How to Write Title Tags and Meta Descriptions
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- You need
- Access to your CMS SEO fields or page HTML
- Check with
- Search Console URL Inspection
On this page
To write a good title tag, put what the page is about first, keep it short and specific, and add your brand once at the end. To write a meta description, summarize the page in one or two plain sentences that tell searchers why it answers their query. Make both unique on every page. Google can rewrite either one, but clear, accurate text gives it less reason to. This guide is part of our technical SEO guide.
You'll need access to the SEO title and description fields in your CMS, or to the page's HTML. A list of the keyword each page targets, from your keyword research, helps too.
What title tags and meta descriptions do
The title tag is the `<title>` element in a page's HTML. Google uses it as one of the main sources for the title link, the clickable headline of a search result. Google calls the title link often the primary piece of information people use to decide which result to click. Browsers also show the title in tabs and bookmarks.
The meta description is a short summary in the page's `<meta name="description">` tag. Google creates search snippets mainly from the page content itself, but it may use the meta description when it describes the page better. Snippets are matched to the query, so one page can show different snippets for different searches.
Here is what both look like in a page's head:
<head>
<title>Commercial Gutter Cleaning: What It Covers | Example Co</title>
<meta name="description" content="What a commercial gutter
clean includes, how often buildings need one, and how to
prepare the site. Written by our in-house crew.">
</head>How long should titles and descriptions be?
Google doesn't set a character limit for either. Its documentation says there's no limit on how long a title element or a meta description can be. Instead, Google truncates title links and snippets as needed, typically to fit the device width. So the honest answer to "how long should a title tag be" is: short enough that the important part survives truncation.
On our own site, we keep title tags to 60 characters or fewer and meta descriptions between 140 and 155 characters. That's a working house rule, not a Google requirement. It keeps the key words visible on most screens and forces us to cut filler. Whatever limit you choose, put the words that matter most at the start, so a cut-off ending loses nothing important.
Steps
- Start the title with what the page is about.
Lead with the page's main topic, in the words searchers use. "Commercial Gutter Cleaning: What It Covers" tells a searcher more than "Services" or "Home". Google specifically warns against vague descriptors like "Home" or "Profile". Every page needs its own `<title>` element, and an empty or missing one invites Google to build a title link from other text.
- Keep it concise and front-load the key words.
Cut words that don't help someone choose your result, such as "Welcome to" or a list of synonyms. Google advises against long or verbose titles, and against repeating the same words or phrases. A title like "Gutter Cleaning, Gutter Cleaners, Clean Gutters" reads as keyword stuffing. One clear phrase and one useful detail are usually enough.
- Brand it once, at the end.
Add your site name at the end of the title, separated by a hyphen, colon or pipe, which is the pattern Google's own examples use. Keep the brand short. Your home page can carry a longer description of the business, but repeating a long tagline on every page wastes space and makes results from your site look the same.
- Make the visible headline agree with the title.
Google looks at the main visible title, heading elements such as the `<h1>` and other prominent text when it creates title links. If the H1 says something different from the title tag, Google has to choose between them. Make the main heading the most prominent text on the page, and keep it consistent with the title.
- Remove duplicates and boilerplate across the site.
Export every title and description from your CMS or a site crawler into a spreadsheet and sort by text. Fix any that repeat. Google names repeated and boilerplate titles as a common problem, including long titles that vary by only one word. Give each page text that describes that page and nothing else.
- Write the description as a one-page pitch.
Google describes a good meta description as a short, relevant summary that convinces someone the page is what they're looking for. Write one or two plain sentences that say what the page covers and who it helps. Avoid lists of keywords: Google says descriptions made of keyword strings are less likely to be shown.
- Add the specific facts searchers need.
Descriptions don't have to be full sentences. Google suggests including page details that might not appear in the snippet otherwise, such as the author and publication date on articles, or the key specifications on a product page. For a service page, say what's included and who it's for.
- Publish, request a recrawl and check the result.
