Every page on your site has an advertisement running for it, whether you wrote it or not. It is the title that appears as the headline in search results. You pay nothing for it, and you cannot switch it off. You can only make it better or worse.
What a title tag does
The title tag tells search engines and people what a page is about. It usually appears as the clickable headline in results and as the label on the browser tab. Google sometimes rewrites titles it thinks do not describe the page well, so a clear, honest title also tends to be shown as you wrote it.
Write for the person first
- Lead with the topic the page answers. The first words matter most, because they are the ones that are always seen.
- Be specific. "Emergency Plumber in Leeds" beats "Plumbing Services".
- Add a reason to click, but only if it is true. A qualifier such as "Guide", "Prices" or the year can help.
- Put the brand last and keep it short. People searching for a solution are not usually searching for you yet.
- One idea per title. A title that tries to say everything says nothing.
Before: "Services | Acme Plumbing".
After: "Emergency Plumber in Leeds | Call-Out and Repairs | Acme Plumbing". (An invented business, used only as an illustration.)
How long should it be?
There is no official character limit. Results are cut off by pixel width, which in practice is roughly 50 to 60 characters on desktop. Keep the important words at the front, so that if the end is trimmed, nothing essential is lost.
Common mistakes
- The same title on many pages, which makes them hard to tell apart.
- Keyword stuffing, such as repeating the same phrase three times.
- Vague titles like "Home" or "Welcome".
- Promising something the page does not deliver, which makes people leave quickly.
What about meta descriptions?
Meta descriptions are not a ranking factor, but search engines often use them as the snippet under the title. Write one or two plain sentences, around 150 to 160 characters, that sum up the page and give a reason to click. Google may show different text if it matches the search better, and that is fine.
How to test a change
In Google Search Console, open the Performance report and look at the Pages tab. Compare click-through rate for pages that sit at similar positions. Choose a handful of pages with weak click-through rates, rewrite their titles, and wait a few weeks before comparing. Change a few at a time rather than everything at once, so you can tell what made the difference.