Google has implemented a new feature called "Title Update".

For the past few weeks, Google's new title modification has dominated the SEO world. Title tags (sometimes referred to as meta titles) have become less commonly displayed in SERPs since Google began revising them in the middle of August.

Last Friday, Google released a second update and a new blog post regarding their new technique for generating page titles, which was fiercely attacked by certain SEO experts.

If you'd want to know how the new method works, which of your title tags are being rewritten by Google, and how to keep your website's SERP snippets appealing to the greatest number of people, keep reading!

This tag may not offer the ideal title for every search, thus Google began creating alternative titles in 2012 to deliver more relevant results for certain queries.

If the page's content (such as headers) changes, Google may also make changes to the title of the page.

An empty or non-existing "Title" tag was found "Home page" was the general content of the title tag... numerous pages have the same title... overly lengthy or difficult to read title

Google, on the other hand, seldom modified page names aside from truncating excessively lengthy title tags. As long as your title tag is comprehensive and distinctive, you can expect it to appear in search results.

It appears that Google will no longer produce alternative titles based on the search query, as reported in this post. Instead, if Google thinks it's required, the new approach will enhance page titles independent of the search query. As recently as a week ago, Google said that the title tag will only be displayed in 80% of the situations (although they later revised this number to 87%).

Even more than just the title tag, Google takes into account other website content (e.g. (H1-)headings and other components that are visually emphasised) to generate page names. Text on a page or links to referring pages may also be used.

Search engine giant Google wants to make searching easier for consumers by producing titles that accurately represent the content of web pages. Title tags in HTML may be rewritten if Google determines that they do not accomplish this purpose.

Some of Google's rationales were provided in the following examples:

titles that are excessively lengthy or loaded with keywords in the HTML

Missing or having generic material in the title tags

Google may only show titles that are excessively long in part, append the website's name, or replace the title with other page components in order to enhance readability and relevancy.

As a result of the change, Google is now rewriting many more page names.

Page titles are increasingly being generated by Google using other page components, such as headers.

Let's look at some instances from the actual world.

The most striking thing about these title tags, though, is that they don't fall into any of the categories Google identified. Google's blog article cited only a few examples of why page names should be rewritten, but there appear to be many more.

Keyword stuffing isn't the only thing Google rewrites in less critical titles, according to a new research. Even if the names aren't misleading or spammy, Google tends to take a harsh stance against them.

According to Google's description of how titles are revised, the study might duplicate certain aspects of this process.

The SEO community's reaction

A lot of people complained that Google was removing well-written title tags in favour of less effective ones after the title modification. For example, found that after Google altered the title of one of their most popular sites, the CTR plummeted by up to 37% depending on the search query.

Many other websites stated that Google's modifications weren't always beneficial. Google, for example, frequently employed hyphens, slashes, or brackets to break lengthy titles from one other, as well as other punctuation. In spite of this, the outcomes were not always consistent.

In any case, we're hopeful that Google's use of the title tag is less aggressive and produces better results than it used to.

Since last week, at least some SEOs have observed an improvement in title rewrite quality.

However, many are still unhappy with the adjustment and would want the opportunity to opt out of title rewrites. Nevertheless, it's doubtful that Google will ever make this a reality.

Google has said that the upgrade would have no effect on search engine rankings because it just affects how the titles appear in the search results.

Since CTR and organic traffic may have been badly impacted by the upgrade, you should keep a watch on them in particular.

See if your most crucial pages' click-through rates (CTRs) have dropped dramatically during the previous several weeks. Search for "rewritten page titles" on Google to determine if any detrimental changes have occurred.

Please let Google know if you see that some of your page names have been modified in a negative way. That problem may be solved in the future as Google continues to improve its system for producing titles.

It's also a good idea to see whether the revised titles fall into any of the difficulties listed above and correct them. You should do this if, for example, you notice that Google is truncating one of your title tags in an unpleasant way and should replace it with a shorter title. After resolving the underlying issues, Google has confirmed that a title tag may be shown again!

Ways to keep Google from changing the title of your pages

There's no way to prevent Google from rewriting your titles right now, but you can reduce the likelihood of this happening. You're giving Google less excuses to alter your titles if you develop fantastic page titles that fulfil Google's quality guidelines.

You'll be far less vulnerable to page title rewrites if you address the concerns outlined here. Even if Google doesn't make any adjustments to your titles, it's worth assessing the impact on your traffic and whether or not more optimisation is warranted (as described in the previous section).

Whether this is the case, have a look at your title tag and see if Google has made any changes to it. If so, figure out what prompted the change. You can learn a lot from this, and it may even help you improve the effectiveness of your page titles in general. Despite this, meta titles are still an essential ranking element for web pages.

Last but not least, keep these improvements focused on your most crucial pages. If your in need for an SEO Consultant contact us today.