After you save changes, inspect the URL in Search Console and request indexing for important pages. Google says it has to recrawl and reprocess a page to notice title changes, which can take a few days to a few weeks. Then search for the page and compare the title link and snippet with what you wrote.
Titles and descriptions are two items on our on-page SEO checklist, which covers the rest of the page. If you'd rather have metadata written and maintained across your site, our in-house SEO team handles site structure, metadata and structured data.
Common title problems Google rewrites
Google's title link documentation lists the issues that most often make it choose different text. Checking for them is the quickest audit you can run.
| Problem | What it looks like | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Half-empty title | Only a delimiter and the site name | Add the page topic before the brand |
| Obsolete title | Last year's date on a page updated this year | Update the title with the page |
| Inaccurate title | Text that doesn't reflect the page content | Rewrite it to match the page |
| Micro-boilerplate | Many pages share one title, one detail apart | Make the distinguishing detail lead |
| Site name repeated | Brand appears twice in one title | Keep the brand once, at the end |
| Language mismatch | Title in a different language from the page | Write it in the page's language |
Troubleshooting
Google shows a different title from the one you wrote
Cause: Google creates title links automatically from several sources, including the title element, the main visible heading, other prominent text, anchor text in links pointing to the page, and WebSite structured data. If it detects an issue, such as a vague, overlong, outdated or boilerplate title, it may build a better one from those sources.
Fix: check your title against the problems in the table above. Make sure the H1 and the title say the same thing, that the title describes this specific page, and that the brand appears only once. Check the anchor text of your internal links to the page too, since Google can use it. After fixing, request a recrawl in Search Console and allow a few days to a few weeks for the change to show.
Google ignores your meta description
Cause: this is expected behaviour, not an error. Google primarily builds snippets from page content and uses the meta description only when it gives a more accurate description for that search. Because snippets are matched to the query, a page may show your description for one search and a passage from the page for another.
Fix: make sure the description is unique, specific and summarizes the whole page rather than its first paragraph. Remove keyword lists, which Google says are less likely to be shown. Then improve the page copy itself, because that's what Google draws on most: answer the main question clearly near the top, in a sentence that would make a good snippet on its own. Don't judge success by a single query.
Every page in a section has nearly the same title
Cause: a template fills the title with a fixed pattern, such as a section name plus the site name, and only one small detail changes. Google calls this micro-boilerplate. It makes results from the same section hard to tell apart, and Google may replace those titles with text taken from the page.
Fix: change the template so the unique part of each page leads the title, followed by a short shared element only if it helps. For example, put the specific service or article topic first and drop repeated section labels. Where pages differ by only one detail, ask whether they should be separate pages at all. Use descriptions generated from page-specific data if there are too many pages to write by hand.
Common questions
Does Google still use the meta keywords tag?
No. Google's SEO Starter Guide says plainly that Google Search doesn't use the keywords meta tag. You can leave it out of new pages. Filling it with keywords won't help, and repeating keywords in your title or description instead can look like keyword stuffing. Put that effort into a clear, specific title and a description that summarizes the page.
Should every page have a meta description?
Ideally, yes, and each one should be unique. Google says identical or similar descriptions across a site aren't helpful. If you can't write one for every page, it suggests prioritizing: at least cover critical URLs like the home page and your most popular pages. For large sites, descriptions generated from page-specific data are acceptable, as long as they read naturally.
Can I stop Google from showing a snippet for a page?
Yes. Google supports a nosnippet robots meta tag, which stops a text snippet from showing for the page. A max-snippet setting caps the snippet at a number of characters you choose, and a data-nosnippet attribute keeps specific parts of a page out of snippets. Use these with care: a result without a useful snippet gives searchers less reason to click.
Should the title tag and the H1 be the same?
They should agree, but they don't have to match word for word. Google looks at the main visible title and heading elements, as well as the title element, when it creates a title link. A clear H1 that says the same thing as the title tag sends a consistent signal. The title can be shorter or add the brand; the H1 can read more naturally on the page.