Sauce · Fundamentals
Google changed your headline in the results. Here is why.
Quick answer
Google writes the blue headline on your search result, not you. It starts with your page title tag. If that title is stuffed with keywords, says "Home" or "Untitled", is the same on every page, or has an old year in it, Google swaps it for something else. That something is often just your business name, which wins you nothing. The fix is a short, plain, different title on every page, with the useful words first and your business name last.
Is your trade still open in your city?We take one client per trade, per city. The call starts with that check, not a pitch.
Book a free assessmentYou wrote a good headline. Google ignored it.
You set the page title to "Emergency Roof Repair in Surrey, Same Day". You search for it later. The result says "ABC Roofing Ltd". Just the name. Nothing about roofs, nothing about Surrey, nothing about same day.
That is Google rewriting your title link. It does this on a lot of results. Here is when it happens, and how to get your words back.
Where your blue-link headline comes from
The headline on a search result is called the title link. Google builds it. Your page title tag is the first place it looks, but not the only one.
Google picks from these, in rough order
The text in the page's title tag, the one that also shows on the browser tab. This is the default. Get it right and Google usually keeps it.
The big heading at the top of the page, the H1. If your title tag is weak, Google often falls back to this. So they should say close to the same thing.
Other large or bold text near the top of the page. This is a later fallback, and you have less control over which line it grabs.
The words other sites use when they link to you. If a directory links to you as just your business name, that can become your headline.
Why Google throws your title out
Google rewrites the title when the one you wrote is not helpful to a searcher. These are the common reasons for a local business.
- Roofer Surrey Langley Delta Roofing Contractor Roof Repair Company Near Me
- Home
- Top Rated Roofing Company in Surrey 2023 | Free Quotes | ABC Roofing Ltd
- ABC Roofing Ltd
- ABC Roofing Ltd
- Roofing Company in Surrey | ABC Roofing Ltd
In all three cases the searcher lost the reason to click. That is the cost. Not a ranking drop, a click drop.
Go deeper
Related fixes on the site
Each one goes further on a piece of this. Pick what you need.
Google Search Essentials, in plain words
The three things a page has to do to show up at all, and the local-site ways each one breaks.
Read it › Piece 02Duplicate URLs are splitting your ranking
One page at five web addresses, and Google splitting the credit. How to consolidate.
Read it › Piece 03Local landing pages that hold up
One page per service and per town, with real detail instead of a swapped city name.
Read it ›See how your pages show up right now.Before you pay us a dollar, we run a free 49-point geo-grid scan of your service area and flag the on-page basics. You keep the results either way.
Get the free scanHow to write a title Google keeps
Five rules. They take an afternoon to apply across a small site.
One clear job per title
Say what the page is for in plain words. "Emergency Roof Repair in Surrey" beats a list of every town and service you can think of.
Useful words first, business name last
Lead with what the searcher wants. Put your business name at the end, once, after a pipe or a dash.
A different title on every page
Home, each service, each town, the about page. No two the same. If you cannot tell two pages apart from their titles, neither can Google.
Make the H1 agree
The big heading on the page should say close to the same thing as the title. When they match, Google has no reason to look elsewhere.
Keep it short and current
Aim for about 60 characters so it does not get cut off. Drop years unless the page is genuinely about that year.
You cannot force the headline Google shows. You can make the one you wrote the best choice on the page.
What this is not
A rewritten title is not a penalty. Your ranking is not hurt by it. Google is just choosing what to display.
It is also not something you control directly. There is no tag that says "use this exact headline, no matter what". The title tag is a strong signal, not a command.
And it is not urgent for a page nobody searches for. Fix the home page, the main service pages, and the town pages first. The rest can wait.
Open your site. Read your titles the way a stranger would. If they all say your business name and little else, you have found an afternoon of easy wins.
Why does Google show a different title than the one I set?
Google generates the title link for each result. It starts with your title tag, but replaces it when that tag is keyword-stuffed, boilerplate like "Home", identical across many pages, mismatched with the page content, or stale. It then pulls a headline from your main heading or other text on the page.
Can I force Google to use my exact title?
No. There is no setting that guarantees a specific headline. You can only make your title tag the best available option: short, descriptive, unique to that page, and matching the visible H1. When it is clearly the best choice, Google usually keeps it.
Does a rewritten title hurt my ranking?
No. It is a display choice, not a penalty, and it does not lower your position. The cost is a weaker headline in the results, which can mean fewer clicks even when your rank has not moved.
How long should a title tag be?
Around 60 characters is a safe target. Google cuts off longer titles in the results, usually after about that many characters, so the important words should come first. There is no ranking penalty for a longer title, you just see less of it.
Should my title tag and my H1 be the same?
They should say close to the same thing, not word for word. When the title and the main heading agree, Google has a consistent signal and is more likely to use your title. Big differences between them are one reason Google rewrites.
Sources
- Google Search Central, “Influencing your title links in Google Search results”: where the title link comes from, why it can differ from your title tag, and the best practices for writing one.
- Google Search Central Blog, “A new way to generate page titles” (2021): Google now draws on the main visible heading and other page text, and targets titles that are boilerplate, keyword-stuffed, or obsolete.
- Google Search Central, “Google Search Essentials”: pages should have descriptive, useful titles and headings that reflect the content.
Next step
Find out whether your trade is still open in your city
One client per trade, per city. The call starts with that check, not a pitch.