SEO
Headlines That Earn the Click
The title tag is the line in the search result. If it doesn’t say what you do and where you do it, the clever line on the page never gets read. Here is how to fix yours in an hour.
What is a title tag and where does it show up?
The title tag is the short piece of text in the code of each page. It appears as the blue headline in a search result, on the browser tab, and when someone saves or shares the page. It is the first thing a stranger reads about your business, and for many people it is the only thing.
A lot of small business sites have titles like “Home” or “Welcome to [Business Name]”. Those cost nothing to write and earn nothing either. The searcher can’t tell whether you are an electrician, a retailer or a hobby site, and they won’t click to find out.
What should a good title say?
A good title answers two questions: what do you do, and where? Then it adds your business name so people can recognise you. The order that works for most trades is service, place, name.
Keep it short enough to show in full. Around 60 characters is a sensible limit; longer titles tend to get cut off, and the cut-off part is usually your name or your suburb. Put the important words first.
- Name the specific service, not a category. “Electrician” beats “Electrical solutions”.
- Name the place people would type, such as the suburb or city you work in.
- Use the business name last, after a dash or a bar.
- Skip filler such as “Welcome to”, “Official site” and “Best in town”.
What do before and after titles look like?
These are examples with made-up businesses, to show the pattern. You can copy the structure, not the words.
An Ipswich electrician: before, “Home | [Business Name]”. After, “Electrician in Ipswich | [Business Name]”. A Sunshine Coast cleaner: before, “Welcome to [Business Name]”. After, “End of Lease Cleaning Sunshine Coast | [Business Name]”. A Gold Coast landscaper: before, “Services”. After, “Retaining Walls and Paving, Gold Coast | [Business Name]”.
Notice that every “after” works on its own. Someone who has never heard of the business knows the trade and the area before they click.
Should every page have a different title?
Yes. If your service pages all share the same title, they compete with each other and none of them says what is on the page. Each page should carry the title that matches its own job: the hot water page says hot water, the blocked drains page says blocked drains.
The same goes for the main heading on the page. The title tag and the visible heading don’t have to be word for word the same, but they should clearly be about the same thing. If the title promises “Roof Repairs in Brisbane” and the heading says “Our Passion”, the visitor feels misled and leaves.
How do you check what you have now?
Search your own business name and your main service plus suburb, and read what shows up as a stranger would. Then open Google Search Console, which is free, and look at the queries people used to find your pages. If people are finding you with searches that your title never mentions, your title is out of step with how customers talk.
Make a short list of your pages, write the new title next to each one, and change them in one sitting. Then leave them alone for a few weeks before judging. Search results update on their own schedule.
How does HoneyPot handle this?
We write the titles and headings as part of the build. SEO and answer-engine copy is included in our builds, so every page gets a title that names the service and the place. Landing pages start from $548 and tradie websites from $1,048. You own the site, so you can change any title yourself later.
Questions people ask
How long should a title tag be?
Around 60 characters is a safe target. Put the service and the place at the start so they survive if the end gets cut off.
Should I put my business name first?
For most local businesses, no. Unless people already search for your name, lead with the service and the place and put your name last.
Get a clear quote
Tell us what the business does and where. We reply with what is included and what it costs. You own the site.