Title Tag vs Meta Title vs Page Title
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Title tag. Meta title. Page title. Browser title. SEO title. They all sound like they should be the same thing, and most SEO tutorials use them interchangeably. They are NOT all the same thing. Some refer to the same code, some refer to different code, and some refer to display elements that have nothing to do with code. This guide untangles them.
Once the terminology is clear, the free SERP preview tool previews exactly which one Google uses in your search snippet.
The Title Tag (the One That Actually Matters)
The "title tag" is HTML: <title>Your Page Title Here</title> in the <head> section of your page. There is exactly one per page. It is the canonical answer to "what is this page called."
Google uses the title tag as the default title for your search snippet (about 70% of the time). The other 30%, Google rewrites it based on your H1, page content, or anchor text from incoming links. Either way, the title tag is the input — get it right.
"Meta Title" (Not a Real Thing)
"Meta title" is what most SEO plugins (Yoast, AIOSEO, Rank Math) call the field where you set your title tag. It is technically a misnomer — there is no such HTML element as <meta name="title"> that Google reads. The plugin's "meta title" field just writes to the regular title tag.
So when someone says "set your meta title," they mean "set your title tag." Same thing, different name.
"Page Title" (Ambiguous)
"Page title" is the most ambiguous of the three. It can refer to:
- The title tag (HTML)
- The H1 heading (the visible headline at the top of your page)
- The title that appears in your CMS post editor (often same as H1, sometimes same as title tag)
- The browser tab title (which is the title tag, displayed by the browser)
When someone says "page title," ask which one they mean. They may not know themselves.
Sell Custom Apparel — We Handle Printing & Free ShippingTitle Tag vs H1: They Are Different
The title tag is in the <head> — it is what Google shows in search results and what the browser shows in the tab. The H1 is in the <body> — it is the visible headline a reader sees when they land on the page. They can be the same or different.
Best practice: make them similar but not identical. The title tag is optimized for Google + click-through (50-60 characters, keyword forward, slightly compressed). The H1 is optimized for the reader (can be longer and more descriptive, no character limit, written to engage someone who already clicked).
The Browser Tab Title
The text you see on the browser tab is the title tag, displayed by the browser. There is no separate "browser title" — it is the same HTML element as the title tag, just rendered in a different place. If you change your title tag, your browser tab updates automatically.
OG Title (Different From Title Tag)
One thing that IS a separate element: the Open Graph title (<meta property="og:title">). This is what social media sites (Facebook, LinkedIn, Slack, Discord) use when your page gets shared as a link preview. By default, OG title falls back to the title tag if not set, but you can set them differently — useful when your social audience needs a punchier headline than your SEO audience.
Preview the Title That Actually Matters
See your title tag in a Google snippet preview before publishing.
Open SERP Preview Tool