With Google placing more of an emphasis on serving a searcher’s intent, website owners might notice that their title tags and meta descriptions are being changed more often.

While these title and meta description changes may happen frequently, it’s generally not something to worry about.

With that being said, if Google’s changes are significant and it’s affecting your click-through rate (CTR), you’ll want to review your title tags and meta descriptions to figure out why this may be happening.

This could be happening for a few reasons:

Your title tag and meta description don’t reflect the page’s content
Your title and meta description don’t match the user’s intent
Your title and meta description are either too short or too long

In some cases, changing titles and meta descriptions isn’t too much of an issue, but we’ll still want to monitor these changes it so it doesn’t affect your site’s click-through rate.

In this article, I’ll discuss some of the reasons why Google is changing your title tags and meta descriptions and how you can prevent them from being changed.

Reasons Why Google is Rewriting Your Title Tag

Google changes title tags and meta descriptions for numerous reasons, but here are the most common ones:

Your Title or Meta Description Isn’t Relevant to the Search Intent
Your Title Tag and Meta Description is Being Changed to Match a Different Intent
Your Meta Description and Title Tag Don’t Accurately Reflect Your Page
You have Multiple Title Tags and/or Meta Descriptions Found In Your HTML Code
Google found a better Title and/or Meta Description option on your page
You Never Set Your Title Tag or Meta Description
Your Title Tag and/or Meta Description is Too Long

Luckily these are all fixable, so you’ll find how to update these further down in the article.

Google is Rewriting Your Title Tag Because it isn’t Relevant to Search Intent

Google aims to provide the most relevant results to users’ search queries so if your title or meta description doesn’t align with the user’s search intent, Google may alter them to better match the query and improve the overall search experience.

In the case of Google changing meta descriptions 70% of the time, this is most often done to reflect different query intents.

Say your page ranks for two different searches, “what is SEO” and “how to do SEO.”

For the first search, Google will take the definition of “what is SEO” from your page (assuming it’s there) and use that as your meta description.

In the case of “how to do SEO,” Google will take a snippet from that section of your content or turn your meta description into a quick listicle.

In most cases, this will actually benefit your site since Google is trying to pull content from your site that might interest the searcher and help better serve their intent.

While this can benefit your CTR, it can hurt your page’s engagement if the changed meta description or title tag doesn’t accurately reflect what’s on the page.

In this case, I recommend using Google Search Console to search the queries your site ranks for to see how your title tag and meta description are changing across different SERPs.

If they’re changing for the better, still driving clicks, and still accurately reflect your page, then you don’t need to worry about it.

If your meta descriptions and title tags are changing and misleading the searcher about your content, then you’ll want to update/fix them.

Google is Rewriting Your Title Tag Because It Doesn’t Accurately Reflect Your Page

If your meta description and title tag don’t accurately represent your content, then Google will likely change them.

This is because Google wants searchers to reach their proper destination and don’t want them to feel like they’re being misled.

If your article is about the “best SEO tools” and you start listing off the “best SEO agencies,” Google will likely change both your title tag and meta description to match the content.

This is more of a rare case since this article likely wouldn’t even rank in the first place due to it not properly targeting search intent.

In some cases, if the meta descriptions or title tags don’t fully capture the page, Google will change them to match the intent of the search.

As an example, when I was working with a recent client who runs a wire and cable company, we saw that almost 80% of our wire products’ meta descriptions were being rewritten.

This was because the meta descriptions were being used to pitch the searcher rather than accurately describing the product we wanted to sell.

Once we made our meta descriptions more product specific, they stopped being changed and actually weren’t being changed at all for a majority of their product-related searches.

So sometimes when it comes to title tags and meta descriptions, you have to use them to fully cover the intent of the page.

You need to step back and think about what a user would find relevant or helpful, and why they should click on your page.

Google Found Multiple Title Tags In Your Meta Data

Having multiple title tags or meta descriptions in your metadata can not only confuse search engines, but it will result in them picking one over the other.

