Glossary
Title tag
A title tag is the page title written in the title element of a page's HTML head. It does not appear in the body of the page. Google often uses it for the clickable title of the page in search results.
Also called title element, page title, meta title.
How Google picks the title of a result
The clickable headline at the top of each search result is what Google calls a title link. Google writes it automatically from several sources, and the title element in your page's code is one of them (Google Search Central).
You cannot set the title link directly. What you control is the title tag, so make it the most accurate short description of the page you can write, and keep it in step with the main heading on the page.
How to write one
Google's advice fits in a sentence: give every page a title that is descriptive, concise and different from every other page's title, with no keyword stuffing and no boilerplate repeated across the site (Google Search Central). For a local business that usually means the service, then the town, then your name, as in Roof Repair in Tulsa | Your Business Name.
Write it for the person scanning a page of results and deciding where to click. A title that only says Home, or Services, tells them nothing. Your town belongs in the homepage title or main heading in particular, and the scan checks that as C3 when your structured data names the town.
The meta description beside it
Under the title link sits the snippet, a line or two about the page. Google builds snippets mainly from the page's own text, and sometimes uses your meta description when it describes the page better. Google also asks for a description that is unique to each page (Google Search Central).
A description is worth writing even though Google may not show it. Say what the page offers and who it is for, in plain words that match the page, and do not reuse one across pages.
How the scan checks both
The scan reads the title and meta description of every page it visits. A page with no title, or two pages sharing the same one, is C1. A page with no meta description is C4. Each finding gives examples as evidence: the address of a page missing a title or a description, or a title several pages share, quoted with the number of pages that use it. Fix those, then check your other pages for the same gaps, so every page ends up with a title and a description of its own.
What the free scan checks
Questions
How long should a title tag be?
Long enough to say what the page is, and no longer. Google sets no fixed limit, but it cuts long title links to fit the width of the screen (Google Search Central), so put the service and the town first and your business name at the end, where losing it costs least.
Why does Google show a different title from mine?
Because Google writes the title link itself, from several sources, and your title tag is only one of them (Google Search Central). If yours is missing, vague, stuffed with keywords or shared with other pages, rewrite it using the advice above, then give Google time to crawl the page again. Even a good title is not always used word for word.
Where this fits in our work
We handle this as part of Content: Service pages, local pages and articles that answer what your buyers ask, with every statistic linked to its source.
Related reading
Guides
- SEO or paid search: which should a local business pay for first? How paid clicks and organic work differ in cost, speed and what is left when you stop paying, with sourced ad costs.
- Should you do local SEO in-house or hire an agency? What you can do yourself, what a hire costs, and when an agency is the better use of the money.
Posts that use this term
- Does my website need to work well on phones to show up on Google? Google reads the phone version of your pages to index and rank them. What that version has to carry, and what to check on your own phone.
Related terms
- Meta description: The short summary in a page's code that Google sometimes shows under a result, and how to write one for every page.
- Search intent: What a searcher wants from a query, how Google reads it, and why a page has to answer that want rather than repeat the words.
- Internal links: Links from one page of your site to another, how they help people and Google find pages, and how to choose the words you link.
- Alt text: The words that describe an image for people who cannot see it and for search engines, and how to write them for each kind of image.
Sources
- Google Search Central: Influencing your title links in search results, updated December 10, 2025. Checked September 26, 2026.
- Google Search Central: Control your snippets in search results, updated April 20, 2026. Checked September 26, 2026.