Title tags play a crucial role in the SEO success of your WordPress posts and pages. While they’re not the only factor that influences rankings, they help search engines understand your content and encourage users to click. Let’s explore what title tags are and how to optimize them for better visibility and traffic.
What Are Title Tags?
A title tag is a line of HTML that labels what a website page is about. Search engines use them to understand the topic of a page or post. They are an important ranking signal that Google, Bing, and other search engines use to understand and rank website pages.
Search engines also use them to populate the blue links you see in search results:
That’s not the only place you might see a title tag. Some browsers also display title tags in tabs. Here’s an example from Firefox, where the cursor hovers over the tab to reveal the full title tag:
If you’d like to find the title tag on a page you’re viewing, you can also right-click on the page, click View Page Source, and then use CTRL-F to search for “title”:
Why Do Title Tags Have So Much Power?
Search engines are all about gathering and organizing information from across the web. In order to do this, they need an easy way to quickly determine what a web page is about.
Search engines use title tags in a similar way to how libraries use card catalogs, which help organize large collections of books and documents with key information.
What are the Benefits of Optimizing Title Tags?
By default, WordPress will use the H1 heading (which is typically the headline) for the title tag on pages and posts. However, there are several reasons why you might choose to optimize your title tag so they aren’t exactly the same as your headline (for example, if your headline is too long). Here are a few key benefits:
- Improve search engine rankings: Sometimes, your headline might not be optimally written for search engines. Making some strategic tweaks can help improve rankings.
- Improve click-throughs: If your headline is too long to show in search engine results, then it’s possible fewer users will click on your result.
- Increase your traffic: Higher rankings and improved click-through rates equal more traffic for the content you worked hard to create.
You can optimize title tags on WordPress using a plugin—more on that in a bit.
What’s the Best Way to Write a Title Tag?
Even though title tags should be relatively short, there is an art to writing them well. Fortunately, it isn’t difficult to master best practices.
Aim for Around 60 Characters
Google cuts off title tags that are more than 600 pixels wide. This is usually equal to around 60 characters. Since you probably can’t visualize what 600 pixels looks like on your own (unless you are an actual superhuman robot), you might need a tool to help while you’re writing.
Fortunately, several free title tag testing tools let you preview how yours will appear in search results. Here are a few options:
Include Keywords
If you’re aiming to drive traffic from search engines, then your title tags should include relevant keywords. These are terms a searcher might use to find your content. A well-written headline should cover this requirement.
Some sources say you should include the keyword you want to rank for at the beginning of your title tag. Realistically, somewhere between the beginning and the middle is best. If you have to make a trade off, prioritize readability rather than trying to force your keyword into the beginning.
Keep Them Consistent with Your Headline
A good title tag should reflect the headline (or H1 heading) on the page. If it’s not possible to fit the entire headline under the character limit, then shorten it as best you can. Avoid writing a title tag that sounds drastically different from your headline.
Make Sure They’re Unique
If two pages have the same title tag, search engines will not be able to tell them apart. That could cause the search engine to not rank either page for the intended keyword. If they’re too similar, they may also struggle to understand what the actual difference is between the two pages.
Note: If all the content on two or more pages or posts is identical, then you have an even bigger problem called “duplicate content.” You can fix this issue by ensuring your pages and posts offer unique value to readers.
If you need to have duplicate pages for any reason, use rel=canonical tags to tell search engines which of the pages is the “original” or the one you want to rank. Yoast and other SEO plugins can help you set rel=canonical links.
Ensure They Sound Natural When You Read Them Out Loud
Remember that title tags don’t just have to communicate to search engine bots. They also need to be easily readable for users. Try reading your title tags out loud (or at least back to yourself in your head) to make sure they read well and aren’t over-optimized for search engines.
How Can You Edit Title Tags on a WordPress Website?
By default, WordPress uses the H1 title of a post for the title tag. While this is a quick and convenient solution, it isn’t always the most effective.
There are several ways you can customize title tags on your WordPress website. Let’s look at several different SEO plugins that enable this feature.
Note: WordPress.com users can enable the following features and plugins on the Business plan and above. All WordPress.com sites come with Jetpack pre-installed.
Editing Title Tags With Jetpack
WordPress.com users (as well as WordPress users with other hosts using the Jetpack plugin) can edit title tags using the SEO Title field. From the editor, click the Jetpack logo in the upper right corner, then scroll down to SEO Title:
Editing Title Tags With Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO is one of the most popular WordPress plugins of all time, and there’s a good reason for that. It’s easy to use and enables tons of SEO functionality, including writing title tags.
If you have the plugin installed, when viewing a post or page in the editor, you’ll see Yoast SEO at the bottom of the screen:
Here, you’ll see several different fields. Let’s break down what’s happening with each one:
- SEO Title: This is where you can enter a custom title tag. By default, it auto-populates with templated placeholders that will automatically include your page headline, the name of the page, a separator ( – ), and the title of your site.
- Slug: This controls how the slug will appear in the post or page URL.
- Meta Description: Short (160 characters or less) summaries that appear under title tags in search results.
There’s nothing wrong with using Yoast’s default templates for title tags. But it doesn’t typically yield optimal results for a few reasons:
- They end up being too long. When you add your page name and site title, you might not have many characters left over for your page headline or relevant keywords.
- They include extraneous information. People already know they’re on your website or blog. It’s usually not necessary to include your site or brand name in every title tag.
- They might not read well to users. Due to both factors listed above, they may get cut off in search results or read awkwardly.
Fortunately, you can simply delete the default placeholders, and enter your own title tag. You can also edit title tag templates to control how title tags auto-populate on your site. Yoast has excellent documentation on how to do this.
Editing Title Tags With Rank Math SEO
Rank Math is another plugin similar to Yoast SEO. It’s another reputable option that offers some different features. Much like Yoast, there is a lot that Rank Math can do. For our purposes, we’ll focus on title tag editing.
First, you’ll want to download and activate the Rank Math SEO plugin. Then, when viewing a post or page in the editor, you’ll see the Rank Math icon at the top of your screen. Click it to open Rank Math:
Next, click Edit Snippet:
You can now edit your title tag, permalink, meta description, and other relevant SEO metadata:
Editing Title Tags All In One SEO (AIOSEO)
Last but not least, let’s look at All In One SEO. This is a time-tested WordPress SEO plugin that’s full-featured and easy to use. Similar to Yoast, it allows you to edit title tags directly in the editor while editing a post or page:
Improve Your Rankings and Get More Traffic
Title tags are small but mighty page elements that help ensure your content is seen and clicked in search results, so be sure to give them the time and attention they deserve by using a proper SEO plugin and optimizing the character length.
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