Do your page titles fit and describe the page?
It checks missing titles, display width and excessive repeated keywords.
What Check Engine measures
Pages with readable content are checked for missing titles, including an empty title element. Display width below 25 half-width character units is short and above 65 half-width character units is long. A title such as 'Home' falls below the short limit. The engine counts wide and fullwidth Unicode characters twice and all other characters once. For the keyword test, the engine removes recognised brand text, then keeps words of at least 4 letters. A word repeated at least 4 times is flagged. Repeated brand fragments at the end can also be removed before counting.
The check reads title text, whether the title element exists, and the business name. A separate check compares titles across pages. Review both results to give each page a clear, distinct name.
How to read the result
Missing titles are high severity, short and keyword-repeating titles medium, and long titles low. The width limits are review thresholds rather than a guarantee of how much a search result will display.
Why it matters
A title states what a page is about in a small space. Missing or repetitive wording gives little guidance, while a long value can bury the useful distinction between this page and another.
How to fix it
Write a specific title that names the page's job. Keep the main subject early and a useful brand suffix concise. Remove repeated keywords without erasing necessary meaning. Review the page itself before shortening a title so that the edit preserves the information a visitor needs to choose the right destination.
How to write title tags that fit
What we found in field audits
Problems in On-page SEO were found on 14 of the 14 sites we audited. These are area totals. Read the field-audit method.
Method note
backend/seo_engine/checks/onpage.py, titles, revision 0bb8e8d3.
Common questions
What counts as a short page title?
A title is short under 25 half-width character units. Wide and fullwidth characters count twice, with other characters counted once.
Is a title width of 65 units too long?
No. Exactly 65 half-width character units passes. A plain character count can differ when the title includes wide characters.
Is a missing page title worse than a long one?
Yes. Missing titles are high severity; a long title has low severity. A short title or repeated keyword gets medium severity.