While this shouldn’t be much of an issue if the title tags and meta descriptions are the same, if they’re different, it can lead to a misleading result being shown in the SERPs.

Not to mention that your title tag, which is a search engine ranking factor will be ignored.

Title tags are one of the most powerful on-page ranking factors, so you’ll be losing a ton of growth potential.

While meta descriptions aren’t ranking factors, they still impact your click through rate, so you always want to ensure that the proper description is showing.

*If you want to fix this duplication issue, head down to the “How to find rewritten title tags and meta descriptions” section of this article.*

Google is Rewriting Your Title Tag Because They Found a Better Option on Your Page

In some cases, Google thought your meta description or title tag quality wasn’t the best indicator of your page’s content.

If Google finds a more fitting title tag or meta description within your page’s content, it will replace the existing ones to better match the searcher’s intent.

In this case, I would honestly A/B test your title tag and meta description to see which version is performing better.

I’d find the title tag and meta description that sticks and compare the CTR data with Google’s selected title tag and meta description to see which one is driving more clicks.

As I mentioned before, in some cases, Google’s selected title tag and meta description might even outperform your chosen one.

If that’s the case, just leave it. If ain’t broke don’t fix it, but still test it anyways to see if it was broken in the first place.

Google is Rewriting Your Title Tag Because You Never Set It

If you never set your title tag or meta description, Google will generate its own based on the content it finds and the searcher’s intent.

In most cases, your title tag should always be set, optimized, and readable for the user, however, meta descriptions are more flexible.

For the content I write, I almost never set my meta descriptions. That’s because I like the meta descriptions Google creates for me, and it’s usually accurate in depicting what’s on my page.

I’m also just lazy.

While everyone has their own methods, you should still test around to see what works best for you.

Some people like writing meta descriptions and are good at preventing them from being changed, others like giving Google more flexibility with their meta descriptions since they change them a majority of the time to match different intents.

Whatever you like is totally up to you, but I highly recommend testing around with them to see what works best for you.

Just know, if you forget to set your title tag or meta description, Google will just create one for you.

Google won’t penalize you, but you’ll miss out on having an optimized title tag that can increase your positioning and CTR.

Google is Rewriting Your Title Tag Because It’s Too Long

Google has specific length limitations for title tags and meta descriptions.

If your title tag or meta description exceeds these limits, Google may truncate or change them to fit within the allowed character count.

Google typically displays meta descriptions of up to 160 characters for desktop search results and up to 130 characters for mobile search results.

However, Google may sometimes choose to display a shorter or longer snippet based on the relevance of the content to the user’s search query.

Google generally displays title tags of up to 70 characters for desktop search results and up to 78 characters for mobile search results.

Similar to meta descriptions, the actual length of the title tag snippet can vary based on different factors.

To have your title and meta description shown, it’s important to optimize them to be within those character limits.

Aim between 140 to 160 characters for meta descriptions and 50 to 70 characters with titles.

Your Title Tag and/or Meta Description is Too Short

On the flip side, your title or meta description might be too short, so you’ll want to update them to be within those previous character ranges.

I’ll explain how to find these pages further along in the article.

How to Get Google to Stop Rewriting Your Title Tag

If you want to prevent Google from changing your title tag and meta description, here are a few things you can do:

Optimize your meta description and title tags for the page’s overall intent
Ensure your title tag and meta description accurately reflect your content
Have your title tag and meta description within an optimal length range
Ensure there’s only one title tag and meta description within your HTML code
Ensure your title tag and meta description can be found in your metadata

Optimize Your Meta Description and Title Tags for the Page’s Overall Intent

Remember, having your meta descriptions and title tags accurately convey the article and answer the users can intent can be tricky.

Your article may be ranking for two queries that have similar yet different meanings. When your topic ranks across a broad spectrum like this, it can be tricky to set your meta description and title tags to match the intent across all queries.

In this specific case, this applies more to meta descriptions than titles.

But what you can do to get your meta description to stick, is to describe the overall intent behind the article.

If someone’s looking to learn more about the “who,what,where, why, and how” what is the overall thing they’ll need to know?

