What a title is for
A product title appears in many places: at the top of the product page, in category listings, in search results inside your store and on search engines, in cart and order emails and on packing slips. Because it is seen in so many contexts, often with limited space, it has to identify the item quickly and clearly.
A good title tells a shopper what the thing is, and enough about it to tell it apart from similar items. It does not try to carry the whole sales pitch. That belongs in the description.
A simple pattern
A reliable approach is to choose one pattern and use it for the whole catalog. A common structure is:
Brand or line (if it helps) + product type + key attribute + variant or size when needed
For example, with made-up items:
- “Ceramic Pour-Over Coffee Dripper, White”
- “Cotton Crew Neck T-Shirt, Heather Gray”
- “Stainless Steel Water Bottle, 20 oz”
Notice how the main noun, the thing a person would search for, is easy to find. Put the most important words first, because titles are often cut off in narrow spaces, such as on phones or in search results.
The exact order is less important than being consistent. If some titles begin with the color and others end with it, products become hard to scan in a list.
Write for people first
Shoppers search with ordinary words. Before settling on wording, think about what someone would type to find the item, and use that term, not an internal nickname or a supplier’s code. Keyword research for product pages can help you check which wording is common, though a small store should treat any tool’s numbers as rough guidance.
Search engines do read titles, and a clear title that includes the product type and a key attribute is a good start for ecommerce SEO. But repeating the same words several times does not help and makes titles harder to read. A title like “Gift Mug Coffee Mug Cup Mug Present” looks unprofessional and is unlikely to be rewarded.
What to include
Useful elements, depending on the product:
- Product type, in the plain term customers use.
- Brand or maker, if people look for it, or if it is your own brand and you want it recognized.
- Material or key feature, when it distinguishes the item.
- Size, capacity or quantity, where it is a defining property.
- Model or style name, if one exists.
- Color, either in the title or as a variant option, but with a consistent rule.
What to leave out
- Promotional words such as “sale,” “best,” or “amazing.” They go stale and take up space.
- Excess punctuation, symbols and capital letters.
- Details that change often, such as a temporary discount or price.
- Long lists of uses and features, which fit better in the description.
- Claims you cannot support. Wording that promises results can be misleading, and some categories have rules about what can be said, so keep titles factual.
- Another seller’s brand name or protected name used to attract searches. Basic trademark questions are worth understanding before you name products.
Style rules that keep things tidy
Write down a small style sheet and follow it:
- Capitalization: pick title case or sentence case and stick to it.
- Units: decide how to write units, for example “20 oz” or “20 ounces,” and use the same form everywhere. If you sell in several regions, consider how measurements will appear to each audience.
- Separators: choose commas, dashes or parentheses for attributes, and use them the same way each time.
- Numbers: use numerals for sizes and quantities.
- Color names: use a fixed list of names, so “Navy” does not appear as “Dark Blue” on another listing.
- Spelling: use one spelling variant throughout.
This also helps behind the scenes. When names follow a pattern, it is easier to sort a product list, spot duplicates and import or export data without errors.
Titles and variants
If a product comes in several options, usually the base title should name the product, and the options (color, size) should be handled as variants rather than creating a separate listing for each. The handling of product variants is covered in its own guide. Where you do put the option in the title, for example in a cart line, make sure the format is the same each time.
Avoid creating near-identical listings that differ only in small details of the title, which can lead to duplicate content and splits attention between pages.
Length and mobile display
There is no perfect length. Many search engines show only part of a long title, and phone screens display fewer characters than desktops. Put the key information early, and keep titles to a length that reads comfortably in one or two lines. If you have to choose, shorter and clear is better than longer and padded. Check how your titles look in your own category pages and on a phone, as part of general mobile optimization.
Improving existing titles
When you revise a catalog, work through it in a systematic way:
- Export or list all current titles.
- Sort them and look for inconsistencies in order, wording and units.
- Fix the highest-traffic products first.
- Keep a record of the old and new titles, in case you need to check something later.
- After changes, watch store analytics for shifts in search visits and conversions, remembering that small stores have limited data and many things change at once.
Be careful if you change web addresses along with titles: old links should redirect to the new ones so shoppers and search engines do not hit dead pages.