Title tags and meta descriptions that earn the click
The title tag is the blue headline of your search result and one of the strongest on-page signals. Google truncates titles by pixel width, which works out to roughly 50 to 60 characters. Put the main keyword near the start and the brand at the end.
The meta description does not affect rankings directly, but it is often used as the snippet under the title. A specific 70 to 160 character summary with a reason to click usually beats the text Google would pick on its own.
Canonical and robots tags
A self-referencing canonical tag tells search engines which URL is the main version of a page, which protects you from duplicates created by tracking parameters or sorting. A canonical that points elsewhere is a request to index the other URL instead.
A noindex value in the meta robots tag or the X-Robots-Tag header removes the page from search results. It is correct for carts, account pages and thank-you pages, and a costly mistake on pages you want to rank.
Open Graph for social sharing
When someone shares your link on LinkedIn, Facebook, Slack or messaging apps, the preview comes from Open Graph tags. Set og:title, og:description and an og:image of about 1200 by 630 pixels on every template, so shared links look deliberate instead of broken.
Frequently asked questions
Why does Google show a different title than mine?
Google rewrites titles that are too long, stuffed with keywords or that do not match the page content. Short, accurate titles that match the main heading are rewritten less often.
Do meta keywords matter?
No. Google has ignored the meta keywords tag for ranking for many years, so this checker does not report it.
How many H1 headings should a page have?
One clear H1 describing the page is the common best practice. Multiple H1s are not an error, but they often mean the logo or navigation is marked up as a heading.