Title and meta description: how to write them

Why the title and the description matter

People read the title and the description in a search result before they click. The title is the clickable heading, the description is the short text below it. The title also appears in the browser tab and in bookmarks. They are small texts with a big job.

What Google says about length

Google does not set a maximum length for the title element. Titles are shortened in search results to fit the width of the device, so a long title may be cut off. The same is true for the description: there is no set maximum, and Google shortens it to the space available. Google also decides which text it shows: usually text from the page that matches the search, sometimes your description when it describes the page better. The tool of Do4U works with up to 60 characters for the title and up to 155 for the description. That is a working rule that brings the important words to the front, not a requirement of Google.

Writing the title

• Give every page its own title that describes that page. Titles like 'Home' or 'Profile' do not help.
• Keep it concise and put the most important words first.
• Do not repeat keywords. Repeating them is keyword stuffing and makes a result look spammy.
• Avoid the same boilerplate on many pages. Titles that are identical or almost identical make pages hard to tell apart.
• Add your brand briefly, at the start or at the end, separated by a hyphen, a colon or a pipe. On the home page a longer title with the name of the site is fine.
• Let the main heading of the page (h1) match the title in meaning. The most prominent text on the page is one of the sources Google uses for the title.

Writing the description

• Write a description for each page. For the home page and for listing pages, one description for the whole site is enough. If you cannot write all of them, start with the most important pages.
• Summarise the page in specific words. A vague or very short line helps nobody.
• Add useful facts such as author, date or price when they matter.
• Do not use lists of keywords.
• If your shop generates descriptions from product data, make sure the texts still read naturally and differ between pages.

Examples

• Title. Weak: 'Home'. Better: 'Handmade ceramic mugs | Example Pottery'.
• Title. Weak: 'Mugs, mug, buy mug, ceramic mug, cheap mugs'. Better: 'Ceramic mugs from small batches | Example Pottery'.
• Description. Weak: 'Welcome to our website.' Better: 'Handmade ceramic mugs in many colours. Dishwasher safe, made in our own workshop.'

When Google rewrites the title

• The title is half empty, for example only the brand name.
• The title is outdated, for example with an old year that no longer matches the heading.
• The title does not match the content of the page.
• The same title text sits on many pages.
• It is unclear which heading is the main one, or the title and the page use different languages or scripts.

Check your pages

Go through your most important pages one by one: is the title unique, does it say what the page is, does the main heading fit? The free length check shows the length of title and description. The SEO title & description tool writes three variants for a page, with the length checked.

According to Google, changes can take days to weeks to show in search results, and Google may still choose another title. Check again after a few weeks.