SEO questions, answered
15 short answers from 3 guides. Each set links to the full guide for the worked examples and the reasoning behind the answer.
Title Tag and Meta Description Length: Pixels, Not Characters
How many characters should a title tag be?
A title tag of about 55 to 60 characters of ordinary mixed-case text usually fits the roughly 600 px desktop title line, because Google measures width rather than counting characters. Narrow letters fit more and wide ones fewer: a title in capital letters uses about 12 to 14 px per character at 20 px Arial and is cut after roughly 43 to 50 characters.
How long should a meta description be?
A meta description of about 120 to 150 characters suits Google's desktop snippet, which is roughly 920 px of 14 px Arial across two lines. That is about 140 to 150 characters of ordinary text, which is why older advice says 155 to 160 characters, but the true fit depends heavily on the words. Put the key message in the first line.
Why does Google ignore my meta description?
Google uses a meta description only when it describes the page better for that query than text it could pull from the page itself. It is more likely to ignore a description that is very short, generic and repeated across many pages, or unrelated to the search. A unique one or two sentence summary with concrete details stands a better chance.
Do capital letters make a title longer in Google results?
Yes, capital letters take up more width, and Google truncates titles by width, not by character count. In Arial, lowercase a, e, n and o are 556 thousandths of an em wide while capitals such as C, D and H are 722. The same 46-character title measures about 404 pixels in sentence case but about 557 pixels in capitals.
Where should I put the brand name in a title tag?
Put the brand name at the end of a title tag and keep it short, with the query people search for at the start. When a title is too wide, Google removes text from the end and adds an ellipsis, generally at a word boundary, so whatever comes last is the first thing to be cut.
URL Slugs: How to Write Clean, Stable, Search-Friendly URLs
What is a URL slug?
A URL slug is the readable part of a URL that identifies a page, such as how-to-write-better-urls in example.com/blog/how-to-write-better-urls. The word is newspaper jargon for a story's short working name, which content management systems borrowed in the early 2000s. A good slug is lower case, hyphen-separated, short and descriptive.
Should URL slugs be lowercase?
Yes, URL slugs should be lower case. URL paths are case-sensitive on most servers, so /About and /about can be two different pages, and using lower case avoids duplicate pages and confusion. Stick to letters, digits and hyphens, with no spaces, punctuation or symbols that need percent-encoding.
Should I put dates in a URL slug?
Leave dates and version numbers out of a URL slug unless they are essential, because they make the URL go out of date. A slug like /pricing outlives /pricing-2026. The most important property of a slug is that it never needs to change, since changing a published URL breaks links, bookmarks and search listings unless you add a permanent redirect.
Do URL slugs help SEO?
A descriptive slug is a small, helpful signal that tells users and search engines what a page is about, and readable words make a bare link more likely to be clicked. It is not a ranking shortcut, though. Stuffing keywords into a slug does not help, and a clear, short slug always beats a long keyword-laden one.
Why do some sites put a numeric ID in the URL next to the slug?
Some sites use URLs like /questions/12345/how-to-x and look pages up by the numeric ID rather than the slug. That lets them change the slug freely and redirect old versions automatically when a title is edited. The cost is a less tidy URL than a slug alone.
UTM Parameters for GA4: Naming, Channels and Common Mistakes
What does UTM stand for?
UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module. Urchin Software made the web analytics product that Google bought in 2005 and relaunched as Google Analytics, and the utm_ parameter names survived. A UTM-tagged link is an ordinary URL with extra query parameters, such as utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign, that the analytics tag reads and records against the session.
What utm_medium should I use for a QR code or printed flyer?
GA4 has no channel for qr, print or flyer, so a medium like that matches no rule and the traffic lands in Unassigned. You can accept that and filter by source, use a recognised medium such as referral, or create a custom channel group in GA4 for offline traffic. Keep the chosen value consistent and lowercase.
Should I add UTM parameters to Google Ads links?
Usually not. Google Ads auto-tagging, which adds the gclid parameter, gives GA4 far richer data than manual UTM tags. Use manual UTM parameters for channels that do not tag automatically, such as email newsletters, social posts, partner links and QR codes, and keep them off internal links between pages of your own site.
What is utm_content used for?
utm_content records which link or creative was clicked when one campaign has several, such as hero-button or footer-link in the same email. It is optional in GA4, but after source, medium and campaign it is the most useful parameter. Use it for the individual link rather than putting link details into the campaign name.
Can I put email addresses or names in UTM parameters?
No. Do not put email addresses, names or customer IDs in UTM values, because they are stored in analytics and in server logs, and Google's terms prohibit sending personally identifiable information to Analytics. Use generic labels for the source, medium, campaign and content instead.