When your website shows up in Google search results, people see two things: your title and your description. These few words determine whether someone clicks on your result or keeps scrolling to the next one.
You could have the best content in the world, but if your title is boring or confusing, nobody will ever see it.
What makes a good title
A good title does two things: it tells people what they will get, and it makes them want to click. The best titles are specific and promise a clear outcome.
Compare these two titles for the same page:
"Project Management Software" tells you almost nothing. It could be anything.
"Project Management for Remote Teams: See What Everyone is Working On" tells you exactly who this is for and what benefit you get.
Keep your titles under 60 characters. Google cuts off anything longer with "..." which looks sloppy and loses whatever you wrote at the end.
Include your brand name at the end, separated by a pipe character or dash. Something like "Project Management for Remote Teams | Acme" helps build recognition over time.
What makes a good description
The description (also called the meta description) is the paragraph of text that shows below your title in search results. Google does not always use the description you write, but when it does, it matters.
A good description reads like a mini advertisement for the page. It should expand on the title, give one or two more details, and tell people why they should click.
Here is an example for a project management tool:
"Finally, a project tracker that remote teams actually use. See who is working on what, get automatic daily standups, and stop asking 'what is the status of this?' in Slack. Free for teams under 10."
This description works because it is specific about what the product does, it speaks to a real pain point (constantly asking for status updates), and it mentions that there is a free option.
Keep descriptions under 155 characters. Anything longer gets cut off.
Mistakes that will hurt you
Writing vague titles like "Welcome to Our Website" or "Home" tells Google nothing about what your page is about and gives people no reason to click.
Stuffing keywords like "Best Project Management Software Tool App Platform Free" looks spammy and desperate. People can tell when you are trying to game the system.
Writing the same title and description for every page confuses Google and makes all your search results look identical. Every page should have unique text.
Being too clever with wordplay often backfires. If someone has to think about what your title means, they will just move on to the next result instead.
How to check if your titles are working
In Google Search Console, go to the Performance report. Look for pages that have high impressions (meaning lots of people see them in search results) but low click-through rates (meaning few people actually click).
If a page is getting seen but not clicked, the title or description is probably the problem. Try rewriting it to be more specific or compelling, then wait a few weeks and check again.
You can also just search for your own website on Google and see how your results look. Do they clearly explain what each page is about? Do they make you want to click? If not, rewrite them.