--- name: title-unique description: "Use when applies to all HTML pages. Use when auditing a site crawl report or investigating why multiple pages compete for the same keyword in search results." metadata: category: seo priority: high difficulty: beginner estimatedTime: "10" source: frontendchecklist.io url: https://frontendchecklist.io/rules/seo/title-unique --- # Keep page titles unique Duplicate titles prevent Google from determining which page is the authoritative result for a given query, splitting ranking signals and reducing total organic visibility. ## Quick Reference - Every page must have a `` tag with content unique across the entire site - Duplicate titles cause search engines to arbitrarily choose which page to show for a query - Use page-specific keywords in the title: `[Page Topic] | [Brand]` pattern - Google rewrites titles that are too generic, too long (>60 chars), or keyword-stuffed ## Check Crawl all pages and extract `<title>` tag content. Group pages by identical title text and flag duplicates. Also flag pages with no title, empty titles, or titles matching the CMS default (e.g., 'Home', 'Page', 'Untitled'). ## Fix Give each page a descriptive, unique title incorporating the page's primary keyword: `[Specific Topic] – [Site Name]`. For blog posts: use the post title. For products: use product name + key differentiator. For category pages: use the category name + context. ## Explain Explain how duplicate titles affect crawl budget, indexing prioritization, and keyword ranking; and why Google rewrites titles it considers misleading or non-descriptive. ## Code Review Review metadata generation, rendered HTML, structured data, and response headers related to Keep page titles unique. Flag exact routes or templates where search-facing output violates the rule, and describe how to verify the final page output. --- For full implementation details, code examples, and framework-specific guidance, see `references/rule.md`. Rule page: https://frontendchecklist.io/rules/seo/title-unique