Meta title

The meta title, also called the title tag or page title, is the title you set in a page's code. You see it in your browser tab and, more importantly, as the clickable blue headline in Google's search results. It is often the first thing someone reads about your business, before they even visit your website.

Unlike the meta description, the meta title does play a role in how search engines understand a page. It indicates in a few words what the page is about. That makes it one of the simplest and most valuable elements of on-page SEO.

What makes a strong meta title?

• Specific: it describes exactly what is on this one page.
• Unique: no two pages on your site have the same title.
• Key term first: so it stands out immediately, even if the title gets truncated.
• Concise: Google shows titles up to a certain width. Roughly 50 to 60 characters is a safe guideline.
• Natural: written for people, without a string of keywords.

Real-world examples

An accountancy firm in Manchester uses the title "Home | Patel & Co" on every page. That says nothing about what the firm does. Better would be "Accountant for self-employed people in Manchester | Patel & Co" for the homepage and "VAT return service | Patel & Co" for the service page. That way both searchers and search engines immediately know which page matches which question.

For an online shop, a fixed structure works well: product name, key feature and brand name. For example: "Oak coffee table 120 cm, oiled | Hartley Furniture". With a template like this, thousands of product titles stay consistent while each title is still unique. Do check that the template doesn't produce empty fields or repeated words when certain product data is missing.

Common mistakes

1. The same title on dozens of pages, which is often a sign of keyword cannibalisation or sloppy templates.
2. Stuffing titles with keywords, such as "Roofer Leeds, roofing Leeds, roof Leeds".
3. A title that promises something the page doesn't deliver.
4. Putting the company name first on pages where the topic matters more.

Also note: Google sometimes rewrites titles itself, for example when the title you supplied is too long, too vague or misleading. The search engine then uses your page's main heading or other headings, among other things. So make sure your meta title and the page's H1 tell the same story.

Meta titles and AI search

When Perplexity, ChatGPT Search or Google AI Overviews cite a source, the page title often appears alongside it. A clear title helps users see why your page was chosen as a source and makes it more appealing to click through. How much weight AI systems give the title itself when choosing a citation is not publicly known. Either way, a title that sums up the topic clearly is never a disadvantage.

Having your titles checked

Missing, duplicate or truncated titles are hard to track down manually on a large site. A technical SEO analysis gives you an overview per page, so you know which titles need attention first.