A title tag is the clickable headline in Google's results and the meta description is the short text under it. Write a unique title for every page that names the service, Christchurch and a reason to click, keep it to roughly 60 characters, and write a description of around 150 characters that reads like an offer, not a keyword list.
A title tag is the blue clickable headline in Google's results, and the meta description is the short text beneath it. Write a different title for every page that names the service, Christchurch and one reason to click, keep it to roughly 60 characters, and write a description of around 150 characters that reads like an offer.
These two small pieces of text are the first thing a customer sees of your business. They are part of on-page SEO, and they are one of the cheapest things to improve.
1. Find your weakest pages first
Do not rewrite every title in one go. Open Search Console and look at the Performance report by page. You are looking for pages with plenty of impressions but few clicks, because those are being seen and ignored. If you have not used it before, this beginner's guide to Search Console shows where to look. Note the five worst and start there.
2. Write a unique title for every page
Every page needs its own title. Use a simple pattern: the main service, the place, and a reason to click.
- Service: what the page is about, in the words customers use
- Place: Christchurch, or the suburb if the page is about one
- Reason: something true and specific, such as same-day callouts or fixed-price quotes
The service words should come from real keyword research, not guesswork. Only claim what you can deliver.
3. Keep the title short enough to show
Google measures titles by pixel width, not character count, so there is no magic number. As a rule of thumb, roughly 60 characters or fewer tends to show in full on desktop. Longer titles tend to get cut off with three dots. Put the important words at the start so a trimmed title still makes sense.
4. Write the meta description like an offer
Around 150 characters is a sensible target. Treat it as a mini advert: say what the reader gets, add a specific detail, and end with a gentle prompt such as "Get a fixed-price quote". A list of keywords separated by commas does nothing for a human reader. Google may also rewrite your description depending on the search, so make the page itself clear, and see the description as your best attempt rather than a guarantee.
A worked example for a Sumner plumber
Say a plumber in Sumner has a page for blocked drains. The old title reads: "PLUMBER CHRISTCHURCH | Plumbing Christchurch | Drain Plumber Christchurch | Smith Plumbing". It is too long, shouts in capitals, repeats the same word and puts the brand last.
A better title: "Blocked Drain Plumber in Sumner and Christchurch | Same-Day Callouts". The old description was just a string of keywords. The new one reads: "Blocked drain? We clear it fast and tell you the price before we start. Servicing Sumner, Redcliffs and the eastern suburbs. Call for a quote." That is a human sentence with a clear promise, and it says who it is for.
Whether that wins more clicks depends on position and competition, but it gives the page a fair chance. Notice what changed: the new version says what the page is, where it applies, and why someone might pick it over the next result. It also drops the repeated keyword, which was doing nothing for the reader.
5. Avoid the common mistakes
Most weak titles fail in the same few ways, and you can spot them in minutes by exporting your page titles into a spreadsheet and reading down the column.
- Duplicates: the same title on twenty pages. Each page should have its own.
- Keyword stuffing: repeating the same phrase several times. It looks spammy and invites a rewrite.
- All capitals: harder to read and rarely helps.
- Brand first: your business name using up the best space at the front, when most people are searching for the service.
- Vague wording: "Home" or "Services" as a title tells nobody anything.
Fixing these is usually quick, and unlike most SEO jobs you can finish a whole small site in an afternoon. A spreadsheet of page, current title and new title is enough, and it pairs well with writing page content that earns rankings since the title should describe the page honestly.
6. Measure and revise
Give a rewritten title a few weeks before judging it. Then compare click-through rate for the page in Search Console, before and after. Remember that click-through rate also depends heavily on your position. A page ranking third will usually get more clicks than the same page ranked eighth, whatever the title says. Compare like with like, and read how to measure whether SEO is working before drawing big conclusions from a small change.
What this will not do
Great titles do not lift a page that Google does not think is relevant, and they will not rescue thin content. They also will not help if the click leads to a page that does not match the promise, because people will leave. Titles and descriptions get the right people through the door. The page has to do the rest.
If you would like someone to go through your titles and descriptions page by page and rewrite the ones that are holding you back, our content SEO service covers it, and a free SEO audit will show you which pages to fix first.
