How to write a page title and meta description that get clicked

The title and the description are your page’s advert in Google’s list of results. The title says what the page is; the description persuades people to click. The title weighs in how Google understands the page; the description does not rank anything, it persuades. And Google may rewrite either, but writing them well raises the chance yours is the one shown.

Writing the title

1 A different title on every page. “Home” on all of them is the commonest fault we see. Each title answers “what is this page?”.
2 The most important part first. The subject of the page opens the title and the business name closes it: “Emergency plumber | Business name”. If the title is cut, what is lost is the end, not the essential.
3 It fits on one line. Google cuts by the width on screen, not by letters; around sixty characters usually works. Write it and look at the result, rather than counting.
4 Tell the truth. A title promising what the page does not have makes people go straight back, and that is something search engines learn.

Writing the description

1 One or two sentences, around a hundred and fifty characters in all: what the person will find and what they can do next (call, ask for a quote, read the guide).
2 Write with the words they used. If the words of the search appear in the description, Google bolds them, which catches the eye. See how to find those words.
3 Do not repeat the same one across pages. An identical description everywhere wastes the space. If you do not have time for all of them, write those of the pages that matter most and leave the rest.

Where you write them

On your site Where
WordPress with an SEO plugin In the plugin’s box below the text of each page or post. See the first Yoast SEO settings or the best SEO plugins.
Sitejet Builder In the page settings, in the title and description fields. See page titles and descriptions in Sitejet Builder.
A hand-made HTML site Inside <head>: the <title> tag and the <meta name="description" content="..."> tag.
Google does not always show your description. If it thinks another passage of the page answers the search better, it uses that. It is not your mistake. A good, specific description raises the odds that yours stays, but does not guarantee it. Stuffing the title with words does not help either: it reads like junk and kills the click.
Measure the effect. In Search Console, under Performance, look at pages with many impressions and few clicks. Change the title of one, wait a few weeks and compare. Change one thing at a time, or you will never know what worked.

Changed titles and descriptions and Google still shows the old result? Tell us the page address and we will see whether the server is delivering the new version.

Open a support ticket

SEE ALSO

Finding the words customers type

The best SEO plugins for WordPress

Titles and descriptions in Sitejet Builder

WordPress hosting

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