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Google Replacing Title Tags In SERP Results With Other Text

by | Aug 20, 2021 | Google Search | 0 comments

Several SEOs are reporting instances where Google is replacing the <title> tags in search results with h1 headings and other relevant text for some organic listings. Typically, Google uses the text placed in the <title> tags of your pages to display the blue title text in organic search results with minimal tweaks, depending on the format of your title.

However, we’re now seeing increasing reports of Google bypassing the text in <title> tags and using text from h1 headings or other relevant text on the page to create the blue title link in search results. In one case, an SEO even reports that Google used the anchor text from an internal link pointing to the page in question to show the clickable title in the SEPR.

Google using other text elements to create SERP links

At this stage, it’s unclear how widespread these occurrences are but it looks like we’re seeing a live experiment carried out by Google. The first reports appear to have emerged on August 17 with some SEOs taking to Twitter to voice their observations about the title switch.

Most of the reports cite instances where Google ignores the title tags for creating the blue title link in search results and taking text from h1 or h2 heading from the ranking page instead.

So, in the example, below, Barry Schwartz shows the result for a page ranking in the SERPs with a heading acting as the title in the result, as confirmed by developer tools showing the heading text marked up in the <title> tags in the SERPs.

You’ll find plenty more comments in that Twitter thread with accounts of cases and a lot of speculation on what’s happening, potential causes and what it all means.

Some SEOs have reported widespread instances of this happening while others are finding occasional occurrences and many experiencing no change at all. In some cases, SEOs report SERP titles including a mix of text from page titles and headings so there’s a lot of variation happening here.

So, if you’re seeing any strange behaviour with the titles in your organic search results, don’t panic – it all seems to be part of a Google experiment, test or training and all we can do is keep an eye on developments to see what happens next.

The most unusual case we’re encountered so far is a report from Lily Ray about a page where the title was created from the anchor text of an internal link pointing to the ranking page from elsewhere on the same site.

In this example, Google isn’t only ignoring the text in the <title> tags for this page and all of the headings on the same page, but pulling in the anchor text from a category page link to the same article elsewhere on the publisher’s website.

https://twitter.com/lilyraynyc/status/1427755621311471616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1427755621311471616%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-7229178361311334025.ampproject.net%2F2108052321001%2Fframe.html

Technically speaking, Google is liberal with SERP titles and Matt Cutts (remember him?) stated back in 2014 that the search giant may use page content to create title links that are more relevant to the user’s search query. However, we’ve never seen such widespread, varied or extreme changes before and this is already shaping up as a significant move if Google carries on with these dynamic titles and, possibly, even rolls them out further.

What does this all mean for SEO?

At this point, we don’t know enough about what’s going on to draw any conclusions. Google has a habit of running live tests so there’s every chance things will return to normal if metrics like click-through rates, page conversions and other factors don’t respond well to the changes – so the first question is whether these changes will become permanent.

If that happens, the changes will affect page optimisation drastically and not only in terms of optimising <title> tags. We would have to analyse search queries, results and page content for quite some time to understand the relationship between dynamic SERP titles and the effects on CTRs and on-page actions when users click through.

The obvious concern is that the move would give publishers less control over the titles that appear in the SERPs but the potential positive is that Google’s dynamic titles increase CTRs by matching user intent to individual queries with greater flexibility and relevance – a powerful combination if Google can get it right.

Admittedly, there is a danger that higher CTRs could result in fewer or lower quality on-page actions if Google ends up creating titles that make pages appear more enticing than the content that follows. However, this isn’t in Google’s interests any more than businesses or publishers because it needs users to be satisfied with the quality and relevance of content delivered.

So Google needs to get this right if it’s going to push ahead with the changes.

In the meantime, sit tight and keep an eye on your organic results – especially for your most important pages – to see how things develop over the coming weeks.