Title tag

What it means

The title tag is the HTML element that holds a page's title. It appears in the browser tab, when a bookmark is saved and usually as the blue headline in search results, so it is often the first thing a potential visitor sees of the site.

It is one of the most important elements of on-page SEO. Search engines use it to understand the page's topic, and users decide from it whether to click. Together with the meta description, it forms what people see in the SERP before they visit the site.

The title should contain the page's main keyword, ideally near the start, and be short enough not to be cut off. Every page should have a unique title that accurately describes its content and distinguishes it from the site's other pages.

How it works in practice

A common structure is the page topic, then supporting information and finally the brand name, for example Bookkeeping for limited companies, prices and terms | company name. For glossary terms, the title can contain the term and a short note on what the reader will learn from the article.

A good title raises the click-through rate, because the search result looks more relevant and trustworthy. Specificity helps, such as the year for current topics, a number in a list or a clear benefit, but without exaggerated promises the content will not keep.

The title differs from the main H1 heading on the page, although they often have similar content. Readers see the H1 on the page as part of the heading structure, whereas the title appears outside it. On a multilingual site each language version needs its own translated title.

What to watch out for

Search engines sometimes rewrite the title in the SERP with their own text, for example from the page heading, if they judge the original does not reflect the content. This happens mostly with titles that are too long, too generic or stuffed with keywords.

Duplicate titles across several pages make it harder for search engines to tell which page is relevant to a query. For generated pages such as products, categories or glossary terms, it is important that the template produces a unique title for each page.