What Works Best on Amazon: Shorter Titles or Longer Titles?

TL;DR

• Shorter titles boost conversion, while longer ones increase visibility. Your choice depends on your priority.

• The official 200-character limit isn’t always practical; test to find what works best for your product.

• Focus on the first 60 characters for mobile viewers, ensuring key details are upfront and easy to read.

• Titles should be readable and flow naturally—keyword stuffing can hurt algorithm ranking and customer engagement.

• Regularly test different title lengths and structures to see which drives more clicks and conversions. 

Ten years ago, when we started working on Amazon, optimizing listings often meant cramming titles with as many keywords as possible. Titles were packed so full of keywords that they became difficult to read and unappealing to customers. The goal was to maximize visibility in search results, but it often led to awkward and cluttered titles.

For example, imagine a title like this.

This title is overloaded with keywords, making it challenging to read and less likely to engage potential buyers.

Fast forward 10 years later, things have changed. Amazon has updated its rules, becoming more stringent on quality. It strongly discourages keyword stuffing.

However, despite these changes, many sellers still have a habit of creating long, keyword-rich titles out of muscle memory. This has sparked a big debate: Long titles or short titles—what works better? Today, in this blog post, we're going to end this debate and finally find the answer. Keep reading!

Quick guide

• First things first, what are Amazon’s rules?

• So…who wins, shorter titles or longer titles

• Finding the sweet spot

• Top tips from Amazon experts to optimize titles

  • Test different titles

  • Monitor competitors

  • Adapt based on results

  • Avoid keyword stuffing

First things first, what are Amazon’s rules?

Amazon, being Amazon, is notoriously vague when it comes to specifying exact title length limits. Officially, they set a character limit of 200 characters, but if your title exceeds 150 characters, you might see an error in the “Listing Quality Dashboard.” 

On top of that, in their best practices blog, Amazon recommends keeping listing titles around 60 characters. This conflicting guidance makes it clear that relying solely on Amazon's rules won't give you much clarity.

So…who wins, shorter titles or longer titles

Let's break this down.

Shorter titles are great because they’re easier to read and quickly deliver the most important information, making them more customer-friendly. This can lead to a higher click-through rate (CTR), which brings more traffic to your product detail page and can also make it easier to convert those visitors into buyers.

On the other hand, longer titles give you more space to include keywords. More keywords can increase your product’s visibility in search results, leading to more potential sales.

So, here's the deal: Shorter titles might be better for conversion, while longer titles could be better for driving traffic. It depends on what’s more important to you. If you’re aiming to get more eyes on your listing, go for a longer title. But if you’re focusing on converting those views into sales, a shorter, punchier title might be the way to go.

What's your priority—traffic or conversion? That will help you decide which title length to use.

Some sellers may not want to choose between conversion or traffic, and that’s completely understandable. For those sellers, here’s a strategy that could work well:

Start with a longer title, around 150 to 170 characters, when you first launch your product. This helps to maximize visibility and traffic, as the longer title allows you to pack in more keywords. The extra visibility can be crucial when your product is new and trying to gain traction.

Once your product starts gaining momentum and becomes more established in search results, you can then switch to a shorter title. By this time, your product should already have some visibility, so you can focus more on conversion. A shorter, more concise title will be easier for customers to read and can help drive more conversions.

This approach gives you the best of both worlds: initial traffic and later conversions.

Finding the sweet spot

When it comes to optimizing Amazon product titles, there are a lot of differing opinions out there. Some experts suggest sticking to 60 characters because it reads better on mobile devices. Others say 80 characters because Amazon itself has hinted at this length in best practice guides. Then some advocate for 150 characters, arguing that professional Amazon listing services often recommend this length. And of course, there's the 200-character limit, which exists for a reason, right?

The truth is, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. Each of these recommendations comes from different schools of thought, often based on assumptions rather than hard, definitive data. What works for one seller or product category might not work for another, and that’s where the confusion sets in.

So, what’s the best approach? In our experience, it’s all about finding that sweet spot. When we optimize our clients' products, we usually aim for a title length of 120 to 150 characters. Why? Because it strikes a good balance between being descriptive enough to include important keywords and being concise enough to remain readable and user-friendly.

Being a professional Amazon listing optimization agency, one of the key strategies we use is to ensure that the most critical information is packed into the first 60 characters. This way, even if someone is browsing on a mobile device—where screen space is limited—they’re still getting the essential details upfront. It’s like putting your best foot forward.

While it’s true that well-established brands might get away with shorter, 60-character titles because they don’t need to fight for visibility, newer or lesser-known brands can benefit from using a bit more space. Including synonym keywords or additional descriptive terms can give you that extra visibility boost.

In the end, the goal is to make sure your title works for your specific product and audience. Even advice coming from within Amazon can sometimes be too generalized. Just because someone from Amazon suggests a certain approach doesn’t mean it’s the definitive answer. Test different approaches, see what resonates with your customers, and find the balance that works best for you.

Top tips from Amazon experts to optimize titles

#1: Test different titles

You might have one title that’s short and snappy, like “Sleek 12-Cup Coffee Maker,” and another that’s more detailed, like “Programmable 12-Cup Automatic Coffee Maker – Brew Your Morning Perfectly Every Time.” Tools like Amazon’s Manage Your Experiments make it easy to run these tests. The goal? See which one gets more clicks and conversions. 

#2: Monitor competitors

Don’t forget to keep an eye on what the competition is doing. Are they going short and sweet, or long and detailed? If their product is similar to yours and they’re ranking well, it might be worth taking notes on their approach. But remember, just because it works for them doesn’t mean it’s a perfect fit for you. It’s all about gathering ideas and then tweaking them to suit your style.

#3: Adapt based on results

If your A/B test shows that a shorter title is getting more clicks, then run with it! On the other hand, if the longer, keyword-rich title is driving more traffic, then that’s your winner. 

#4: Avoid keyword stuffing

Sure, it’s tempting to throw every keyword you can think of into your title, but resist the urge. Amazon’s algorithm is pretty smart, and it can tell when you’re overdoing it with the keywords. Plus, customers aren’t going to click on a title that reads like a jumble of words. Instead of “Coffee Maker Automatic Coffee Machine Programmable Coffee Maker,” try something that flows better, like “Programmable 12-Cup Automatic Coffee Maker – Easy to Use & Clean.” See how that’s more readable? It makes a better first impression.

See you next week!

Remember, Amazon's 200-character limit is there for a reason—use it wisely. Test different title lengths, keep an eye on your competitors, and be ready to adapt based on your results. 

And if you need expert guidance on optimizing your Amazon listings, Amazon selling consultants at eStore Factory are here to help. Reach out to us anytime, and let's take your Amazon business to the next level!