Website Title vs Article Title: What's the Difference?

Published Date: December 25, 2024

Enhancing visibility in the digital landscape is the top priority for any business. Whether you want to lock in a secure spot on the search engine or thrive for commercial growth, optimization is the key to a successful digital presence. While SEO can be complicated, it is crucial to understand that even the minute elements have the power to impact your online visibility.

The website title and article title are two elements that directly represent the website and web page, respectively, as well as the content inside them. While they may sound familiar, they represent entirely different entities and play significant roles in SEO. A website title is your digital identity, and the article title is the headline of a specific web page.

In this blog post, we have compared website and article titles and discussed how they influence SEO.

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What is the website title?

A website needs a well-optimized website title. The website title is an HTML title tag that appears on the search engine when the user enters your website name or the relevant keyword. The search engine uses this title tag to identify your website. It is also the first element the search engine bot crawls through to understand what is presented inside the website.

The website title is also the initial introduction of the website to your potential visitors. It appears everywhere, from search engine results to social shares to browser tabs. The website title appears at the top of the tab on web browsers, and on search engine result pages, it seems as bold, hyperlinked text. For example, the website title of our website is Kemo Saas.

Why is the website title essential?

How can someone identify you without any specific identity sign? How can someone approach your business without its name? The website title works precisely like that.

It’s the entry point into your business website and represents your website and its content. Creating a website title takes significant consideration, as a poorly crafted web title can negatively impact user attention and even reduce the click-through rate on your website. Since it affects your website in many ways, optimizing the website title tag is essential to your SEO strategy.

Moreover, when a keyword or business or niche-specific word is placed inside the website title tag, it not only informs the bot about the relevancy of your website with the targeted audience and keywords but also helps your target audience connect with your website. When a user inputs the same keyword on the browser, the website title tag allows bots to quickly pair the information on your website with the inputted keyword, increasing your site’s visibility and providing the visitors with the information he is searching for. So, to stay in the search engine’s visible spot and increase the click-through rate, crafting a well-optimized website tile, that is business or niche-specific, keyword-oriented, and branded, is vital.

What is the article title?

The article title is the name of a web page that represents the purpose of the content displayed on that page. It is relevant to the page’s content and appears as the most prominent text at the top of the web page. The article title is unique to each page and not any two article titles on a website should be same as each page on a website serves a different purpose. A website can have as many pages as needed, so do the article titles.

Importance of article title

The article title sets the article’s tone to make visitors aware of the content they will come across inside the article. The articles are written to provide information about business, grab the visitor’s attention and to improve the website’s ranking on the search engine. The article title is crafted to summarize the content displayed on that web page in the form of a headline. It should contain targeted keywords increasing the chances of people coming to your webpage upon entering the relevant keyword in the search engine. An intellectually created article title helps in driving organic traffic.

Article titles are vital elements of pages where the content is updated frequently, such as blogs, news pages, product reviews, etc. Article titles on different web pages are crafted with different keywords and offer value to visitors. However, when planning an article title, don’t use misinforming words, as they can increase the website bounce rate and eventually harm your site’s ranking.

Website title vs. Article title – what’s the difference?

While the website and article titles represent different concepts, they are essential to strengthening your SEO efforts. They both directly interact with visitors and help them understand what they will get on your website and pages. The user might get the information he is looking for just by reading the title tag, which builds his trust in your website.

While both are important for giving your website and web pages a subtle identity, here is how they differ.

Scope

The website title represents your brand and applies to the entire website. The article title is limited to a specific blog post or web page and only represents the content of that page. So, a website can have only one website title, but multiple article titles, as they are multiple webpages on a website.

Placement

Another aspect that sets website title and article title apart is their placement. The website title is like the meta tag at the top of the browser tab. You set the website title once via the website settings. Although not placed inside the website’s content, it builds the visitor’s first impression of your website.

The article title, on the other hand, is crafted uniquely for individual content pieces within a website. It is displayed at the top of every web page and varies from page to page within the same website. It may appear inside the hero section, as an H1 tag, or as a standalone element above the article.

