Title tags and meta descriptions that earn the click

The title and description shown in search results are often the first thing a searcher sees from you. They decide whether someone clicks, so they are worth writing with care, even though search engines do not always use them exactly as written.

How Google chooses what to show

Google calls the clickable headline in a result the title link. It is usually based on your <title> element, but Google may also use other sources, such as the page's main heading, other prominent text or anchor text, when it decides they describe the page better. The snippet below it is usually taken from the page content, and sometimes from the meta description, whichever better matches the search.

So the aim is not to control the result, but to give Google a title and description so accurate that it has no reason to replace them.

Writing title tags

• Make each one unique. Duplicate titles across pages make it hard to tell them apart, for searchers and search engines.
• Describe the page. Lead with what the page is about, in the words people search for.
• Keep it concise. Long titles are cut off in results. There is no fixed character limit, but around 50 to 60 characters usually shows in full.
• Add your brand once, usually at the end, if there is room.
• Avoid keyword stuffing and boilerplate repeated on every page; these are among the most common reasons titles are rewritten.

Example: "Local SEO for service businesses: a starter guide | Brand" says what the page is and who it is for.

Writing meta descriptions

Google has said it does not use the meta description for ranking. Its job is to earn the click when it is shown.

• Summarise the page in one or two sentences: what the reader gets, and for whom.
• Make each one unique, written for that page. A good description is better than none, and none is better than the same text on every page.
• Include the main topic naturally: matching words are often highlighted in results.
• Do not promise what the page does not deliver. It costs you the visitor's trust and the click next time.

Checking yours

1. In Google Search Console, sort pages by impressions and look at their click-through rate. Pages with many impressions and few clicks are the first candidates.
2. Search for those pages to see the title link and snippet Google actually shows.
3. Crawl the site with Screaming Frog to find missing, duplicate, very long or very short titles and descriptions.
4. Rewrite, then compare click-through rates over the following weeks for the same queries.

For the bigger picture of what to fix first, see A first-week technical SEO audit. Share titles you are proud of, or stuck on, in the Content and on-page community.