Does your headline match your page title?
It compares meaningful words in the title with a page-specific main heading.
What Check Engine measures
The check runs for a supported prose language and requires both a title and a nonempty main heading. Common page-kind words, simple plurals and recognised equivalent contact phrases are normalised. On a sample of at least 5 successful pages, headings present on at least a 0.6 share are treated as shared furniture. The first remaining heading is preferred. A meaningful-word overlap below 0.2 produces a finding, except for a title made only of brand words. For example, a meaningful-word overlap of exactly 0.2 does not fall below the mismatch limit.
Indexable titles and main headings supply the comparison. Shared headings are identified from successful pages so that a repeated business heading does not automatically replace the page's actual subject.
How to read the result
The finding is low severity. Word overlap is a narrow clue and can miss synonyms, so review the title and headline as promises to a reader before changing either field.
Why it matters
A page title and the headline a visitor reaches should make sense together. The code checks a visible part of that relationship without claiming to know the full intent of a search or the visitor's next action.
How to fix it
Read the title as it would appear in a search result, then read the first specific headline. Make both describe the same page job. Preserve useful differences in wording and avoid copying the title mechanically when a clearer headline works. Check a shared template if the wrong heading appears across several unrelated pages.
What we found in field audits
Problems in Conversion & landing pages were found on 13 of the 14 sites we audited. These are area totals. Read the field-audit method.
Method note
backend/seo_engine/checks/conversion.py, message_match, revision 0bb8e8d3.
Common questions
How much title-to-heading overlap avoids a message-match finding?
A meaningful-word overlap of 0.2 passes the comparison. Lower overlap can qualify after the wording guards are applied.
Can a repeated business heading be ignored when checking my page headline?
Yes. A heading seen across a 0.6 share of a large enough sample is treated as shared furniture. The comparison prefers a page-specific heading.
Does a title-headline mismatch prove my wording misleads readers?
No. The low severity result is a word-overlap clue. Synonyms and page purpose still need a person's review.