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Webpage Titles SEO

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Today I had to tweak a web app I am working on to get the titles solid for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

High Level Changes

Based on feedback from an SEO expert, I had to make the following changes:

  • A title per page in your web app
    • This is really important for logged out pages as this is what Google displays in results.
    • The easiest way to see what titles Google shows for your site is to use the following search query on Google: site:https://www.my-awesome-site.com/ and look at the results
  • Keep each title 70 characters or less
  • Make the title as descriptive of the page as possible
  • The landing page title should be as concise yet as descriptive as possible about what your site/company is about. For example Figma use: Figma: the collaborative interface design tool

Landing Page title vs Other Page Titles

Next is the question of whether to include your company/site name in each title. This apparently helped with SEO in the past but does not seem to make a difference nowadays.

I think it makes sense to keep the company/site name in as long as it is within the 70 character threshold. Leaving the name in is valuable for when user's share your page as the title will include your company/site name in.

Many companies seem to use the form Company X | Our Awesome Page. This works but one thing to keep in mind is if your company name always appears first there is a good chance that with multiple tabs open the user will not be able to see the name of the page they are on, just your company name.

What most sites seem to do as a compromise is use the company name as a prefix for the landing page but for all other pages on the site they use it as a suffix. For example, Figma uses:

  • Landing page title: Figma: the collaborative interface design tool
  • Community Plugins Page: Community - Figma