Free YouTube tool
Score your title before you publish
Paste a YouTube title and get an instant 0-100 score, a six-point checklist, and a search preview showing exactly where desktop and mobile cut it off. Free, in your browser, no sign-up.
Title score
Start typing a title to see your score.
Under 70 characters
Waiting for a title
Keyword appears early
Enter a target keyword to check placement
Contains a number
Waiting for a title
Has a power word
Waiting for a title
Not shouting
Waiting for a title
No hype overload
Waiting for a title
Search preview
Desktop search
Your title shows here, cut at ~70 characters
Your Channel · 24K views · 2 days ago
Mobile / suggested
Cut at ~40 characters
Your Channel · 24K views · 2 days ago
YouTube allows 100 characters, but search shows roughly the first 70 and mobile or suggested placements as few as 40. Put the words that sell the click first.
How it works
Paste your title
Drop in a draft title and, optionally, the keyword you want to rank for. Everything runs live in your browser, no sign-up.
Read the score and checklist
Six weighted checks (length, keyword placement, numbers, power words, capitalization, and hype) roll up into a 0-100 score.
Fix and preview truncation
Edit until the score climbs, then check the search preview to see exactly what survives the ~70-character desktop and ~40-character mobile cutoffs.
YouTube title length in 2026
YouTube's hard limit is 100 characters, but almost nobody sees all 100. Desktop search results truncate titles at roughly 70 characters, and the tighter placements (mobile, suggested videos, and the home feed sidebar) can cut as early as 40. A title that reads perfectly in YouTube Studio can lose its entire payoff to an ellipsis where it actually matters.
The fix is front-loading: put the words that sell the click and the keyword you're targeting in the first 40-70 characters, and let anything expendable trail at the end. If your title still makes someone curious after being chopped at 40 characters, it works everywhere.
- 100 characters: YouTube's hard limit; anything longer won't save.
- ~70 characters: where desktop search results start truncating.
- ~40 characters: the practical limit for mobile and suggested-video placements.
- Front-load your keyword and hook; back-load branding, episode numbers, and filler.
- Aim for 50-70 characters: long enough to intrigue, short enough to survive truncation.
What actually makes a clickable title
The best titles open a curiosity gap: they promise a specific payoff without giving it away. "I Tested 5 Editing Apps: One Was Shockingly Bad" makes you need the answer; "Editing App Review" doesn't. That's different from clickbait, which promises a payoff the video never delivers. Viewers punish that by leaving early, which tells YouTube to stop recommending you.
Numbers work because they set concrete expectations: "7 mistakes" tells viewers exactly what they're getting and how long it'll take. Power words (proven, mistake, honest, avoid) add emotional pull, but one or two per title is plenty. Past that, the title starts reading as spam and your channel loses credibility with every click.
Finally, remember that viewers never see a title alone. Title and thumbnail are one unit: the thumbnail grabs the eye, the title closes the click. The strongest combinations avoid repeating each other: if the thumbnail says "$100 vs $10,000", the title doesn't need to. Write them together, not separately.
Title formulas that keep working
Formulas aren't cheating: they're structures proven across millions of videos. Swap in your topic and sharpen from there:
- Number + outcome: "7 Thumbnail Mistakes Killing Your Views"
- How to + result + objection: "How to Grow on YouTube (Without Posting Daily)"
- I tested / I tried: "I Posted Shorts Every Day for 30 Days"
- Versus: "$100 Editor vs $10,000 Editor: Can You Tell?"
- Mistake or warning: "Stop Doing This in Your First 10 Seconds"
- Honest reality check: "The Honest Truth About Faceless Channels"
- Curiosity gap: "What Happens When You Upload at 3 AM"
Yes: completely free, unlimited checks, no sign-up. It's a free tool from PostVona, the social media scheduler for creators and teams. The analysis runs entirely in your browser, so your titles are never sent to a server.
Aim for 50-70 characters. YouTube's hard limit is 100, but desktop search truncates around 70 and mobile or suggested placements around 40. Keep the hook and your keyword in the first 40-70 characters so the title works even when it's cut.
Not directly: the algorithm penalizes what clickbait causes. If your title over-promises and the video under-delivers, viewers click away in seconds, your average view duration tanks, and YouTube stops recommending the video. Curiosity is good; broken promises are expensive.
Yes, with nuance. For search-driven topics (tutorials, how-tos, reviews), the exact keyword near the front of the title genuinely helps YouTube match your video to queries. For browse- and suggested-driven content, click appeal matters more than keyword matching. A title optimized for a search engine but boring to humans loses either way.
Capitalizing one or two words for emphasis ("I Spent 30 Days in the WORST Rated Hotel") can work. Full ALL-CAPS titles read as shouting, get flagged by viewers as spammy, and this checker marks anything over 40% capitals accordingly. Use caps like a highlighter, not a default.
It's a weighted heuristic checklist, not a CTR prediction. Length under 70 characters carries the most weight, followed by early keyword placement, then power words, natural capitalization, restrained punctuation, and including a number. A 90 doesn't guarantee clicks. It means your title clears the structural bar that most underperforming titles fail.
Yes. YouTube's built-in Test & Compare feature (in YouTube Studio) rotates up to three thumbnails, and title testing is available for thumbnails paired with titles on many accounts. Testing real audience response beats any checker. Use this tool to draft strong candidates, then let the data pick the winner.
Yes. PostVona schedules and auto-publishes to YouTube alongside Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and X, with a content calendar and team approvals. Nail the title here, then queue the video to go live at the time your audience actually watches.
Stop juggling tools. Schedule everything in one place.
PostVona plans, approves, and auto-publishes your posts across Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, and X, with your whole team, at no per-seat cost.