So here you’ll want to go broad instead of specific.

Using my previous example of “what is SEO” and “how to do SEO,” instead of having your meta description change to match the different queries (remember this isn’t necessarily a bad thing), you can convey the overall meaning of the page.

“This ultimate guide will give you everything you need to know about the who, what, how, and why of SEO.”

Something along these lines.

But I do want to reiterate again that a changing meta description will likely benefit you if it’s matching a user’s query and intent.

You don’t want a “what is SEO” description to pop up for a “how to do SEO” query.

It will depend on a query-by-query basis, but it’s always important to test to see what sticks and what doesn’t.

Make Sure Your Title Tag and Meta Description Accurately Reflect Your Content

Review your title tag and meta description to ensure they accurately describe your content.

Remember, Google ultimately wants to satisfy the user’s intent here and they want to make the user’s search as convenient as possible.

If your title tag and meta description do not accurately reflect the page, it will likely be rewritten by Google.

In the case of your title tag, you’re wasting an extremely solid opportunity to improve the search rank of your page.

Luckily Google doesn’t penalize you for title tags or meta descriptions, so the worst thing you’ll get is a changed meta description or title.

It’s up to you to decide whether the title or meta description change accurately reflects the page or not.

Have Your Title Tag and Meta Description Within an Optimal Length Range

As I mentioned before, you’ll want to keep your title tags and meta descriptions within an optimal range.

Aim between 140 to 160 characters for meta descriptions and 50 to 70 characters with titles.

You want users to be able to see and understand your title and description without it being truncated or too short.

Ensure There’s Only One Title Tag and Meta Description in your Meta Data

With this, you’ll want to review your metadata or use a third-party tool like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs to find multiple title tags or meta descriptions.

Remember this likely isn’t an issue, however, it can cause the wrong tag to be selected, which can hurt your click-through rate or rankings.

It’s worth monitoring to ensure the wrong meta description or title tag isn’t being selected.

Ensure Your Title Tag and Meta Description Can Be Found in Your Meta Data

Check that your title tag and meta description are included within your metadata. If Google can’t find your meta tags, they’ll just create a title and meta description for you.

While Google is usually pretty accurate with their changes, you likely don’t want to leave it up to them to decide how your URL’s search appearance should look.

What to Know About Title Tags, Meta Descriptions, and Their Search Appearance

Title tags and meta descriptions are crucial HTML elements that show users on the SERPs what your page is about.

Within your site’s metadata, the title tag and meta description look like this:

They’re always presented as:

<title> </title>
<meta name=”description” content=”” />

The title tags define the title or the topic of your webpage, while the meta descriptions provide a brief summary of the page.

Think of your title tag as a book title and then your meta description as the book’s synopsis.

These elements play a significant role in attracting users and improving click-through rates.

Now using that same book example, wouldn’t readers feel misled if the synopsis didn’t accurately depict the book or lied about the plot?

They certainly would, and we wouldn’t want readers/users to associate any negative thoughts with our book/brand from being led on.

We also want to ensure our book title and synopsis are just the right length so readers don’t get intimated or confused.

You don’t want readers to understand the entire plot of the book and you don’t want to make it too short that they don’t understand what the book is even about.

This is why we’ll want to fix our changing meta descriptions and titles, we want users to understand our content and decide whether they want to continue reading or not.

How Common is it For Google to Rewrite Title Tags?

As I mentioned previously, it’s not uncommon for Google to rewrite or change a site’s title tag or meta description. If anything, it’s probably more common for Google to change your meta descriptions and title tags.

Studies have shown that Google rewrites about 70% of meta descriptions.

And for title tags, Google changes them 61% of the time.

Even though it is more common for Google to change them, you still can optimize your title tags and meta descriptions to better prevent Google from changing them.

Why You Want Google to Show Your Title Tags

Like I mentioned before, Google won’t penalize you for duplicating or forgetting to set your meta description or title tag, but you will lose out on a few opportunities that would otherwise benefit your site.

