# Search titles and descriptions

Give every page a title and description you chose, rather than accepting the defaults.

For: Everyone responsible for a site being found

## Where these live

With nothing selected on a page, the inspector has a Search engines section: Title in search results, Description in search results, a shared image, and a switch to hide the page from search engines altogether.

Search engines build their own titles more often than people think, but the title you set is the strongest signal about what the page is, and the description is your one chance to write the advert under it.

Walkthrough: Writing a page title and description (Search settings for one page)

1. **The title**: Write it as a person would search: "Emergency plumber in Cardiff" beats "Services". Each page needs its own.
2. **The description**: One sentence somebody would click. It is the advert under the title, and nobody else will write it for you.
3. **Or hide the page**: Hide from search engines suits thank-you pages and anything meant only for people who already have the link.

1. Open a page and leave nothing selected.
2. Write the title as a person would search, not as a label: "Emergency plumber in Cardiff" beats "Services".
3. Write the description as one sentence somebody would click.

## The preview and the length limits

Under the fields, a preview shows the result as it will look in a search list: title, address, description. The character counts are guidance rather than law, but text far past the limits is likely to be cut.

Every page should have its own title. The common failure is a dozen pages called "Home" or the same strapline; each one is a missed chance to be found.

Walkthrough: The search preview and the shared image (Search settings for one page)

1. **The preview**: Title, address, description, as a search list shows them. Text far past the limits is likely to be cut.
2. **The shared image**: What appears when the page is shared in a message. A tidy logo or photograph makes every link look deliberate.

Note: Write for a person deciding what to click, and the search engine follows. Keyword lists read like spam to both.

## Asking AI for a suggestion

Suggest with AI offers a title and description based on the page itself, in a form you can accept or edit. It is a draft like every AI draft: fine to keep, fine to bin, never published on its own.

The most common edit after accepting a suggestion is cutting it shorter. Machine drafts are usually a few words too long for the box they land in.

Walkthrough: Asking AI for a suggestion (Search settings for one page)

1. **Suggest with AI**: A title and description drafted from the page itself, in a form you can accept or edit.
2. **Then cut it shorter**: Machine drafts run a few words long for the box they land in. The edit usually takes ten seconds.

- [ ] Every page has its own title
- [ ] Descriptions say something a searcher would click
- [ ] The shared image is the one that looks right small
- [ ] Nothing is hidden from search by accident

## What if I do nothing here?

Search engines will use your page title and first paragraph. That is workable; a written title and description are simply better at getting clicks.

## Does the description change my ranking?

Indirectly at most. It affects whether people click once they see the result, which matters more than most ranking knobs.

## Related guides

- [Site-wide SEO settings](/help/seo/site-wide-seo-settings)
- [Suggestions with AI](/help/seo/be-found-by-ai-assistants)
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