The page title — the tag Google uses as the clickable blue headline in search results — is one of the most powerful levers you control for better findability. It plays a part in your ranking, but more importantly it decides whether someone clicks your result among ten others. A strong title is both an SEO tool and a piece of marketing copy.
Why the title carries so much weight
Search engines use the title to work out what a page is about, and visitors use it to decide within a fraction of a second whether to click through. A title that doesn't match search intent — or one that's too generic, like "Home" or "Welcome" — costs you on both fronts: ranking and clicks.
Length and readability
Keep it around 60 characters. Google shows roughly 580–600 pixels of width in the results; longer titles get cut off with an ellipsis, which looks messy and leaves your message incomplete. Never shorten an overlong title by chopping off words — rewrite it more compactly instead, keeping the same message in fewer characters.
A structure that works
- Put your main keyword at the front — it carries the most weight and catches the eye first.
- Add specificity: a city, a product feature or a concrete benefit makes a title stand out.
- End with your brand name, separated by a dash or pipe.
- Make every title unique within your site — duplicate titles confuse search engines about which page is authoritative.
Titles on dynamic pages
If you have dynamic pages that are generated automatically from records — such as blog articles or product pages — give every record its own title field. That way hundreds of pages don't end up sharing the same title, one of the most common SEO mistakes on large sites.
Combine with the rest of your SEO
A strong title works best together with a compelling meta description, internal links from related pages and, where relevant, structured data that boosts your chances of rich results. How to set titles per page in Obelisk is covered under SEO.
A concrete example
Compare "Services - Company Name" with "Website design in Amsterdam | Company Name". The first title says nothing about what a visitor is searching for and lacks any distinguishing detail; the second carries the keyword, a location and the brand name up front, appealing to both Google and the visitor. The same principle applies to blog articles: "Blog - Company Name" says nothing, while "5 tips for a faster website | Company Name" instantly tells the reader what to expect. Small changes like these are often the difference between a page that goes unnoticed and one that consistently draws visitors.
Common mistakes
Avoid keyword stuffing (repeating the same term multiple times), titles that consist only of the company name, and blindly reusing the H1 as the title without thinking about search intent. Regularly check how your titles appear in search results and adjust where needed — SEO is never a one-off job.