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Title tags: how to write ones Google keeps

·4 min read

A title tag is the <title> element in a page's <head>, the text browsers show in the tab and Google uses first when it builds the clickable headline of a search result. Google calls that headline a title link and generates it automatically, so it can replace your title tag with other text from the page. It keeps your title when the title is unique, describes the page accurately, matches the visible main heading and isn't padded with keywords or boilerplate.

What is a title tag?

A title tag is one line of HTML inside the document head. It is not visible on the page itself.

<head>
  <title>Trail running shoes for wide feet | Northpeak</title>
</head>

Each page gets exactly one. If a theme or plugin adds a second <title>, remove it. The title labels the page for results and tabs, while the H1 labels it for the reader on the page. Our post on the H1 tag covers where the two should differ.

Google's title link documentation says the process is automated and lists the sources it draws on:

  • the <title> element
  • the main visual title on the page
  • heading elements such as <h1>
  • the og:title meta tag
  • other large, prominent text
  • anchor text on the page and in links pointing to the page
  • WebSite structured data

Your title tag is the first candidate, not the final answer. When it agrees with what the page visibly says, it usually survives. When it conflicts, Google picks the text it thinks describes the page better.

Changes are not instant. Google has to recrawl and reprocess the page before a new title shows up, which the same doc says can take days to weeks. Don't rewrite a title twice in one week and conclude neither worked.

When Google rewrites your title tag

Google rewrites title tags that are empty, stale, inaccurate or repeated across pages. Its documentation names the specific patterns.

Problem in your title What Google may show instead
Half empty, such as | Site Name A product or page name from headings, added before the site name
Obsolete, such as "2020 admissions criteria" on a page now about 2021 The current year from the visible title
Inaccurate, listing items the page doesn't cover A shorter title that matches the content
The same title on every page in a series The title plus a distinguishing detail, such as a season number
Several headings equally prominent The first of them
A different language or script from the page Text that matches the page's main language
The site name repeated where the result already shows it The title without the site name

The fix in every row is the same idea. Make the title tag say what the visible page says. If your template prints the product name in a large heading but the title tag only carries the shop name, Google will borrow the heading, so put it in the title yourself.

If none of these apply, Google suggests asking whether your title fits the query at all. A sound title can still lose to text that matches a specific search better.

How to write title tags Google keeps

Write each title for the one page it sits on, lead with what the page is, and keep the brand short and at one end.

Make it unique. Every indexable page needs its own title. A shop with 400 product pages titled "Buy online | Northpeak" has handed Google 400 reasons to write its own. Build titles from the data that differs per page, such as product name and model.

Describe the page in the searcher's words. "Home" and "Profile" are labels, not descriptions. "Trail running shoes for wide feet" tells the searcher and Google what they will find. Use the phrase people actually search for, once.

Front-load the topic. Google truncates long titles to fit the device width, so the end is what gets cut. Put the page's subject first and anything optional after it. For how many characters actually fit, see SEO title length.

Put the brand at the start or end, once. Google's example is a site name, a delimiter such as a hyphen, colon or pipe, then the page description. The end is the better default for most pages because the topic stays in front. Use the brand first only on the home page or when the brand is what people search for.

Don't stuff keywords. Google's own bad example is "Foobar, foo bar, foobars, foo bars." Variants strung together read as spam to the searcher and give Google a reason to replace the title with your H1.

Here is a before and after from the pattern above:

<!-- Before: half empty, same on every product page -->
<title> | Northpeak</title>

<!-- After: unique, front-loaded, brand at the end -->
<title>Ridgeline 4 trail running shoe, wide fit | Northpeak</title>

Then make the visible H1 describe the same thing, since Google reads the main visual title as a source too. The on-page SEO checklist covers the rest of the page.

Check your title tags with the On-Page SEO Checker

The On-Page SEO Checker fetches a URL and reads the title tag from the HTML your server returns. It flags a missing title, more than one <title> element, a title under 30 characters, and a title wider than the roughly 600 pixels a desktop result shows. It also tells you when the title is identical to the meta description, when it matches the H1, when it shares no words with the URL path, and when og:title says something different. You get a snippet preview showing where the title clips.

Add a target query and it grades how well the title, H1, URL and body cover the words in it. A run costs 8 credits. It does not see titles injected by JavaScript after load, and it cannot tell you which title Google actually displays for your page. Search for the page in Google to see that.

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