Shopify product title SEO is one of the most underutilized levers available to stores. This single title is the H1, the SERP headline, the Google Shopping feed title, the social share, and the meta title fallback. Mess it up and every surface will drag. But get it right and a 5 minute tweak could push a product from page three to page one.
And yet most retailers are still publishing product page titles like “Blue Shirt” or “Classic Tee (New)”. Without even a keyword, modifier or context in the title, to aid in the ranking on Google and to give customers browsing through results online at 11pm some context as to what to expect from the product description. We provided on the free Headline Analyzer tool to evaluate on these factors before you publish.
This guide covers 3 things you need to know about exact long tail match domain names including character limits and keyword placement, the brand suffix patterns used by the big retailers and the mistakes that cost you money every day without you realising it.
In this post
- Why the title is the biggest SEO lever
- Character limits that actually matter
- The keyword-first formula
- Brand suffix patterns
- Common mistakes
- Before and after examples
- FAQ
Why the product title is the biggest SEO lever on a Shopify store
Google appears to be paying most attention to the product title for signals as to what a page is about. It’s the title in the H1 tag, it’s the default title in the URL slug, it’s the title that appears in the SERP snippet, and it appears in the Google Shopping feed as well. A weak title will have a compounding effect of weakening all four of these signals, but a strong product title will have a compounding effect of strengthening all four of these signals. This is on-page SEO with zero technical involvement.
Shoppers read article titles – online – the same way readers read head lines in printed book lists. Busy Google pages show only the first 50 characters of a title – ambiguous titles are bypassed for more promising ones in the page’s sprawl. Readers give clicks to more precise, informative title copy, and click through rate (CTR) has been a ranking signal, according to Google.
Character limits that actually matter
There is no hard limit on product title length. However there are several places where product titles get displayed and you may hit a limit in one of those places.
| Surface | Visible characters | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Google SERP (desktop) | ~60 | Pixel width, not char count |
| Google SERP (mobile) | ~55 | Truncates harder |
| Google Shopping feed | 150 max, 70 ideal | First 70 chars weighted heaviest |
| Meta og:title | ~60 | Social share cards |
| Shopify theme H1 | Unlimited | But wraps ugly past ~80 |
Safe target length: 50-65 characters. For maximum visibility the target should include the keyword or phrase, any relevant word qualifying the headline, and brand abbreviations or full name. I’ve found that targets longer than this tend to get chopped by Google somewhere in the middle of a word. I test out potential targets using the headline analyzer tool mentioned in point #2 above. This tool highlights targets that are too long and tells me exactly where Google will truncate the title.
The keyword-first formula
One formula works across almost every product category:
[Primary keyword] + [modifier] + [brand suffix]
Primary keyword should go first – Google pays most attention to the words at the start of the H1 title. The modifier (color, material, size, use case) gives long tail search results. Brand suffix gives further reinforcement to the entity authority. Example: “Olive Linen Shirt for Men, Relaxed Fit | Craftshift”.
Why not brand first? The “Craftshift Olive Linen Shirt” looks odd because the brand name “Craftshift” is far down the page, and has far less search volume than the product type (the search term is highlighted in yellow). Put the search term first.
Brand suffix patterns that work
There are three common ways to separate title tags: the pipe (|), the dash (-), and nothing at all. Google can handle all three just fine. The pipe makes title tags look neater in the SERPs. The dash is softer looking than the pipe and cleaner than the space, but it’s also a common character that you’ll compete with in title tags that modify prices of products with names that already contain a dash. Pick a method and be consistent for each product across your site. Consistency is more important than the small details of any particular method.
Do you really need the brand suffix in the title? If the brand name has no search volume, then you are essentially wasting space and characters on your title for little to no gain. Run both versions and see how the title looks and then check the Search Console impressions in two weeks to see which one performed better.
Common mistakes that kill title SEO
- Vague nouns. “Classic Tee” tells Google nothing. “Organic Cotton Crew Neck T-Shirt” tells Google everything.
- SKU codes in the title. “ABC-123-BL-M” in the H1 is pure noise. Move it to the variant or SKU field.
- Keyword stuffing. “Blue Shirt Blue Top Blue Tee Men” reads as spam. Google has been penalizing this for a decade.
- ALL CAPS. Hurts CTR in SERPs and looks cheap. Title case only.
- Special characters. Emojis, stars, and arrows can break Shopping feeds. Google Merchant Center will disapprove products with certain symbols.
- Duplicate titles across variants. If every size has the same H1, dedupe through the variant system, not the product title.
Before and after examples
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Classic Tee | Organic Cotton Crew Neck T-Shirt for Men | Craftshift |
| Blue Mug | Blue Ceramic Coffee Mug, 12oz Hand-Thrown |
| Chair | Walnut Dining Chair, Mid-Century Modern, Set of 2 |
| Candle | Soy Wax Candle, Cedar and Vetiver, 8oz Hand-Poured |
Each revision includes additional content (material) around an example use case and a differentiator. The score, per the Headline Analyzer, improved by 20-40 points. This tool scores a headline in a few seconds based on the length, power words, sentiment, and keyword placement.
Titles and variant images work together
Title and variant images are both signals to Google for ranking product pages, and Google Shopping pays a lot of attention to whether the actual image for a product matches the variant image title (e.g. if you list a “Red Leather Tote” and use a photo of a “Brown Patent Tote,” it will flag that in Merchant Center). This is where Rubik Variant Images really adds value. The extension makes sure the best image for each variant shows up properly. That’s important because it keeps the title to image match solid.
If you sell with color variations (common to furniture, cosmetics and fashion products) and list the same article in 12 colours as separate individual products, then have a look at the functionality provided by the Rubik Combined Listings module. It creates a single SEO optimized parent and displays the various colours in the parent’s listings as colour swatches. This way the title authority is consolidated on one page rather than be split among 12 nearly duplicate pages.
Related free tools
Three tools that pair well with the Headline Analyzer: the Meta Tag Checker to make sure the title tag syncs up with the og:title tag, the Product Page Grader to score the whole page, and the Image Filename Generator to make sure your file names are in sync with your title.
See the live demo store, watch the tutorial video, or read the getting started guide.
FAQ
How long should a Shopify product title be?
50-65 characters for best SEO value. Less than 50 will leave some ranking potential on the table, while more than 50-65 will cause the keyword or phrase to be truncated in the Google search results.
Should the brand name go first or last in the title?
Generally you wouldn’t use an H1 tag unless you are a globally recognized brand. However, Google weights the first words of the H1 tag more heavily, so it would be a good idea to put the product keyword first.
Does Shopify automatically generate a meta title from the product title?
Yes. Unless you have changed the setting in the shopping cart settings -> SEO area of the shop, the meta title will be product title as it appears in the store, so you should make sure that the product title is accurate and helpful for the human user.
Can I use emojis in Shopify product titles?
Emojis can be added within the Shopify product description. Many of these will get rejected or stripped by SERPs though, and it’s safest to leave them off products you want to display in Google Shopping.
How often should I rewrite product titles?
Go through your once, properly created products every quarter to review your top 20 products based off Search Console impressions. Writing new titles for old products can confuse Google.
Do variant names need SEO too?
Keep these under the product title, but Google Shopping and the variant image alt text need to be fed here. Try to keep them descriptive and avoid adding too much coded speak.
What is the fastest way to check all my product titles?
Use exported product CSV to process title of each product through Headline Analyzer and highlight up any that need rewrite because they scored below 70.
