Titlepocalypse what? Here’s the Top 4 Things to Know About the New Google Update
First time hearing “Titlepocalypse”?
Don’t worry we got you covered. Google’s creativity came on display when naming their new system for generating titles, Titlepocalypse. This system was supposed to generate titles for 20% of web pages in search results. The majority of people felt that the search engine giant rushed to roll out this system before thorough testing.
Google took into consideration all of the user feedback they received and reduced the update to rewrite and generate HTML titles for just around 13% of the time. Additionally, they provided an explanation of what exactly triggers the system to rewrite a title tag.
So, what leads to a title tag rewrite? Google helps creators understand what exactly they look for in a title with this document.
Google goes on to explain that title elements are used most of the time. Google’s new system is said to use the HTML title element as the title is shown in search results around 87% of the time. Since 2012, Google has been obligated to use text other than title elements when their system determined that the present title failed to describe a page accurately. The pages that fell into this category were mainly those with empty title tags, duplicate titles regardless of the content on the page, and pages with no title elements at all.
The document also goes on to share examples of when the system went beyond the title elements. The new system is designed to address certain situations where going beyond the title element may be more helpful for the web pages. Some examples are included below:
Half-empty Page Titles
Half-empty titles are titles that have the site name present, but is missing the summary of the page. This will generally occur when templates are used to create titles. These titles will typically look something like this:
| Site Name
The system will detect titles like this and will try to make adjustments based on the elements on the header or any other important text it can find on the page, such as:
Product Name | Site Name
Outdated Pages Titles
Obsolete titles are when the same page is used every year but the title elements fail to reflect the latest date. For example:
2020 application requirements – Advent University
If the headline on this page reads “2021 application requirements,” the system will go on to change its title to:
2021 application requirements – Advent University
Inaccurate Page Titles
If Google’s system detects an improper page title describing the content on the page, then this will be considered an inaccurate title. An example would be a page with dynamic content and a title that reads:
Outdoor bikes, mountain bikes, road bikes, hybrid bikes – Site Name
Google may then take it upon itself to change the title to something along the lines of:
Outdoor bikes – Site Name
Micro-Boilerplate Page Titles
A page with a micro-boilerplate title consists of a title being used for a number of pages within a site, like those used for tv shows that have several seasons, but the season numbers are excluded from the title. An example of these title would be:
My amazing advent TV Show
My amazing advent TV Show
My amazing advent TV Show
The system may go ahead and adjust these titles to display the season numbers that are mentioned in the headline text so it becomes easier to identify which page is for what season.
Season 1 – My amazing advent TV Show
Season 2 – My amazing advent TV Show
Season 3 – My amazing advent TV Show
What You Need to Takeaway
It’s only right to give it to Google for acknowledging that the system that have in place for creating titles is not perfect. And we should certainly appreciate welcoming feedback from all creators.
Look to their help page for creating quality titles and snippets in search results. Ultimately, Google uses the HTML title elements to determine the ranking 100% of the time.
Are you running into other Google issues, like proper site indexing? Click here to solve your indexing problems.
Remember
- Title tags are considered for rankings
- Keep focusing on creating quality title tags with a focus on target keywords
- Include H1 and H2 in any page content that includes your target keywords