Google is clarifying an important distinction between the HTML
<title> element and the title link shown in Google Search.
The updated terminology separates the page's HTML
<title> element from the title link,
which is the clickable title displayed in Search results. Google generates
title links automatically using multiple sources, including the
<title> element, visible page titles, headings,
og:title, anchor text, and other prominent content on the page.
Title elements and title links are different
This distinction matters for SEO teams because a title tag and a
search-result title serve related but different purposes. The
<title> element remains an important page-level element,
while the title link represents how Google chooses to present the page in
Search.
Google says its best practices for writing descriptive
<title> elements have not changed. Titles should remain
unique, descriptive, concise, and relevant to the page content. Google also
advises avoiding keyword stuffing and repetitive or boilerplate titles.
For more detail on page-level title problems, see how to find and fix duplicate title tags and the short title tags that may provide too little information about a page.
What technical SEO audits should check
For technical SEO audits, this creates another useful distinction to
monitor. A page might have a properly written
<title> element while Google displays a different title
link in Search. This should not automatically be treated as a title-tag
implementation error.
SiteAuditLint can help identify issues with HTML
<title> elements across a site, including missing,
duplicate, empty, or problematic titles. SEO teams can then compare those
page-level titles with how Google presents the pages in Search.
For the broader fundamentals of optimizing page titles, see the SiteAuditLint On-Page SEO lesson on titles .
The terminology change is small, but useful. It gives SEO professionals a more precise way to discuss title elements on a webpage versus the titles users see in Google Search.
<title> element on
a webpage.