Do Google Title Change Updates Affect Page Rankings?

A phone search for Google analytics

It’s no secret that when it comes to search engine algorithms, Google is a critical source, if not the most important, to understand. And that means, for smart companies, it’s vital to both recognize and track Google SEO changes. If you’re wondering where to start with understanding Google’s system, it can be helpful to consider the newest updates along with the most important factor when it comes to your website in search engines: initial placement in a search engine algorithm, or place rankings. So we’re going to be looking at the recent updates (as of August 2021) in how Google does title changes. Find out here if and how Google title change updates can affect page rankings for their search engine.

What Are the Updates to Google’s System for Title Changes?

Since you’re likely the proud veteran of hundreds if not thousands of Google searches yourself, you’ve probably realized that the titles that pop up for webpage results often reflect your specific search query. With the new update, though, Google instead focuses more on the company’s own description of themselves to make up the title for their page that comes up for a given search. Basically, the result governs its displayed title now more than the search query, instead of the other way around.

Now, Google will be generating titles chiefly from the headline shown on a page, which is often clearly denoted through font, size, and other styling as what they refer to as “the main visual title.” Titles for pages in Google search results are now more directly aimed at describing “what they are about, regardless of the particular query.” Significantly, title tags are still primary, used to produce 80% of the result titles, which means that companies with active SEO will probably have titles come up that are similar to those they had before the update.

Why Did Google Make These Changes?

Search engines are constantly updating their algorithms in an attempt to improve user experience. The recent Google changes provide more readable and accessible page titles for users. Searchers now have access to a standardized webpage, where titles are uniform across searches, thus helping users and businesses. 

Do Google Title Change Updates Affect Page Rankings?

The short answer to whether Google title change updates affect page rankings is: not really. Google is just updating the way they display titles on their searches, so that doesn’t change the way they have already ranked websites for the order in which they will display for a search. However, different title displays may change traffic rates to a website and other factors, which could potentially affect page rankings. 

In a tweet, Google’s search advocate John Mueller explained that these Google SEO changes regarding titles are “purely a display change…not about changing rankings.” He then added that businesses shouldn’t “assume [they] won’t see ranking changes” since updates are made all the time, but those changes are “not due to this,” referring to the title change updates. So page rankings are constantly going to change, but they shouldn’t change specifically because of these title change updates.

A programmer fixing code

How Will The New Google SEO Changes Affect My Website?

Determining how Google’s updates will affect your website depends on several factors, including the current ranking of your website in the algorithm and the inner formatting, structure, and coding of your web pages. If you already have appropriately optimized title tags for your website’s pages with clear headings as the title, Google may have already had your desired title in its results page before the update. Keep in mind that click-through rates for results on the first page are about 36.5% and significantly drop the farther down your website is.

Otherwise, most businesses are largely seeing improvement in how their web pages display titles in Google search results, which is important because 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine like Google. You may see a change in clickthrough rate resulting from these title changes, but it should be a positive change. For more specifics on how Google’s updated system for creating titles for search result listings can affect your website and your business, you can get the personalized, expert support of the best SEO companies.

The Best SEO Service for You and Your Customers 

Now that you know a little more about recent Google SEO changes and the effect that title changes can have on page rankings, you can see that SEO is not an aspect of your business that you can get done once and then move on. Optimization is a process that requires constant renewal and upkeep, especially considering search engine updates to their algorithms. These recent updates to how Google does their title creation for search page results will definitely affect SEO trends for 2021, so your company likely needs a rehaul of your current SEO principles and applications.

Fortunately, you don’t need to remember and track every update and metric for your SEO by yourself. Secure the best SEO service for you and your customizers using our ranking of over fifty of the best companies that provide SEO services. Our list includes specific ratings, testimonials, and case studies along with a clearly quantifiable score for each company to help you find the best possible SEO services. You’ll never have to be caught off guard with algorithm updates if you secure the services of the best SEO companies.