Google Update: New way for generating web page titles

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Google Confirms Update to Generating Web Page Titles

One of the primary ways users assess the relevance of search results to a query is by examining the titles of the web pages displayed. This is why Google always aims to provide the most accurate page titles possible to help users find the content that best answers their queries.

In this context, Google has just announced a new update for title generation, which aims to improve the user experience and provide the most relevant results possible.

In this article, our experts explain how web page titles are generated in the SERPs

What is this new update about?

In short, this Google update consists in introducing a new system to generate the titles of web pages. Before this change, Google often used the query made by the user in the search field to formulate the titles in the SERPs. As a result, the same page could have several different titles depending on the search performed by the user. With its new system, Google suggests that the proposed titles will be more adapted for all the pages to describe the topic, regardless of the query made.

From now on, to build the title, Google will rely on the Title tag or H1, in addition to all the other elements present on a web page such as the header tags, the text of the links that refer to pages, or the content highlighted on the pages (words in bold, capital letters, etc.). All these elements can be taken into account to propose a relevant title.

Why use multiple HTML tags?

The advantage in giving more importance to other elements than Title tags can be explained by the following reasons:

  • Defined titles are sometimes too long
  • Writers mistakenly think that adding as many keywords as possible improves their ranking in the SERPs, without keeping in mind that they should mainly describe the content of the web page accurately.
  • Some web pages do not have titles or they are not very elaborate (only one word or mentioning only the name of the website for example).

Overall, this Google update aims to provide more relevant and accessible page titles. In some cases, the new system may add site names that are deemed useful. In other cases, when the title is extremely long, it can select the most relevant part instead of showing only the beginning of the title and cutting off the rest.

What is the impact of this new update on SEO?

In terms of SEO, the changes Google has made will impact your click-through rate in Google SERPs. However, let’s keep in mind that, according to Google, out of all the methods, the new system to generate headlines, HTML title tag content, will be used in 80% of the cases. Google recommends that site owners create quality H1 tags so that their titles are as relevant as possible. Google also says that the system will continue to be improved to provide the most relevant titles possible based on user feedback.

It’s still too early to draw any conclusions about the impact of this new update on your SEO and site performance. The goal of this change, according to Google, is to improve the relevance of results for users. If that’s the case, a more relevant title might encourage more clicks.

To learn more about this update, stay tuned to our blog!

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