What is a title tag?
A title tag is the <title> element inside a page's <head>. It names the page for browsers, which show it in the tab and in bookmarks, and for search engines, which usually use it as the blue headline of the search result. It is one of the clearest signals of what a page is about and one of the biggest influences on whether a searcher clicks.
The title tag is not the same as the H1, the visible heading on the page. They often say similar things, but the title is written for the results page and the H1 for the reader who has already arrived.
How it works
Google uses the title tag as a relevance signal and as the default text for the result headline. Since 2021 it rewrites titles more often, drawing on the H1, anchor text, or other page text when it judges the title tag inaccurate, stuffed with keywords, too long, or identical across many pages. A specific, honest title is the best way to keep yours.
There is no fixed character limit. Google truncates by pixel width, roughly 600 pixels on desktop, which usually works out to 50 to 60 characters. Longer titles are not penalized, but the end gets cut off with an ellipsis, so put the main topic first and any brand name last.
Example
<head>
<title>Pour-Over Coffee Ratio: How Much Coffee per Cup | Kiln Coffee</title>
</head>
This title names the topic in the first few words, answers a specific query, and puts the brand at the end where truncation costs least. Compare it with Home | Kiln Coffee or Blog Post 14, which tell neither Google nor the searcher anything.
In WordPress
Modern themes declare add_theme_support( 'title-tag' ) and let WordPress generate the tag, usually as Post Title – Site Name. SEO plugins hook into that output. Hydrogen SEO builds titles from templates per post type and taxonomy (the default for posts is %title% %separator% %site_name%) and lets you write a custom SEO title per post in the SEO Settings sheet, with a live SERP preview. See SEO titles and meta descriptions and the guide to titles that rank.
Common mistakes
- Duplicate titles across many pages, often from a template with no page-specific variable.
- Keyword stuffing such as
Coffee, Best Coffee, Coffee Beans, Buy Coffee. It invites a rewrite. - Brand first on every page, pushing the useful words out of view.
- Two title tags because a theme hardcodes one and a plugin adds another.
- Clickbait that the page does not deliver, which hurts clicks over time.
Common questions
How long should a title tag be?
Aim for roughly 50 to 60 characters so it displays in full on desktop. Google measures in pixels, so a live preview is more accurate than a character count.
Why is Google showing a different title than mine?
Google rewrites titles it considers unhelpful, for example ones that are too long, repetitive, or do not match the page. Making the title a clear, accurate description of the page usually brings yours back.