Google New Title Tag Update: How It Impacts Your Business

In Mid-August 2021, Google confirmed that it updated how it generates web page titles for search engine results pages (SERPs). 

Here’s what changed and how the update may impact your search rankings in the long run:

New Title Tag Changes

Before the update, Google would use the user query from the search box to compose a search result snippet title. Now, Google developed a new system to formulate the titles that would describe the content or snippets, regardless of keywords used in the query.

Google’s new title tag update now looks into a page’s headline or the visual title when displaying a search snippet. These are texts that users would see when visiting a particular page ー particularly those written under header tags.

Title Tags Remain Vital

Google stated that its search engine will still use HTML title tags for roughly 80% of searches, making it crucial despite the updates’ changes.

Moreover, the title tag update intends to generate more accessible and readable titles for Google users. The update may include site names to improve the search experience and shorten long title tags to include only the most significant portion.

Google Makes Ongoing Refinements

The search giant stated that they’re continuously improving the new title tag update based on community feedback to ensure the algorithm will perform better.

Additionally, Google also looks into specific scenarios where the new titles don’t make much sense for the search intent. Search Liaison Danny Sullivan also wrote that webmasters and site owners might have more control over title management in Google Search Console to help make their Google SERPs better.

In other words, you can potentially adjust how your new titles would look in search results and avoid scenarios where your page won’t satisfy the user’s search intent.

Why You Should Care

If you found any recent changes in your Click-Through Rate (CTR), it’s safe to assume the update might have caused it. Props to you if these changes lead to an increase in your traffic. But if you’re among those who noticed their CTR dropping, you might need a reliable strategy in place.

Final Thoughts

Google’s new title tag update can have a small or massive impact on your website, depending on several factors. The changes may be barely noticeable at first, but ignoring this update and leaving you as it might have long-term implications for your business.

Chat with our SEO Sydney experts today about whether this update has impacted your business.