The title you provide to your web page can have a major impact on the number of search engine users who click-through to access its contents. After all, the title delivers critical context about what the page is all about, context that is useful to the search engine algorithms as well as the end user. In short, selecting the right title tag for your website is invaluable.
And yet, no matter how meticulous you are about selecting the right title tag, there’s a decent chance that Google will just rewrite it anyway. Recent studies confirm that Google changes title tags more than 60 percent of the time, a figure that may strike you as astronomical.
As you think about the best practices for composing title tags, it may be worth summarizing some of the common reasons why Google engages in this process of revision.
What are the Primary Reasons to Alter Title Tags?
There are several typical reasons why the Google search algorithms adjust or rewrite title tags. They include:
The Original Title Tag is Either Too Short or Too Long
We recommend that title tags fall somewhere between 50 and 60 characters total… and Google agrees. If your title tag is much longer than that, it may not fit in the allocated space on the SERP, which will force Google to truncate it. This results in suboptimal or incomplete information for the search engine user. And if your title tag is too short, you’re simply not taking full advantage of the space available to you.
The bottom line? The length of your title tag matters a great deal, and you want to offer as much information as you can without going over the limit. Note that, according to the research, Google rewrites a whopping 95 percent of title tags that are too short or too long.
Your Title Tag Includes Clumsy Punctuation
Many websites employ parentheses or brackets to distinguish different pages. Google’s algorithms don’t exactly favor this practice, and more often than not, title tags that include parentheses or brackets get rewritten.
Generally speaking, these types of punctuation cause title tags to look a little clumsy, making them a bit tougher to read. Our best guess is that this is why Google removes them; it’s simply a matter of providing the best possible reader experience.
Your Title Tag Used Separators
What do we mean by separators? Well, again, it’s all about punctuation. If you use pipes, dashes, or colons to separate words or phrases in your title tag, there’s a good chance Google will do some rewriting.
It may be worth noting that pipes get eliminated more than 40 percent of the time. Dashes, on the other hand, only get written out about 20 percent of the time, and colons may fare even better. Still, it’s usually wise to just eliminate these separators whenever possible.
Your Title Tags Use Too Many Keywords
The practice of keyword stuffing has largely fallen by the wayside, though some SEOs still try to pack as many search terms as possible into their titles, often at the expense of meaning and clarity. This can be counterproductive, as Google often rewrites title tags that are overstuffed with keywords. Just remember that, from the vantage point of Google, title tags are first and foremost about informing.
You Repeat Your Title Tags
As a general principle, Google’s algorithms aren’t big on duplicate content. If you use the same title tags for different pages, you can expect them to get adjusted or rewritten. Always create original content for each page, including original title tags.
Your Title Tags Use Too Much Branding
Google wants title tags to be informative, but not overly advertorial. As such, you can expect your title tags to get rewritten if they rely too heavily on brand names. Sometimes using brand names is fine and even necessary, but be cautious.
How Can You Stop Google from Changing Your Title Tags?
Webmasters and SEOs may wonder what they can do to prevent Google algorithms from modifying their title tags. The short answer: Nothing. Google’s algorithms will adjust title tags as they see fit, and there’s no way you can completely prevent this.
With that said, you can minimize the odds of your title tags being changed by following some of the best practices we’ve outlined here. To summarize:
- Focus on clear, informative titles that accurately reflect the contents of the page.
- Keep the length to 50-60 characters total.
- Avoid keyword stuffing or unnecessary brand names.
- Steer clear of obtrusive punctuation, especially parentheses, brackets, and pipes.
- Don’t reuse the same title tags for multiple pages.
If you have any questions about writing effective copy or metadata, we’d love to chat with you further. Reach out to enCOMPASS at any time.
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