Guide
Title tags and meta descriptions: what they do and how to write them
The title and the description are often the first lines of your page that people see, right in the search results. Here is how they work in Google and how to write good ones.
What they are
The title tag is the page’s title in the HTML head. Google uses it, together with other text on the page, to create the title link in search results, and browsers show it in the tab.
The meta description is a short summary of the page. Google may show it under the title link, but it often writes the snippet from the page text instead, depending on the search. Google says it doesn’t use the meta description to rank pages; a clear one can still earn the click.
Write a good title in four steps
1. Put the main topic first
Start with what the page is about, in the words people search for. Leave the brand name for the end, after a separator such as a hyphen or a vertical bar.
2. Make every title unique
Each page gets its own title. Titles that repeat across pages make it hard for Google, and for people, to tell the pages apart.
3. Keep it readable
There is no fixed character limit: Google cuts long titles to fit the screen. Many SEO tools suggest about 50 to 60 characters as a rule of thumb, which is an estimate, not a Google rule.
4. Write for people, not for keywords
Repeating the same keyword, or listing many variations of it, reads badly and can lead Google to show a different title link.
Descriptions, Hebrew titles and WordPress
A good meta description
- Sum up what the visitor gets on the page, in one or two sentences.
- Write a different description for every important page.
- Include the details a searcher looks for, such as the product, the service area or the opening hours, when they are true.
Hebrew and mixed titles
- Write the title in the page’s own language.
- In a Hebrew title, put the Hebrew words first and a brand in Latin letters at the end.
- Use the Hebrew geresh and gershayim marks for abbreviations rather than straight quotation marks.
Where to change them in WordPress
- Title: WordPress builds the title tag from the page title, usually followed by the site name. An SEO plugin such as Yoast SEO can replace it with an SEO title of its own.
- Meta description: WordPress itself has no meta description field. An SEO plugin such as Yoast SEO adds one, in its box under the editor.
- Check the result: open the page’s source and look for the title and meta description tags, or use URL Inspection in Search Console.
Title and description questions
How long should a title be?
Long enough to describe the page, short enough to read at a glance. Google has no fixed limit and cuts long titles to fit the screen; about 50 to 60 characters is a common rule of thumb from SEO tools.
Why does Google show a different title or description?
Google creates title links and snippets automatically. It may use other text from the page when the title is missing, too long, repeated or stuffed with keywords, and it often picks page text that matches the search for the snippet.
Can GO BEST SEO write these for me?
Yes, once you allow automatic fixes. On WordPress we update the page’s own title, which many themes also show at the top of the page. We write the meta description only where Yoast SEO’s description field can be written through the WordPress REST API, which a standard Yoast install doesn’t allow; otherwise the page appears in your findings. Every change is recorded and can be undone.
Find the weak titles on your site
Every scan lists missing, short and long titles and descriptions, and can fix them once you allow it.