Optimize title tags

What it is

The title tag is the clickable headline a searcher sees for your page in Google. It lives in your page’s HTML and it’s one of the strongest on-page signals search engines use to understand what a page is about. For a local business, it’s also the first impression a nearby customer gets of you.

Why it matters for local SEO

Local searches carry intent and a place: “emergency plumber in Austin”, “dentist near me”. A title that combines your service, your city, and your business name tells Google the page is relevant to that search, and tells the searcher you’re nearby. Pages with vague titles like “Home” or “Services” lose both.

How to do it

1. Give every page one unique title. Your homepage, service pages, and location pages should never share a title.
2. Lead with the service and location, end with the brand: keyword first, business name last.
3. Keep it roughly 50 to 60 characters so it doesn’t get cut off in results.
4. Write for the click, not just the crawler. A title is an ad you don’t pay for.

A good local title: <title>Emergency Plumber in Austin, TX | Reyes Plumbing</title>

Common mistakes

• Stuffing every city you serve into one title. Build a page per location instead.
• Using the business name first. Searchers scan for the service, not your brand.
• Letting your CMS auto-generate titles like “Home | Site” across the whole site.