A short guide to title tags
It comes up on almost every project, usually later than it should. Everything we would tell a client about title tags in the time it takes to drink a coffee.
Search engines are trying to answer a question, so the pages that answer questions clearly tend to do well. Doing this properly once is usually cheaper than doing it approximately three times.
Why it matters
The title is the biggest on-page signal you fully control. Small and consistent beats large and occasional here. If two people in the business would answer this differently, that gap is the actual problem.
The practical version
Front-load the terms that matter most. It is worth being explicit about, because assumptions differ quietly. The version that survives contact with a real deadline is the simple one.
What to watch for
Duplicate titles across pages waste the opportunity. The cost of getting this wrong is rarely visible on the day it happens. Assume whoever inherits this will have half your context and none of your patience.
What this looks like day to day
Technical fixes remove obstacles; content earns the position. Both are needed and they are not interchangeable. Three things worth confirming about title tags before you move on:
- Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
- Front-load the terms that matter most — and you know whether that is true here
- There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped
Worth checking on your own setup before it becomes someone else's problem to fix.