How to write page titles and descriptions

These are the two lines that appear in search results, and they do more work than almost anything else on the page — because they decide whether anybody arrives at it. They are also, on most small business websites, either missing, identical across every page, or still saying "Home | My Website".

What each one is

The title is the blue clickable line. It is also what shows in the browser tab and what gets used when someone shares the link. It does influence ranking.

The description is the grey text underneath. It does not influence ranking — that is settled and worth knowing, because plenty of people still write them as though stuffing words in helps. What it does is persuade someone to click rather than clicking the result above you.

So: the title is for being found and clicked, the description is only for being clicked.

Writing the title

Around 60 characters

Longer and it gets cut off mid-word in results. You cannot control exactly where — it varies by device — so treat 60 as the target and put the important part first, because the front always survives.

Lead with the thing, not your business name

"Bathroom Fitting in Ilkley | Fairweather" beats "Fairweather — Home". Somebody scanning results is looking for what they typed; your name means nothing to a stranger, and it goes at the end.

The exception is your homepage, where the name is the point.

Use the words people type

Not your trade's internal vocabulary. "Boiler replacement", not "heat source installation". The same instinct that makes a service page work.

One per page, all different

The commonest failure on small sites: the same title on every page, so search engines and people cannot tell them apart. Each page needs its own.

Do not stuff it

"Plumber Leeds Plumber Bradford Emergency Plumber Cheap Plumber" reads as spam to a person and does not work anyway. One clear phrase and a place.

Writing the description

Around 150 characters

Longer gets truncated. Again, front-load.

Say the specific thing, then the reason to click

Not a summary of the page — a reason to open it. What they get, and something concrete: a price signal, an area, a timescale, a guarantee.

Weak: "We are a family run business offering a range of plumbing services with many years of experience."

Better: "Bathroom fitting across Ilkley and Otley. Fixed price agreed before we start, most jobs done in three days. Free quotes."

The second one answers what somebody actually wants to know before clicking.

Write it for a person

Since it has no ranking effect, there is no reason to write it for a machine. Write the sentence you would say if someone asked what the page was about.

Google will sometimes ignore it

If it decides another part of your page answers the query better, it will show that instead. This is normal and not a fault. Writing a good description makes it more likely yours is used, and losing occasionally to a better-matched snippet is not a problem worth solving.

Common mistakes worth checking today

• Nothing set at all, so search engines invent something from your page — usually the navigation menu.
• The same one everywhere, typically the business description from the homepage.
• Leftovers from the builder — "Home", "Untitled", "My Site".
• A title that is all business name and no service.
• A description that is a keyword list. No ranking benefit, and it reads badly to the person deciding.
• Every page ending "| Best Plumber in Leeds | Cheap", which eats the characters that should have said what the page is.

A quick pass over your own site

1. Search site:yourdomain.co.uk and read your results the way a stranger would. This shows you exactly what people see, which is frequently a surprise.
2. List your important pages — homepage, each service, contact, about.
3. Write each title: the thing, the place, your name last, under about 60 characters.
4. Write each description: what they get and one concrete reason to click, under about 150.
5. Check none are duplicated.
6. Leave it alone for six months. This is not ongoing work.

An hour, once, for every page that matters. It is one of the few pieces of SEO advice with no ambiguity and no waiting.

The same lines do a second job now

These are also what gets shown when your link is shared in a message or posted to social — and increasingly, a clear title and a factual description help systems assembling an answer work out what a page is for. A title that says what the page is, in the words people use, is doing three jobs at once.

Which is a good reason to write them plainly rather than cleverly. The same instinct applies.

The bottom line

Title: about 60 characters, the service and the place first, your business name last, different on every page. Description: about 150, what they get plus one concrete reason to click, written for a person because it has no ranking effect. Check yours with a site: search, fix them in an hour, and then leave them alone. See also why your website is not showing up on Google.