One webmaster was concerned about the latest change to Google’s page titles in the SERPs (search engine results pages).
We have previously referred to it as “Titlegeddon“.
John Mueller explained that they never know exactly how their processes will evolve over time. But at least, at this moment, they still use the original page title for ranking.
He also said that the page title change is really just cosmetic and has no influence on the ranking side of things.
He said they may change the one keyword the SEO professional cares about, but they would still use it for ranking.
His main advice is to not blindly follow what Google’s algorithms are doing. They may give you great ideas, but don’t blindly follow them.
He gives this advice at approximately the 0:38 mark in the video:
Hangout Transcript 09/03/2021
Yeah. Hello, John. Hello, everyone. Yes, I wanted to ask a question. Regarding the latest change. We’re connected to generate titles. Is it safe to think that Google still relies on the initial title? So when? Change it for ranking?
John 0:58
Yes. We, at least that’s the way it is at the moment. So you’ll never know how these things evolve over time. But at least at the moment, it is the case that we continue to use what you have in your title tag, in your title element, as something that we can use for ranking. It’s not, it’s not like something that replaces everything for the website. But it is a factor that we use in there. Even if, when we display the title for your page, we swap out maybe that one keyword that you care about, we would still use that for. So that’s, I think, the one thing—the other question that I always get around the titles is, should I change my titles to be what Google has chosen? Because obviously, Google knows better?
And the answer is, no. These are algorithms that are looking at things and trying to figure things out. But you know, your site is fast, you know your users best. So I would not blindly follow what Google’s algorithms are doing. Maybe there are cases where Google’s algorithms give you good ideas, and that’s fantastic. But I would not blindly follow.
