How to Write Title Tags That Rank: A Guide for Ecommerce Stores

2 min read

Your title tag is the single most visible SEO element — it's the clickable blue link in Google search results. A great title tag can double your click-through rate. A missing or generic one means lost traffic and revenue. Here's how to write titles that actually rank.

What Makes a Good Title Tag

A good title tag does three things: tells Google what the page is about, convinces searchers to click, and fits within Google's display limit (~60 characters). **Formula for product pages:** [Product Name] — [Key Benefit or Attribute] | [Brand Name] Example: "Blue Merino Wool Sweater — Lightweight & Breathable | NordKnit" **Formula for category pages:** [Category] — [Value Prop] | [Brand Name] Example: "Men's Running Shoes — Free Shipping Over $50 | SprintGear" Avoid generic titles like "Home" or "Products" — these tell Google nothing and get zero clicks.

Common Title Tag Mistakes

**Duplicate titles:** If every product page has the title "Products — YourStore," Google sees them all as the same page. Each page needs a unique title. **Too long:** Google truncates titles after ~60 characters (or 580 pixels). Put the most important keywords first so they're always visible. **Keyword stuffing:** "Buy Blue Sweater | Blue Sweaters | Best Blue Sweater Sale" looks spammy to both Google and users. Use natural language. **Missing brand name:** Including your brand helps with recognition and can improve click-through rates, especially for branded searches. Put it at the end after a separator.

Title Tags on Shopify

Shopify auto-generates titles from your product name and store name. To customize: 1. Go to the product/page editor 2. Scroll to "Search engine listing" (click "Edit website SEO" if collapsed) 3. Edit the "Page title" field Shopify's theme.liquid generates the `<title>` tag using `{{ page_title }}`. The format is usually: "Product Name — Store Name". You can customize the separator in your theme code.

Title Tags on WooCommerce

With Yoast SEO or RankMath, you can set custom title templates for all page types: - Yoast: SEO → Search Appearance → Content Types → Products → SEO title - RankMath: Rank Math → Titles & Meta → Products → Title Default template: `%%title%% %%sep%% %%sitename%%` You can also override titles per product by editing the SEO section on each product page. For bulk changes, use Yoast's bulk editor or a plugin like Yoast SEO Premium.

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