Why Is Google Not Displaying The Right Page Title

You probably wrote a bunch of custom page titles in WordPress using plugins like Yoast or All-In-One SEO, or any other plugin, with any other platform like Joomla or Magento.

And for some reason, Google is displaying your page title with only half of it, putting your business name at the end or replacing it entirely.

Below are some reasons Google might not be displaying your title…

1. Google Testing – Google is doing tests on displaying page titles (nothing you can do about this, and it happens)
2. Too Similar/Duplicate Titles – All the titles for your pages on your site are too similar, and look spammy (you may need to review this, they should all be slightly different from each other in some way, no title should be the same, even if it’s just playing with different synonyms, like ‘top, best, greatest, most effective, strong, fast…etc..’
3. Alternate Page Title Not Set – Yoast SEO plugin has a setting where you can adjust what Google may replace in your titles, including an alternate suggestion, so you may be able to help yourself out here, see screenshot below…

Avoiding Commercial Intent Titles

Commercial intent SEO titles are titles that try to target too many similar keywords in the same title. Chances are good that is Google

Commercial Intent Example:

1. Best Chiropractic Clinic | Top Chiropractor Wichita, KS
2. Roofing Contractor Wichita We Do Roofing Contracting
3. Roofing Contractor Roofing Contractor Wichita

Let’s dissect why these are wrong…

1. Trying to rank for two similar phrases of the same service on the same page is a no-no. Google wants super-specific queries matching super-specific results. Trying to squeeze in chiropractor and chiropractic in the same title and rank the page for both is not optimal. Pick ONE phrase, and optimize for that phrase only, a better title here would be Wichita, KS Top Chiropractic Clinic | Stop By Today  (this title targets a specific phrase, and has a take action line, no words repeat themselves)
2. Trying to target two contractor keywords is a no-no, stuffing multiple keywords that are the same (using the same word twice) is also a no-no.
3. Same as the above, keyword stuffing is a no-no

So, rules for making good titles include:

1. Never use the same keyword twice
2. Keep it between 50-57 characters long, page titles are 587 pixels in length, so I generally try to shoot for 52 characters and all titles fit that
3. Do not use multiple related synonyms in the same title
4. Do not try to rank for two related service words in the same title (create a whole other page for the other related service word)
5. Make sure your title targets the location, the service offered, and has an incentive/take action phrase in it