Web Design/Titles

Titles of web pages can be put between the HTML tags <title> and </title>. These are also commonly called page titles or title tags. Page titles can be seen on search engines results pages, on web browser tabs and their hover tooltips, and in some operating systems' taskbar.

Viewing a page title on a search engine results page

Choosing Page Titles

Viewing a page title in a web browser

Titles should always be chosen wisely and distinctive, to allow the user to:

• Navigate through open tabs more easily.
• Find items in the browsing history more easily.
• Provide users with a clearer idea of what to expect from a link received through text messengers or found on social media sites or through URL shorteners which preview the page title but not the target URL.
• Well written title can help with Search engine optimization.
• Page titles are one of the most keyword sensitive areas of a web page for SEO.

As such, page titles benefit from containing the title of a post (e.g. text, video, or audio) or search query, the author, the area of the site (e.g. a subreddit name, or "Preferences"), a page number where applicable, and the site name, optionally with a slogan.

If no post title is available, a snippet of the text (or "post body") can be used for descriptiveness, as Twitter and Instagram do.

Page Title Examples

• Search query pages should contain the search query itself in the page title.
  • “Search Query – Search – My Website”
• Preferrably, titles should contain the page number.
  • “Gallery (Page 2) – My Website”
• User setting pages should contain the name of the active submenu in the title, if the setting pages are accessed via separate URLs.
  • “Settings: Account details • My Website”
• Home pages should contain the primary keyword for the site in the page title.
  • Business Name: Primary Keyword in City, State
  • Kool Daddy: HVAC Company in Tampa, Florida
• Service pages should contain the primary keyword for that page.
  • Page Keyword in City, State - Business Name
  • A/C Repair in Tampa, FL - Kool Daddy
• File sharing sites may include the file size: Document.rtf (638 KB).
• Social media sites may include a user follower count to signify popularity: User (@username) – 7,183 followers.

Case Studies

Google

The search query is contained in the page title.

One mistake that Google does is using the exact same page title for the main Google Web Search as for different areas such as Google Images.

Bing

The main web search uses [search term] - Search, without the name "Bing". Other areas happen to have the name "Bing" in the title, e.g. [search term] - Bing images and [search term] - Bing video, both with the latter word in lowercase.

YouTube

On watch pages, YouTube uses VideoName - YouTube, omitting the author (channel name). On channel pages, it uses ChannelName - YouTube. On search pages, it uses SearchQuery - YouTube.

The slogan "Broadcast Yourself" was formerly included.

Twitter

Both the display name and the content of tweets are included in the page title: DisplayName on Twitter: "Content of the tweet".

When viewing profile pages, the page title contains display name and user name: DisplayName (@username) / Twitter.

Reddit

Reddit is composed of communities which are referred to as "subreddits" for discussing specific topics. As of 2021, users are able to share URLs, title-only posts, text posts (title + body), photos, videos, and polls.

On post pages, the title format is Post title : subreddit name, and on profile pages, the title format is overview for Username.

SoundCloud

During playback in the audio player desktop web app, the title reads "▶ Track name" by "Artist name" even while the track's page is not opened. The play symbol "▶" was added in December 2021, signifying that a track is playing. While paused or stopped, Stream "Track name" by "Artist name is indicated on track pages and Stream "Artist name" music on artist pages (i.e. user profiles, equivalent to "Channel pages" on video platforms). In comparison, video platforms usually only indicate the video title without the channel name in the page title.

Instagram

On standalone post pages, Instagram formerly included a date and time, e.g. Instagram photo by Kevin Systrom • Jul 16, 2010 at 9:24 PM. At some point between 2018 and 2020, it has been replaced with a text snippet of the image description: Kevin Systrom on Instagram: “test”.