Before you start
- An SEO plugin (Yoast, Rank Math, SEOPress) or theme that exposes title/description fields — or willingness to edit a child theme.
Understand what you are editing
The HTML <title> element is the strongest hint for the headline shown in many search results.
The meta name="description" is a suggestion; Google may ignore it if it thinks another snippet better matches the query.
Title: unique, front-loaded, honest
Put the primary topic in the first 35–45 visible characters; brand suffixes are fine after a separator.
Do not keyword-stuff — repeated variants look spammy to humans and engines alike.
Meta description: advertise the click, not the keywords
Write 1–2 sentences that promise what the page delivers, including a clear benefit or scope.
Avoid quotes or all-caps spam; keep mobile-safe length (roughly 150–160 characters is a common planning target, not a law).
Match H1 and visible content
If the SERP title claims “2026 pricing” but the H1 says “Coming soon”, expect high bounces.
Align WordPress post title, SEO title template, and on-page heading unless you have a deliberate landing-page structure.
Preview before publish
Use your SEO plugin’s snippet preview and share the URL privately to see how Slack/Twitter cards render (Open Graph tags are separate but should not contradict the page).
Expect rewrites
Engines test alternate snippets for query variants. Track click-through rate in Search Console; if impressions rise but clicks lag, revisit title/description pairs for those query clusters.