Title tag

The title tag (meta title) is the page title in HTML and the clickable headline in the Google snippet as well as in the browser tab. It should be unique per page, mention the keyword and benefit early, and is usually about 55–65 characters long.

In search engine optimization (SEO), approximately 200 different factors must be addressed for a website to have a good chance of appearing at the top of the results pages. This includes the title tag (also known as the meta title), which allows the page title of each page to be set individually. The title tag is an important part of the meta data and appears together with the meta description in the SERP snippet, i.e., in the search engine results from search engines like Google. It is one of the most important Google ranking factors for the on-page optimization of a website and is a mandatory element of every HTML document.

What does the ideal title tag look like?

Together with the description of the page, the user first reads the title tag of a page in the SERPs during their search. But it's not just there that the meta title appears: It also appears

in the tab title in the browser
as a term for Bookmarks
possibly as anchor text for links.

He should therefore address the readers, allowing them to find the information they are looking for with one click. It should be formulated attractively and “click-friendly,” yet not come across as too intrusive. Ideally, the page title should already offer added value to the user, hinting at the further content of the page. Therefore, one should always choose appropriate page titles for each page—formulating unique lines. However, one should not exceed the maximum character count that search engines include in their result lists. Ideally, the most important keywords are mentioned at the beginning to avoid truncation. Specifying an exact length or number of characters for the meta-title is difficult, as different pixel widths are available depending on the device. On desktop, it's about 580 px, on mobile about 920 px. With a character length of 55 to 65 characters, you can hardly go wrong.

Format: How is a good title tag structured?

A good title tag is descriptive. In the text, not only the keyword counts, but also the user intention. For each subpage, it should

a unique, therefore unique title must be found
the company or blog name should be included
Commas and dashes are good tools to make the line more visually readable as well.
the brand should be separated from the descriptive part of the title, for example with the symbol “|”.

On the other hand, keyword stuffing, spelling mistakes, inappropriate title tags (recognizable by not matching the descriptive URL), or a meaningless string of letters or words should be avoided.

Google replaces title tags

Despite all efforts, it is quite possible that Google will replace the title tags. This does not necessarily mean an error was made. The search engine always wants to offer the best possible content for users and serve search intents as accurately as possible. Therefore, Google scours the page's content and sometimes displays different information in the meta-title than what was specified in the meta-data. It may be worthwhile to look at and compare the titles changed by Google – one could learn something about the search engine's mindset in the process.

Meta-title and description form a unit

The page title is the first point of contact between the website and the user. Therefore, it is always important to write a unique, value-added page title that forms a unit with the description. The description, also known as the meta-description, should—similar to the title—provide value related to the content the user can expect after clicking. If the title tag and description are aligned, they can ideally help increase the click-through rate. Therefore, meta-data plays a significant role in content marketing and SEO or the ranking of a website.