Python Script to Check Title and Meta Description Length

This script checks the basic on-page tags of HTML files: the title length, the meta description length and the number of H1 headings. It uses only the standard library, so you can run it on any computer with Python.

import sys
from html.parser import HTMLParser

class SeoParser(HTMLParser):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        self.in_title = False
        self.title = ""
        self.description = ""
        self.h1_count = 0

    def handle_starttag(self, tag, attrs):
        attrs = dict(attrs)
        if tag == "title":
            self.in_title = True
        elif tag == "meta" and attrs.get("name") == "description":
            self.description = attrs.get("content", "")
        elif tag == "h1":
            self.h1_count += 1

    def handle_endtag(self, tag):
        if tag == "title":
            self.in_title = False

    def handle_data(self, data):
        if self.in_title:
            self.title += data

def check(path):
    parser = SeoParser()
    with open(path, encoding="utf-8") as f:
        parser.feed(f.read())

    print(path)
    print("  Title (%d chars): %s" % (len(parser.title), parser.title))
    print("  Description (%d chars)" % len(parser.description))
    print("  H1 tags: %d" % parser.h1_count)

    if not 30 <= len(parser.title) <= 60:
        print("  WARNING: title should be about 30 to 60 characters")
    if not 70 <= len(parser.description) <= 155:
        print("  WARNING: description should be about 70 to 155 characters")
    if parser.h1_count != 1:
        print("  WARNING: page should have exactly one H1")

for path in sys.argv[1:]:
    check(path)

How it works

• HTMLParser reads the HTML and calls a method for each start tag, end tag and text.
• The class remembers the title text, the content of the description meta tag and counts the H1 tags.
• The warnings use the common length guidelines. They are a guide, not a strict rule of Google.
• The first page passes all checks. The second page has a short title, no description and two H1 tags, so the script shows three warnings.

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