Lesson 12
Why Google Rewrites Titles (and When to Leave Them Alone)
What you’ll learn
By the end of this lesson, you’ll know:
Why Google rewrites page titles
When it’s a problem — and when it isn’t
How to reduce the chances of unwanted rewrites
Why title rewrites happen
Search engines may rewrite a title if:
- It’s too long
- It’s unclear or misleading
- It doesn’t reflect the page content
- It’s stuffed with keywords
- Multiple pages share similar titles
Rewrites are usually an attempt to improve clarity, not punish the page.
Where rewritten titles come from
When rewriting, Google may pull text from:
- The H1 heading
- Other headings
- Anchor text from internal links
- Page content itself
This is why consistency across a page matters.
When rewrites are not a problem
Rewrites aren’t automatically bad.
If:
- The rewritten title still matches the page
- Click-through rate is healthy
- The page is performing well
…it’s often best to leave it alone.
Overreacting can do more harm than good.
When to take action
You may want to adjust a title if:
- The rewritten version is misleading
- Important context is missing
- Multiple pages are being collapsed into similar titles
In these cases:
- Improve clarity
- Align the title with the page content
- Avoid forcing exact matches
How to reduce the chance of rewrites
You can’t prevent rewrites entirely, but you can reduce them by:
- Writing clear, concise titles
- Matching titles closely to H1s
- Avoiding keyword stuffing
- Making sure each page has a distinct purpose
Clarity and consistency go a long way.
A healthy mindset
A useful reminder:
If users understand your page, search engines usually will too.
Focus on that first.