diff --git a/readability/htmls.py b/readability/htmls.py
index cb4ada7..49b3a47 100644
--- a/readability/htmls.py
+++ b/readability/htmls.py
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ def norm_title(title):
 
 def get_title(doc):
     title = doc.find('.//title')
-    if not title or not title.text:
+    if title is None or len(title.text) == 0:
         return '[no-title]'
 
     return norm_title(title.text)
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ def add_match(collection, text, orig):
 
 def shorten_title(doc):
     title = doc.find('.//title')
-    if not title or not title.text:
+    if title is None or len(title.text) == 0:
         return ''
 
     title = orig = norm_title(title.text)