximum of 2,200 characters. Instagram's consumer help pages do not state a caption limit, so treat 2,200 as the documented limit for posting tools and keep the key message in the first line or two.

In practice the bio is the tight one. In 150 characters you need what you do, where you are and what to do next. For example: "Custom cakes in Indore. Eggless options. Order 2 days ahead. Tap Message to book." The Instagram Bio Generator writes several ready bios that fit the limit, each with a clear next step. Our guide to Instagram marketing for small business covers captions and content.

X and YouTube limits

A standard post on X allows 280 characters. X's developer page on counting characters explains the catch: not every character counts as one. Every link counts as 23 characters however long it is, every emoji counts as 2, and Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters count as 2 each. That is why your post can show fewer characters left than you expect.

X Premium subscribers can write longer posts. X's help pages give different maximums on different pages, so we have left that number out.

On YouTube, Google's help page on editing video settings sets a video title limit of 100 characters and a description limit of 5,000 characters. Neither can include invalid characters. Lead the title with the words people search for, such as the service and the city. Our YouTube SEO guide covers titles and descriptions.

WhatsApp Business and email: no published numbers

Some fields that small businesses use daily have no official limit you can look up.

WhatsApp Business. We could not find a current character limit for the profile About line, the business description or catalogue item names and descriptions in WhatsApp's Help Centre. The app enforces its own limits as you type. Whatever the number, keep the About line to one short sentence and put the item name, size and price at the start of a catalogue description, because previews show only the beginning.

Email subject lines. There is no official limit that matters in practice. Each email app and screen cuts the subject at a different point, and phones show less than laptops. The Character Counter shows a 50-character bar as a cautious target, not a rule. Put the reason to open in the first few words: "Your Diwali order: delivery on 2 Nov" beats "Important update regarding your recent order with us".

Why your count and the platform's count can differ

Different tools count characters differently, so a line that fits in one counter can fail on the platform.

• Emoji. Many emoji are stored as two or more pieces of code. X counts every emoji as 2. Some tools count them as one.
• Links. X counts every link as 23 characters, whatever its length.
• Hindi and other scripts. Devanagari letters with vowel signs are stored as more than one piece. The Character Counter counts what a person would call one character, which can differ from a platform's own count.
• Pixel width. Google cuts titles and descriptions by width, so no character count is exact there.

The safe habit: aim a little under every limit, and check the final version in the platform's own editor before you publish.

Frequently asked questions

What is the character limit for a Google title?

Google sets none. Its help page says a title can be any length, but it is cut in results to fit the device width. Because letters vary in width, a title of about 60 characters in normal case often fits, but that is a rule of thumb, not a Google number. Put the service and city first and preview the result.

How long can a meta description be?

There is no official limit. Google shortens the snippet to fit the screen, and it often writes its own snippet from your page content anyway. A description of roughly 150 to 160 characters is a common guide. Make the first sentence say what the page offers and where, so the useful part survives if it is cut.

How many characters can a Google Ads headline have?

As of October 2026, 30 characters per headline and 90 per description in a responsive search ad, with up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions. Each display path field allows 15 characters. Characters in Chinese, Japanese and Korean count as 2. Check your lines with a headline checker before you submit them.

How many characters is an Instagram bio?

150 characters, including spaces and emoji, according to Instagram's help page. Use them for what you do, your city and a clear next step such as "Tap Message to order". Your bold Name field at the top of the profile is separate from the bio. The free bio generator writes several options that fit.

What is the Google Business Profile description limit?

750 characters. Google's help page also says the description must not contain links and should focus on your business rather than prices, offers or sales. Lead with what you do and the areas you serve, then add what makes you different and how long you have been running.