In plain English
It's the name on the spine of a book on the shelf. Before anyone opens it, the spine has to say clearly what's inside, or they'll pull a different book.
Used in a sentence
“Every page has its own title tag, starting with the service and town people search for.”
“All our pages were titled "Home", so Google had no idea what any of them were about.”
In detail
The title tag is one of the strongest on-page signals of what a page is about. A good one is specific, includes the main phrase people search, reads naturally and usually ends with your business name. It should be short enough to show in full, roughly under sixty characters, and unique for every page.
Google may rewrite a title if it thinks another phrase from the page describes it better, often when titles are too long, stuffed with keywords or duplicated across pages. Clear, honest titles are rewritten least and clicked most.
Why it matters for your business
The title tag tells Google and searchers what a page is about, before anything else.
- One of the strongest on-page signals
- The headline people click in results
- Unique for every page
Easy to mix up
The title tag isn't the headline on the page itself, called the H1. They're often similar but can differ: the title is written for search results, the H1 for people already on the page.
Related terms
Meta description, Keyword and SERP. Or browse the whole glossary.
