Google recent SERP Changes and test

Google increase the length limit for title tags in SERP to around 69-70 characters

Title tag on mobiles have lengthened even to 78 characters

SERP reports that the width of google search result has increased from 500-600 pixel wide, decreasing the space between results and the knowledge panel on the right hand side by 5 pixel to make room

Width of featured snippets has also increased from 565 pixel wide to about 645 pixel while the height has decreased by about 30 pixel

 Mobile :

The length of mobile title tags has reportedly increase to as much as 78 characters

Natural language queries are search queries that use full, everyday language instead of short, disjointed keywords. They are becoming more common as voice search is on the rise and search engines are increasingly able to interpret specific, multi-part queries.

In theory, SEOs should adapt to this trend in order to give their websites the best chance of ranking for natural language search queries, but with a limit on how much will fit on the search results page, this is easier said than done.

Extending the length of titles and descriptions might be Google’s way of acknowledging this and adjusting the SERP to allow for it.

Finally, another benefit of longer title tags is that in some cases, it can make room for brand names at the end of a title, which is useful for making sure your brand stamp is on a search result without necessarily having to sacrifice any valuable content.

The increased width of featured snippets probably won’t make big difference as long as the amount of text within stays the same, but they’re still an excellent way to leapfrog your search competition if you know how.

Meanwhile, the wider map pack could be great news for local SEO, as it gives enough room to display short descriptions plus precise address details, distance (at least on Google.co.uk – I’ve noticed screenshots from Google.com don’t appear to have this feature) and phone number, all without truncating.