How to Fix Shopify SEO Problems: Page Title Tags

Understanding The Importance of Page Titles for SEO

Web page titles are like flashing neon signs for your content in the vast digital landscape. They play a critical role in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for two main reasons: influencing search engine rankings and attracting user clicks.

Well-crafted titles act as signals to search engines about your page's content. Search engines like Google or Bing analyze titles to understand a webpage's topic and its relevance to search queries. Titles that incorporate relevant keywords effectively communicate to search engines what your page is about, increasing your chances of ranking higher for those keywords. This essentially translates to your webpage being more easily discovered by potential customers.

Once your page is indexed and showing up in search results, titles are the first impression users get of your content on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). A compelling title acts as a mini-advertisement, enticing users to click and delve deeper. Titles that are clear, concise, and informative, while also incorporating relevant keywords, give users a reason to choose your webpage over competing results. This can significantly boost your click-through rate (CTR), ultimately driving more traffic to your site. In essence, effective titles act as a bridge between search engines and users, guiding both towards your content.

11 Best Practices for Crafting Titles

Crafting effective page titles is an SEO superpower. Here are 10 best practices to guide you:

1. Use Plug In SEO's Titles and Descriptions Editor: The editor allows you to add keywords and dynamically solve the problems with titles and descriptions across all of your pages in one go.
2. Target Relevant Keywords: Identify the primary and long-tail keywords users search for related to your content. Include them naturally within your title.
3. Prioritize User Intent: Craft titles that answer the "why" behind user searches. Focus on benefits and solutions your content offers.
4. Write for Humans First: Don't prioritize keyword stuffing. Titles should be clear, concise, and grammatically correct.
5. Embrace Conciseness: Aim for around 55-65 characters to ensure full visibility in search results. Prioritize clarity over stretching the limit.
6. Highlight Value Proposition: Communicate what makes your content unique and valuable to users. Focus on the benefits users will gain.
7. Spark Curiosity: Use strong verbs and intriguing language to pique user interest and encourage clicks.
8. Incorporate Numbers and Lists: Titles with numbers or lists can grab attention and improve scannability.
9. Consider Calls to Action (CTAs): When relevant, use CTAs in titles to nudge users towards clicking and engaging.
10. Maintain Brand Consistency: Include your brand name strategically, especially for established businesses.
11. Optimize for Mobile: Titles should be easily readable on smaller screens. Avoid long sentences and ensure fast page loading speeds.

Bonus Tip: Use Plug In SEO's Title tag and meta description preview tool to visualize how your title  and description will appear in search results as you're creating your new product pages. The video tutorial below shows you how to use these integrated features.

Solving Commons Problems with Titles

If you follow the best practices outlined above all the common problems related to titles will take care of themselves.

• Title Tag Structure

  • Multiple Title Tags Found - if the SEO Page Scanner encounters more than one title tag in the page code, it will flag this as a problem. To correct this, work with your Shopify theme and ensure that only one title section is included on your pages. 
  • No Title Tags Found - if the SEO Page Scanner encounters no title tag in the page code, it will flag this as a problem. There could be several root causes for the title tag missing
    • The problem may be coming from your theme. 
    • The problem may be coming from installing more than one SEO app. If both apps are trying to manipulate the title attribute, the conflict could cause the problem.
    • You may have signed up for too small a plan. For example if your shop has more than 200 pages and you signed up for the small plan (intended for shops with fewer than 200 pages) it could result in some page elements being malformed. 
  • Not Set Up Correctly (Default Text Detected) - Some themes provide a place holder text for the title. The SEO Shop Scanner looks for words like, "default", "undefined", "untitled", etc. You can correct this problem by using Plug In SEO and all of your page titles will automatically be adjust from the theme defaults. 

• Keywords in the Title

  • No Keywords Found - If you did not add any keywords to your title the SEO Shop Scanner will flag it as a problem. You can solve this by adding a few keywords.
  • Only One Keyword Mentioned - If you add only one keyword to your title the SEO Shop Scanner will flag it as a problem. You can solve this by adding a few keywords. 

• Length

  • Empty - If your Title tag contains no content the SEO Shop Scanner will flag it as a problem. You can solve this problem by writing a title tag. 
  • Too Short - if your title is fewer than 55 characters the SEO Shop Scanner will flag it as a problem. Aim for 55 - 70 characters. 
  • Too Long (71-80 characters) - if your title is more than 70 characters, the SEO Shop Scanner will flag it as a problem. Aim for 55 - 70 characters. 
  • Very Long (81+ characters) - if your title is more than 70 characters, the SEO Shop Scanner will flag it as a critical. Aim for 55 - 70 characters. 

Using The Title and Meta Description Editor

By default the Plug In SEO editor attempts to create dynamic Titles for your Shop's pages. But it needs your help. 

In each of the page categories, there is a space for you to add a short description or additional details. Use these spaces to craft an eye-catching pithy statement that uses several powerful keywords or phrases. 

This is the quickest way to solve all of the keyword and length related problems in the SEO scan in one go. 

If you want to craft a more customized page title or meta description you can do so using the Custom Setting in the editor using liquid code. To learn more about using liquid code in the editor, please review the page dedicated to customizing the title and description templates.