It could:

Improve your Click-Through Rates: Clear and compelling titles and descriptions attract users’ attention and encourage them to click on your listing, driving more organic traffic.
Enhance User Experience: Accurate and descriptive title tags and meta descriptions provide users with a better understanding of your page’s content, leading to a positive user experience.
Increase Search Visibility: When your title tags and meta descriptions align with user search intent, Google is more likely to display your website in the SERPs, increasing your overall visibility.

Is It a Big Deal If Google is Changing My Title Tags?

While it can be frustrating when Google changes or rewrites your title tags and meta descriptions, it is not necessarily something that should worry you.

In some cases, Google’s changes can actually match a searcher’s intent better and make it more likely for a searcher to click on your URL.

While Google can benefit your site with these rewrites and changes, it’s still important to A/B test them to see if the title and meta description changes are positive and not negative.

In most cases, the changes and rewrites of your meta descriptions will be positive.

How to Find Rewritten Title Tags or Meta Descriptions

To identify any rewritten, changed, missing, duplicated, short, or long title tags or meta descriptions, you can use tools like Screaming Frog and Ahrefs. Here’s how:

Using Screaming Frog to find too long or too short titles and meta descriptions.
Using Screaming Frog to find duplicated or missing titles and meta descriptions.
Using Screaming Frog to find multiple title tags or meta descriptions.
Using Ahrefs to find mismatched SERP titles.
Using Ahrefs to find too long or too short titles and meta descriptions.
Using Ahrefs to find missing or empty title tags and meta descriptions.

Using Screaming Frog to Find Too Long or Too Short Titles and Meta Descriptions

Screaming Frog can analyze your website and provide a comprehensive report on title tags and meta descriptions. It helps identify any that are too long or too short, allowing you to make necessary adjustments. Here’s how you can do this:

Enter the URL of your website in the search bar at the top of the Screaming Frog interface.
Click on the “Start” button or press the Enter key to initiate the crawl.
Once the crawl is complete, navigate to the “Page Titles” tab in the left-hand side panel.
Look for any titles that exceed the recommended character limit (typically around 60 characters) or are too short to convey the necessary information.
Similarly, go to the “Meta Descriptions” tab in the left-hand side panel.
Identify any meta descriptions that exceed the recommended character limit (typically around 160 characters) or are too short.
Make note of the pages with titles or meta descriptions that need adjustment.
Review and update the titles and meta descriptions on your website to ensure they fall within the optimal character limits.
After making the necessary adjustments, consider running a new crawl to ensure the changes have been implemented correctly.

Using Screaming Frog to Find Duplicated or Missing Titles and Meta Descriptions

Screaming Frog can also detect duplicate or missing title tags and meta descriptions across your website. Here’s how you can find them:

Load up the issues tab
Look for any instances of duplicated or missing title tags and meta descriptions

You can also:

Head to the page title tab
Filter by occurrences
Look for URLs with 0 occurrences
Now do the same for the Meta Description tab

Using Screaming Frog to Find Multiple Title Tags or Meta Descriptions

You can use Screaming Frog to find any pages that have multiple title tags or meta descriptions present on them. To find them, just:

Go to the “Issues” tab and review the report for any mentions of multiple title tags or meta descriptions.
Navigate to the “Page Titles” tab and use the occurrence filter to identify pages with more than one title tag.
Similarly, go to the “Meta Descriptions” tab and use the Occurrence filter to find pages with multiple meta descriptions.

Using Ahrefs to Find Mismatched SERP Titles

Ahrefs allows you to compare the titles displayed in search engine results pages (SERPs) with the titles on your website. This can be an easy way to find if there are any significant mismatches with your titles.

To find these pages, just:

Run a site crawl
Head over to issues
Select page title/SERP Title don’t match
Export your data for review

Using Ahrefs to Find Too Long or Too Short Titles and Meta Descriptions

Ahrefs will tell you which page titles and meta descriptions are too long or too short in length. It will provide this info in a similar way as screaming frog, but I find this method to be more user-friendly.