A title rewrite happens when Google shows a different title in search results than the one in a page’s <title> element. Google calls the displayed text a title link and generates it automatically.
When does Google change the title?
Google builds title links from several sources, including the <title> element, the main visible heading such as <h1>, og:title, other prominent text and anchor text pointing to the page. According to its documentation, Google may generate a different title link when it detects an issue on the page. The listed issues include half-empty title elements, outdated ones (for example an old year), inaccurate ones, repeated boilerplate and no clear main title.
How often does it happen?
Published studies disagree. seoClarity found 23 percent of titles rewritten across the top five URLs for 50,000 keywords. Portent reported 63 percent in 2022. Method and sample differ, and none of these numbers come from Google.
Example (fictional)
A page has the title “Home | Example Co” and the heading “Buy running shoes”. Google shows “Example Co – Buy running shoes”. A descriptive title element would have made the substitution unnecessary.
Sources
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