Title Tag Too Short Example
The Emperor asked for my full title, I said "Sir," and he has not recovered.
The short answer
- What it is
- A title tag too short to say what the page covers is a title of under 30 characters. Titles like "Home" or "Products" are typical examples.
- Why it matters
- A short title gives search engines less to work with and gives people little reason to click. Google may also replace it with text of its own.
- How a crawler should report it
- Report a title issue when the title has under 30 characters, and show the title text and its length. An empty title should be reported as a missing title too.
- Live examples
/lab/title-issues/short/(positive)/lab/title-issues/long/(positive)/lab/title-issues/narrow/(positive)/lab/title-issues/near-miss/(near miss)
Making better use of a page title with only a few words
A title tag too short to be useful often comes from a page name that was never meant to be a title. The CMS uses the menu label, so the title becomes "About" or "Blog". A template strips the brand and leaves one word. A developer adds a placeholder such as "Untitled" and forgets to replace it. These titles are valid HTML, and nothing in the browser will warn you.
A browser shows a short title happily in the tab. In fact, short titles can suit tabs well. The trouble comes in search results. A title of one or two words does not tell people what they will get, and it matches few queries. Google does not penalize short titles. It may, though, build a longer title link from a heading or other page text when your title does not describe the page well.
The check is simple. Count the characters in the title and flag anything under 30. Trim spaces first. Treat exactly 30 as acceptable, so the rule has a clear edge. Review the results by hand, because some short titles are fine. A brand's home page may need only its name, and a well-known product may have a short name. The goal is a useful title, and a character count is only a prompt.
To fix a short title, add the words that a searcher would use to find the page. Name the topic and then add one useful detail, such as the product type, the place, or the benefit. "Pricing" can become "Pricing and Plans for Small Teams". Add a brand name if you have room. Write for people first, and aim for a title that fills most of the space without being cut off.