New information was shared by Google about why it changes page titles along with an explanation on how replacement text is chosen.

As Google revealed new information regarding the page title updates, it also gave an explanation on why some texts are replaced and some are not.

The update to page titles was rolled out last month and it’s said that it’s replacing less than 20% of SERP titles which google feels is more relevant to the search query. Google now offers additional guidance for everyone and has refined its systems for generating page titles.

New Information On Title Updates Done By Google

Though Google changes some page titles, the original webpage titles will be used after refinements to the update. 87% of the time original title elements are being used, instead of the 80% when the update first came out.

Why Google Doesn’t Always Use The Original Page Titles

If a title doesn’t describe a page as well as it could, the title will be replaced by Google. Since 2012 this has been happening, and with the newest update, Google takes it a step further.

Google’s page title update is designed to detect and adjust the following:

Titles That Are Half Empty

Google’s new update is designed to detect page titles that are half-empty. If for instance the title only displays the website name, google then looks for information on the page and adjusts the title.

Titles That Are Obsolete

When your page is used for years with the same title over and over again, that title becomes obsolete after time and Google makes adjustments to it by simply updating the year of the title and everything else stays the same.

Titles That Are Inaccurate

Your title has to accurately state what the page is about, and it sometimes doesn’t. Google adjusts the title to best describe what’s on the page. If it uses products from your page, it’s just to show potential visitors what can be expected when the reach the webpage.

Micro-Boilerplate Titles

The term micro-boilerplate refers to a title that has a subset of pages within the website. When Google detects them it makes adjustments. For instance, when you’re on your favorite movie website and you reach the page that shows the series section, there’s a page containing each season within it.

This is a title with boilerplate title elements and it’s very common in series sections, where there’s an individual thread for which season is which.

Google Offers Guidance To Site Owners

The guidance offered to site owners is still the same as when the update first launched, most of the time the original title of a page is used instead of being replaced with the replacement text.

Your main focus shouldn’t be on the possibility that your website title is going to be replaced, but instead focusing on writing excellent titles that need no adjustments made.

Extra Insight Related To Your Page Titles From Google

If the words in your title target a specific keyword and the replacement text don’t contain that word, the original title will still be used by Google’s ranking algorithms.

There are also questions being asked such as if Google was to replace your page title, is it a must for the owner to change it?

It’s not recommended to use the titles provided by Google as they’re not superior by default and they won’t necessarily make a difference to your page’s ranking if you were to encode them into your website.

You know your site best when your title is replaced with another by Google, it’s simply because the algorithm is trying to figure things out. You also know your users and what they expect when visiting your site.

If the algorithm should give you a good idea that’s excellent, but following what it’s doing blindly might not be such a good idea. If you were to blindly remove your original title it could have an effect on your site’s rankings in the end.