What should my page title and meta description say?
Last updated
Each page type is searched for differently.
The suggestions appear as soon as the product or phrase is filled in.
What a shopper would type to find this page. Needed.
Optional. Goes at the end of most titles.
Optional. A short phrase, not a sentence.
Optional. Remove it when the offer ends.
Type the product or phrase the page is about, and three titles and three descriptions appear here with a length status for each.
- Page typeHave
- Product or phraseNeeded
- Brand, benefit and offerOptional
The parts of a search result you control
A meta title and meta description are the two lines a search result usually shows for a page, so a product page for a merino beanie might use the title Merino beanie: soft, itch-free wool, then the brand name, and a description of about 70 to 160 characters that says what the shopper gets and why to click.
Suggestions are written from fixed templates, not by a language model. The length bands are rough guidance counted in characters; no search engine publishes a character limit.
Two tags in the head of a page supply most of what a results page shows. Shopify fills them from your product or page title unless you edit them in the search engine listing section, which is where these suggestions go.
- Meta title
- The blue headline of a search result, and the text on the browser tab. This tool marks roughly 30 to 60 characters as a fit. Past that the end is often cut with an ellipsis, so the words that matter go first and the brand goes last.
- Meta description
- The grey summary under the title. Roughly 70 to 160 characters fits here. Search engines sometimes replace it with text from the page, but a clear one is still what they show most often for a page with a good one.
- Page type
- Home, product, collection or blog post. Each is searched for differently: a product page answers a named item, a collection answers a category, a blog post answers a question. The suggestion frames change with it.
- Product or phrase
- What a shopper would type to find this page. Use the words customers use, not internal names or SKU codes, and keep it short enough to leave room for the rest of the title.
- Key benefit and offer
- Optional. A short reason to choose this page over the next result, such as hand-poured soy wax, and an offer if one is genuinely running. An offer in a description goes stale the day it ends, so remove it then.
- Length status
- Short, Fits or May be cut, counted in visible characters with spaces collapsed. It is a rough stand-in for width on screen: a line of wide capitals is cut sooner than the count suggests.
Nudgesmart is available on the Shopify App Store. Browse the template library or see what it costs.
Five pages, fifteen titles, fifteen descriptions
Invented store names on real page types. Every suggestion and every length status below is produced by the same function the generator above runs, including the long product name that nothing fits.
| Page | Typed | First title | First description | In band |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single product, short name | Merino beanie / Northfold / Soft, itch-free wool | Merino beanie | NorthfoldShort · 25 characters | Merino beanie. Soft, itch-free wool. See sizes, photos and delivery options at Northfold.Fits · 89 characters | 4 of 6 |
| Collection with an offer | Scented candles / Petal and Pine / Hand-poured soy wax / Free shipping over 50 | Scented candles collection | Petal and PineFits · 43 characters | Browse our scented candles collection. Hand-poured soy wax. Free shipping over 50. Filter by size, colour and price.Fits · 116 characters | 6 of 6 |
| Home page, no brand typed | Organic dog treats / Single-ingredient recipes | Organic dog treats: single-ingredient recipesFits · 45 characters | Shop organic dog treats at our store. Single-ingredient recipes. Browse the full range online.Fits · 94 characters | 5 of 6 |
| Blog post | Pour-over coffee / Grindhouse Coffee / grind size and water temperature | Pour-over coffee: a practical guide | Grindhouse CoffeeFits · 55 characters | A practical guide to pour-over coffee, covering grind size and water temperature. Written by the team at Grindhouse Coffee.Fits · 123 characters | 5 of 6 |
| A very long product name | Stonewashed linen duvet cover set with two pillowcases / Loom and Linen / Gets softer every wash / 15% off your first order | Stonewashed linen duvet cover set with two pillowcases | Loom and LinenMay be cut · 71 characters | Stonewashed linen duvet cover set with two pillowcases. Gets softer every wash. 15% off your first order. See sizes, photos and delivery options at Loom and Linen.May be cut · 163 characters | 2 of 6 |
What a title and description cannot promise
Search engines rewrite titles and descriptions
What you write is a strong suggestion, not an instruction. A results page may show a different title or pull a description from the page itself, especially when yours does not match what was searched.
Lengths are counted in characters, results are cut by width
A title of narrow letters fits more characters than one of capitals and wide letters. The bands here are a rough guide that suits most lines, not a limit any search engine publishes.
Tags do not rank a page on their own
A good title helps a shopper choose your result once it is shown. Whether it is shown at all depends on the page content, how the store is built and many signals no tag controls.
Every page needs its own
Two pages with the same title compete with each other and look like duplicates. If many product pages share a frame, make sure the product name differs in each and the descriptions are not copies.
Meta title and description questions
How long should a meta title be?
Roughly 30 to 60 characters is the band this tool treats as a fit. Longer titles are allowed, but the end is likely to be cut, so put the product and the reason to click first and the brand name last.
How long should a meta description be?
Roughly 70 to 160 characters. Shorter descriptions leave space a search engine may fill with other text from the page; longer ones are cut. Say what the shopper gets and give one reason to choose you.
Where do I change the meta title in Shopify?
On the product, collection, page or blog post, scroll to the search engine listing section and edit it there. The home page title and description are in the online store preferences. Leave them blank and Shopify uses the page title and the start of the page text instead.
Should the brand name be in every title?
Most stores end each title with it, after a separator, so the result is recognisable without spending the first words on it. On the home page the brand usually leads instead, because that is the page people search for by name.
Do meta keywords still matter?
No. The meta keywords tag has been ignored by the major search engines for years, so this tool does not write one. The title and description are the two that still appear to shoppers.
Is anything I type stored?
No. The suggestions are written in your browser from fixed templates, and nothing is sent anywhere.
A click from search is a visit you may only get once.
Nudgesmart puts an email capture popup on the page that visit lands on, starting from ready-made templates grouped by industry and campaign type.
