Hey. You.
We know you spent all that time creating the perfect title for that article or blog post.
But.
Forget it.
We’ll just scan your article and come up with our own title.
That’s what Google’s doing now in the majority of cases, according to this article at Search Engine Land. An analysis of Q1 2025 search results showed that 76% of the time, Google changes the title tags from what was written to something else. These results held true with searches for commercial, informational content, or YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) content.
In 63% of the modified titles, the data showed that brand name mentions are removed. That’s the most common change.
Why?
Google says it edits for:
- Clarity
- Brevity
- Intent matching
- Inaccuracy
- Generic titles
How to Minimize Title Tag Rewrites
Five steps can help:
- Write clear, descriptive Titles: Accurately summarize the page’s content in a natural, user-friendly way.
- Keep it short: Aim for less than 6- characters to avoid truncation.
- Avoid keyword stuffing: Use primary keywords sparingly and naturally.
- Match the H1 and on-page content: Google often pulls from the H1 tag or visible page text, so align your title with those elements.
- Avoid overuse of branding: If you include your brand, place it at the end so that if it gets cut off, it won’t hurt the rest.
About the Author
Paul Dughi is the CEO at StrongerContent.com with more than 30 years of experience as a journalist, content strategist, and Emmy-award winning writer/producer. Paul has earned more than 30 regional and national awards for journalistic excellence and earned credentials in SEO, content marketing, and AI optimization from Google. HubSpot, Moz, Facebook, LinkedIn, SEMRush, eMarketing Institute, Local Media Association, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), and Vanderbilt University.
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