WordPress meta title: cut-off and duplicate titles in Google, and how to fix them
A WordPress meta title is the page title Google may show as the blue link in search results. WordPress builds it from the post title and site name, and you change it in an SEO plugin, such as Yoast SEO or Rank Math. A good title has the most important words first, fits in the result and is different on every page.
Author: The TellMyShop team. A guide for WordPress site and WooCommerce store owners: the cause, the manual fix and the same work in a chat conversation.
Last updated: · 5 min read
Where to change the meta title in WordPress
The field is in the SEO plugin, in the box below the post content or in the editor's sidebar. Without an SEO plugin WordPress has no separate field for the Google title.
| Situation | Where the title field is | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Yoast SEO | the Yoast SEO box, SEO title field above the meta description | the template for all posts is in the Yoast settings, under content types |
| Rank Math | the result preview in the Rank Math box, Edit Snippet button | Rank Math uses variables in templates, such as the post title and separator |
| No SEO plugin | WordPress shows the post title and site name | you can't set a separate Google title without a plugin |
| Categories and tags | the category edit screen, SEO plugin box at the bottom | categories often have only a template with the name, no title of their own |
Rank Math explains the variables it builds titles from in its article on title and description variables. Yoast has a separate guide on how to write page titles.
How to change the meta title of a single post with Yoast SEO:
- Open the post or page in the editor.
- Scroll to the Yoast SEO box below the content.
- In the SEO title field, remove the default template or add text before it.
- Watch the bar below the field. Green means the title fits in the result.
- Update the post and check the Google preview above the field.
How to write a good page title
Start with what people search for, and put the company name last. Google trims titles that don't fit in the result, so important words at the end may disappear.
Templates to start with:
- Guide: phrase + specifics. “Overwintering roses in pots: when and what to cover with”
- Service page: service + place or distinguishing feature + brand. “Made-to-measure oak kitchen worktops, York | Nowak Joinery”
- Blog category: topic + what's inside. “Roses: planting, pruning and overwintering”
- WooCommerce product: name + key feature. “Winter garden fleece 50 g/m², 1.6 × 10 m roll”
The values in the examples are illustrative. Put in the title only what's really on the page.
Google explains where it gets titles in results from and how to influence them in its guide to title links in search results. The main advice: every page should have its own title, descriptive and concise, in the page's language, without repeating the same text across the whole site.
Cut-off or duplicate title: before and after
Title too long. Google cuts it halfway and puts an ellipsis at the end.
- Before: “The complete guide to how to overwinter roses in the garden and in pots on the balcony | Woodside Gardens”
- After: “Overwintering roses in the garden and in pots | Woodside Gardens”
The same title on many pages. It happens after copying a page, or when the plugin template gives every page just the company name.
- Before: “Woodside Gardens” on the About, Offer and Contact pages
- After: “About us: rose nursery near York | Woodside Gardens”, “Roses and young plants for sale | Woodside Gardens”, “Contact and directions | Woodside Gardens”
Title as a keyword list.
- Before: “Roses, roses in winter, overwintering roses, covering roses, roses in pots”
- After: a title that reads like a sentence, with the phrase once.
If you also want to improve the descriptions below the titles, the guide to the WordPress meta description will help.
Dozens of pages to fix: how to change titles in batches
For a few pages the editor is enough. With a hundred posts with generic or duplicate titles, it's many evenings of opening post after post.
That's what the “Posts and pages SEO in batches” task in the TellMyShop plugin for WordPress and WooCommerce is for. Your chat (Claude or ChatGPT) gathers posts and pages with a missing, overlong or duplicate title, reads their content and shows two or three samples for you to approve the style. Then it works in batches of up to 50 titles, and you see each batch in a preview before anything is saved. It saves to Yoast SEO or Rank Math, whichever you use.
You: Fix the Google titles on pages that share the same title.
Your chat: Seven pages have the title “Woodside Gardens”. Three samples for approval:
You: Good. Without “near York”, that's just the address.
Your chat: I'll fix that. I'll prepare a preview of all seven titles. I'll save it after your ‘yes’.
Card status: waiting for your “yes”About
old version: Woodside Gardens
new version: About us: rose nursery near York | Woodside Gardens
Offer
old version: Woodside Gardens
new version: Roses and young plants for sale | Woodside Gardens
Contact
old version: Woodside Gardens
new version: Contact and directions | Woodside Gardens
In this task the chat changes only the titles for Google. It doesn't touch post titles, content or addresses. Each batch goes into the change history, and you can undo most changes with the request “undo the last change”.
In TellMyShop Free the chat reviews the site, shows pages with title problems and suggests new ones, but saves nothing. Saving works in TellMyShop Pro straight after licence activation, without turning on any switches. Details are on the TellMyShop for WordPress and WooCommerce page, prices on the pricing page. A wider checklist is in the post on the WordPress SEO audit.
Questions and answers
How is the meta title different from the post title in WordPress?
The post title is the heading the reader sees on the page. The meta title is the title for Google and the browser tab. By default the SEO plugin builds it from the post title and the site name, but you can enter a different one, shorter or better matched to searches.
How many characters should a meta title have?
Google measures title width in pixels, not characters, so there's no single number. In practice about 50 to 60 characters fit in the result. Put the most important words first and the company name last.
Why does Google show a different title from mine?
Google creates the title in results itself and takes into account the meta title, the page heading and other text. When the meta title is too long, generic, repeated across many pages or doesn't match the content, Google is more likely to choose different text.
Will changing the meta title change the page address?
No. The meta title and the page address are separate fields. You can improve the title for Google without touching the address and without redirects.
Can the TellMyShop plugin fix the titles of many pages at once?
Yes, in TellMyShop Pro. The chat gathers pages with missing, overlong or duplicate titles, shows samples and batches of up to 50 titles in a preview, and saves them in Yoast SEO or Rank Math after your approval. TellMyShop Free finds those pages and suggests titles, but saves nothing.
WordPress is a trademark of the WordPress Foundation. WooCommerce is a trademark of Automattic Inc. Claude is a trademark of Anthropic PBC. ChatGPT and OpenAI are trademarks of OpenAI. TellMyShop is not affiliated with these companies.