Objective

The website title informs the search engine bot about the content of your web page. When a user enters a query on the search engine, multiple titles of different websites appear in the SERPs containing information relevant to the query so that the user can click any of them. Moreover, when a website is bookmarked, the website title appears as the bookmarked title by default.

The article title summarizes the content of a particular web page in text form. It helps visitors understand what the page is about just by reading the title.

Structure

The website title should be concise and clear and contain the brand name. You can also include the main targeted keyword that describes the content of your website. A well-crafted website title builds an instant connection with searchers and encourages them to click the link to land on the website. Google allows you to add 60 characters to your website title, so you can make the most of it by creating an engaging and Google-friendly website title within this limit.

Article titles are more versatile than website titles, but like website titles, they should also be catchy, relevant, and informative regarding the article content. They should contain the targeted keyword specific to that page, be understandable, and be written in simple language. You may use motivating words like ‘Get to Know,’ ‘Tips for,’ ‘How to,’ etc. to foster user engagement.

SEO impact

A website title directly impacts your website’s search engine ranking. The title informs search engine bots about your website content, and if the title is well-optimized, it appears at the top of SERPS, increasing your brand visibility. Visitors are likelier to click on a title they find more relevant, informative, and engaging, increasing your website CTR and driving more traffic. 

The article title, on the other hand, impacts a page’s search engine ranking. Search engine crawling bots use article titles to understand the content of that particular web page and determine its relevancy to the search query entered by the user.

Optimizing website title and article title for better SEO

If you want your website to rank higher in the SERPs, it is crucial to craft website titles and article titles following the best practices.

Keep the titles unique

Display uniqueness in your website and article titles to reflect the content displayed inside and on different web pages. Never assign the same title to two different web pages, as this causes confusion to the search engine bot and hurts your site’s SEO.

Create urgency

When creating an article title, add a sense of urgency that pushes users to click the link. Use intriguing words and strong verbs to motivate users to take action.

Don’t use irrelevant words

The website title should be optimized for the main targeted keyword representing your website content. Similarly, the keyword used in the article title should be relevant to that particular article. Irrelevant keywords ruin the user experience by misguiding them, eventually leading to a bad SEO score.

Don’t use all caps

The titles that appear in all caps don’t offer a good impression, as they are looked at as spammy. You shouldn’t be shouting about your website content on the search engines by capitalizing the title.

Keep them user-relevant

All your efforts in crafting the website and article titles boil down to one point: to attract visitors. When creating titles, consider your targeted audience and their interests and come up with ideas that resonate with them. Users are more likely to click on useful and relevant titles.

Prevent title truncation

Title truncation happens when titles are too long compared to the characters the search engine allows. In this case, the title is truncated from the end, and an ellipsis is added to indicate that it is longer. If your title exceeds the character limit, it can be misleading, as the targeted keyword may appear at the end of the title name being cut off. Always create a title within the specified limit and try to add the keyword at the beginning of the title. Keep it concise yet informative so the visitor easily relates to it.

Bottom line

While the website title represents your overall branding, the article title drives engagement to the particular articles and pages. Both website title and article title are crucial for website SEO. It is vital to tailor these titles uniquely around the content of the website and web page. The optimized website title and article title help strengthen your online presence and increase user interactions. The strategically crafted website title and article title complement each other and improve your website’s SEO score.

Website Title vs Article Title Frequently Asked Questions

Where are the website title and article title displayed?

The website title is displayed at the top of the web browser, while the article title is shown underneath the website name.

What is the difference between a website and an article?

The website and article are both enriched with content. The blog articles have a more formal pattern, but the content is well-researched and written from the perspective of an individual. The website content is also well-researched but written from a business perspective.

What is title truncation?

Title truncation occurs when the title is too wide and long to fit into the search engine’s standard width, so the end of the title cuts off and appears as an ellipsis.

What happens when the two web pages within the website have similar titles?

If two web pages within the website have similar titles, search engines get confused, and your website may also be penalized for duplicate content. Moreover, when two different pages have duplicate titles, users will be confused while distinguishing them, which causes a poor user experience.