agents_We read 12,916 product titles. The ones AI agents put first are shorter.
We compared the product titles at #1 with the ones at #20 across 518 shopping searches. The winners are shorter, plainer and more often say exactly what the shopper typed. Keyword stuffing doesn't help.
For years, the advice for marketplace listings was to pack the title: every feature, every keyword, every size, in capital letters if you could get away with it. AI shopping agents read titles differently, so we checked whether that advice still holds.
On November 3, 2026, we ran 518 shopping searches through shop.dev, the catalog AI agents use to search Shopify stores, and read the titles of the top 25 results of each: 12,916 placements.
Titles get shorter as you go up
| Position | Listings | Average title | Average words | Over 60 characters | Has a word in ALL CAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | 518 | 30 characters | 5.0 | 5.8% | 3.5% |
| #2–3 | 1,036 | 32 characters | 5.2 | 5.3% | 5.6% |
| #4–10 | 3,626 | 35 characters | 5.7 | 7.6% | 6.9% |
| #11–25 | 7,736 | 39 characters | 6.3 | 11.1% | 8.6% |
The average #1 title is 30 characters, about the length of "Quilted Shacket - Navy Blue." Titles over 60 characters are twice as common at #11–25 as at #1. Words in all capitals (four letters or more, whether shouting like "NEW" or a brand written in caps) are more than twice as common at the bottom as at the top.
Different searches have different kinds of titles, so we also compared each search with itself. In 310 of the 518 searches, the #1 title was shorter than the typical title at #11–25 of that same search. In 189 it was longer.
Say what the shopper said
For short, generic searches like "dog bowl" or "wireless earbuds," we checked whether the title contains the shopper's exact words. At #1, 37% of titles do. Everywhere else in the top 25 it's about 30%.
The winners often read like the search itself:
- "dog harness": #1 is Wilderdog's "Dog Harness." Eleven characters, 2,157 reviews. At #12 is a Team K9 harness with 1,921 reviews and a 145-character title that starts "Classic Heavy-Duty Tactical No-Pull Team K9® Dog Harness With Front & Back D-Rings…"
- "daypack": #1 is Stubble & Co's "Everyday Backpack 20L," with 3,195 reviews. At #21 is a 93-character title from Stealth Angel Survival with 2,734 reviews: "50L Backpack Daypack w/ 3 MOLLE Bags Large Military Style Outdoor…"
- "dog leash": #1 is Ruffwear's "Roamer™ Bungee Dog Leash," with 306 reviews. At #25 is a 120-character tactical bungee leash with 265.
- "dog gear": #1 is ONETIGRIS's "AIRE Mesh Dog Harness," with 80 reviews. At #19, with 338 reviews, is a 251-character title for a "10-In-1 Tactical K9 Harness System" that lists all ten things in the box.
In each of these pairs the two listings have similar review counts, or the short title has fewer. The long title still sat lower.
What didn't matter
Plenty of title habits made no real difference between #1 and #20:
- "Pack," "set," "bundle" and "kit": in 16.6% of #1 titles and 16.3% at #11–25.
- ™ and ®: 9.3% at #1, 7.0% at #11–25. Slightly more common at the top, if anything.
- Pipes and dashes as separators ("Sheet Set | OEKO-TEX Certified"): a little less common at the top, but not by much.
- Numbers like sizes and counts: 28% of #1 titles, 33% at #11–25.
How much does a title matter?
Less than reviews. In our look at big brands and small ones, the listing with more reviews ranked higher in 66% of head-to-head pairs in the top 10. For title length, the shorter title ranked higher in 54% of pairs. That's a tilt, not a rule.
But a title is the one thing on a listing you can change in five minutes, at no cost. So:
- Lead with what it is, in the shopper's words. "Dog Harness," "Bamboo Bed Sheets," "Electric Kettle." If you have a product name, put the plain description next to it: "Roamer™ Bungee Dog Leash," not just "Roamer™."
- Move the feature list to the description. That's where the details belong. The title's job is to match the search.
- Drop the capitals. "NEW" and "UPGRADED" aren't helping.
- Aim for under 40 characters. Four in five #1 titles are.
What we can't tell you
This is one day of searches, so treat it as a snapshot. The searches came from the 40 brands we track, so they lean toward their categories: apparel, beauty, home, coffee, pets and outdoor gear. Long titles might also go with other things that rank lower, like a store that sells mostly through marketplaces. And this shows what goes with ranking well, not proof of what causes it. We're recording these searches every day, and when stores change their titles we'll report what happened to their rank. Bark Twice isn't affiliated with any store named here.
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