Lead with what the page is about
The clickable headline in a search result is its title link. The SEO title you enter in your website editor is one source Google can use to create it, and it also appears in the browser tab. This may be a separate field from the large heading visitors see on the page itself. Before editing, check which of those two things you are changing.
Consider a fictional language school that teaches English online to adult beginners in small groups. The title “Courses” says little about this course page. “Online English classes for adult beginners” tells visitors the subject, audience and format. Give each page a title that reflects its own content. Repeating the same phrase across every page, or listing several variations of a keyword, makes the title harder to read.
Before
Courses
After
Online English classes for adult beginners
Read more: Google Search Central · Title links
Describe what a visitor will find
The short text beneath a search title is the snippet. Your meta description is a suggested summary of the page. Give a reader useful details: who a service is for, what is included or what they can find out next. “Welcome to our website” tells a visitor less than an explanation of who the course is for and how the classes work.
In this fictional example, the course page describes online English classes for adult beginners, small groups, the course outline and how to enroll. The description below summarizes those details. Compare your draft with the page before publishing it. If the details are missing from the page, add the relevant information or change the description. Google can also select text from the page itself, and the snippet can differ depending on the search query.
Before
Welcome to our website.
After
Online English classes for adult beginners, taught in small groups. View the course outline and find out how to enroll.
Read more: Google Search Central · Snippets
Check the published page first
If you use WordPress with Yoast SEO, edit the relevant page and open Search appearance in the Yoast SEO panel. Find SEO title and Meta description, enter your new wording and update the page. Other website editors often keep these fields under page settings or SEO. Make sure you are editing this page, rather than changing the default title for the entire website.
Open the published page in a new tab and check its tab title. To check the description, view the page source and search for name="description". If the old wording remains, check whether the update was published and whether a cache needs clearing. Once the page is correct, Google still needs to crawl and process it again. Its displayed title may differ from your chosen wording.
Read more: Yoast · Search appearance preview · Google Search Central · Title links