Write a title tag as the page's subject first, then the place, then the brand once, in about 60 characters or fewer. Write a meta description as one or two plain sentences, roughly 110 to 160 characters, saying what the reader will get. Every page needs its own of each, and neither should repeat another page's.
Before we built anything for Rebalanced by Rita, a Scottsdale aesthetics practice, we crawled the site and wrote an honest audit. Three of the findings had nothing to do with design. Pages were missing meta descriptions. Titles ran past 60 characters. And some titles carried the brand name twice.
None of those is unusual. They are common problems, because titles and descriptions are invisible on the page itself and nobody checks them. They are also the first words a searcher reads about you. Fixing them is cheap.
What are title tags and meta descriptions?
A title tag is the name of a web page as given in its code. It appears as the clickable headline in search results and as the label on the browser tab. A meta description is a short summary in the code, which search engines may show as the text under that headline.
In the page's HTML they look like this:
<title>Water Heater Repair in Peoria | Example Plumbing</title>
<meta name="description" content="Same-week water heater repair and replacement in Peoria. Licensed, with upfront quotes. Call or request a visit online.">Neither is visible in the body of the page. The heading a visitor sees at the top is a separate element, and it can differ from the title tag, though the two should agree on what the page is about.
How long should a title tag and meta description be?
A title tag should be about 60 characters or fewer, and a meta description roughly 110 to 160. Search results cut off anything longer and show an ellipsis. The limits are approximate, because display width is measured in pixels and varies by device, so put the important words first.
That is why length matters less than order. A title that is cut after the service and the city still works. A title that is cut halfway through the company's slogan, before the service is ever named, has wasted its space.
How do you write a good title tag?
Write a good title tag by naming the page's subject in the words a customer would search, adding the place if the page is local, and ending with the brand name once. Each page gets its own. The title should describe the page accurately, since a misleading one loses the visitor immediately.
- Lead with the subject of the page, not the company.
- Add the city or area for local pages.
- Put the brand last, once, after a separator.
- Keep it near 60 characters.
- Make it different from every other title on the site.
- Match what the page delivers.
The examples below are generic patterns, not real client titles.
| Problem | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Brand doubled | Example Plumbing: Services, Example Plumbing | Plumbing Services in Peoria, Example Plumbing |
| Too long | Professional High Quality Affordable Water Heater Repair and Installation Services in Peoria, Arizona | Water Heater Repair in Peoria, Example Plumbing |
| Says nothing | Home | Licensed Plumber in Peoria, AZ, Example Plumbing |
| Company first | Example Plumbing, Drain Cleaning | Drain Cleaning in Peoria, Example Plumbing |
| Same on every page | Example Plumbing, Peoria Plumber | Sewer Line Repair in Peoria, Example Plumbing |
| Keyword list | Plumber, Plumbing, Plumbers, Peoria Plumber | Emergency Plumber in Peoria, Example Plumbing |
How do you write a meta description?
Write a meta description as one or two plain sentences that say what the page offers and what the reader can do next. Include the main subject in natural words. Treat it as the small print under a headline: its job is to earn the click from the right person.
A description is not a ranking lever in the way a title is. Its value is in whether a searcher picks your result. So write for the person. Say what is on the page, name the place, and mention anything that sets you apart and is true, such as a license or weekend hours. Skip the adjectives. "Licensed, upfront quotes, same-week visits" does more than "the best service in town".
What problems does an audit usually find?
An audit of titles and descriptions usually finds three problems: pages with no meta description at all, titles too long to display in full, and brand names repeated within one title. All three appeared in our Rebalanced by Rita audit, and all three come from settings nobody revisited after launch.
The doubled brand is the telling one. It happens when someone types the brand into a page's title and the site's SEO plugin then appends the brand automatically. The fix is to decide where the brand comes from, the template or the person, and never both.
Missing descriptions are less harmful than they sound, because the search engine writes one from the page text. It may choose badly. Writing your own takes a minute per page.
How do you handle titles on a site with hundreds of pages?
Handle titles on a large site with a pattern for each page type, filled from the page's own data, and hand-written titles only for the few pages that matter most. A pattern is a rule such as "service, city, brand" that every page of that type follows without anyone typing it.
RankAZona, the Arizona business publication we run, has 669 firm profiles and 62 ranked guides. Nobody writes titles one at a time at that size. Each page type needs a pattern, and the pattern has to be checked against the longest names so it does not overflow. The same applies to any generated site, which we discuss in programmatic SEO for local service businesses.
Frequently asked questions
Why does Google show a different title from the one I wrote?
Google sometimes rewrites titles it judges too long, stuffed with keywords, or a poor match for the page. It may use your main heading in place of the title. Accurate, concise titles are changed less often, though there is no way to force your wording.
Is the title tag the same as the H1 heading?
No. The title tag lives in the page's code and shows in search results and browser tabs. The H1 is the main heading visitors see on the page. They can be worded differently and should describe the same subject.
Do meta keywords still matter?
No. Google has said for many years that it does not use the meta keywords tag in ranking. Leave it empty and spend the time on titles and descriptions.
How often should titles be updated?
Only when the page changes or the title is underperforming. Constant rewording gains nothing.
If you want to see every title and description on your site in one list, with the problems marked, ask us for an audit. To find which titles to fix first, use the performance report in Google Search Console.