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Title rewrite diagnosis

Google rewrites titles on a large share of results. It is not random: it happens when your title is too long, keyword-stuffed, boilerplate-heavy, or contradicted by the H1. This skill finds which trigger applies so you can write a title Google keeps.

CATEGORY
On-page SEO
FORMAT
title-rewrite-diagnosis.md
STEPS
6
PRICE
Free - no account
WHEN TO REACH FOR THIS

Use when Search Console shows impressions for a page but the title in results is not the title you wrote.

The skill file

title-rewrite-diagnosis.md 
---
name: title-rewrite-diagnosis
description: Use when Search Console shows impressions for a page but the title in results is not the title you wrote.
---

# Title rewrite diagnosis

Google rewrites titles on a large share of results. It is not random: it happens when your title is too long, keyword-stuffed, boilerplate-heavy, or contradicted by the H1. This skill finds which trigger applies so you can write a title Google keeps.

## What you need first

- The rendered title tag and H1 for the affected pages
- The actual title shown in results, taken from a live search or a rank tracker

## Method

1. Compare your title against the displayed one, word by word. What Google substituted tells you what it preferred - usually the H1, the site name, or anchor text pointing at the page.
2. Measure the title in pixels rather than characters. Past roughly 600px on desktop it is a rewrite candidate before it is a truncation candidate.
3. Check for repeated boilerplate. A brand suffix on every page is fine; the same three keywords before it on every page is a rewrite trigger.
4. Look for contradiction between title and H1. When they disagree, Google frequently prefers the H1, so aligning them is often the whole fix.
5. Count keyword repetitions. The same term twice in one title is the single most common trigger.
6. Rewrite to one clear claim under the pixel limit, matching the H1 in substance, and re-check after the page is recrawled.

## What this produces

Per affected page: the rewrite trigger identified, and a replacement title that removes it.

## Where this goes wrong

- Assuming a rewrite means the title was bad - sometimes Google simply prefers a better-matching H1
- Counting characters instead of measuring pixels
- Rewriting repeatedly without waiting for a recrawl, so you never learn which change worked

---

From the QuQi skill library - https://www.quqi.io/skills/title-rewrite-diagnosis
Free to download · no account, no email

What you need first

  • The rendered title tag and H1 for the affected pages
  • The actual title shown in results, taken from a live search or a rank tracker

Method

  1. 01 Compare your title against the displayed one, word by word. What Google substituted tells you what it preferred - usually the H1, the site name, or anchor text pointing at the page.
  2. 02 Measure the title in pixels rather than characters. Past roughly 600px on desktop it is a rewrite candidate before it is a truncation candidate.
  3. 03 Check for repeated boilerplate. A brand suffix on every page is fine; the same three keywords before it on every page is a rewrite trigger.
  4. 04 Look for contradiction between title and H1. When they disagree, Google frequently prefers the H1, so aligning them is often the whole fix.
  5. 05 Count keyword repetitions. The same term twice in one title is the single most common trigger.
  6. 06 Rewrite to one clear claim under the pixel limit, matching the H1 in substance, and re-check after the page is recrawled.

What this produces

Per affected page: the rewrite trigger identified, and a replacement title that removes it.

Where this goes wrong

  • Assuming a rewrite means the title was bad - sometimes Google simply prefers a better-matching H1
  • Counting characters instead of measuring pixels
  • Rewriting repeatedly without waiting for a recrawl, so you never learn which change worked

Use this skill in your own AI

The download is a plain markdown file with the name and trigger in its frontmatter. Where an assistant supports skills it can load itself, that frontmatter is what it reads to decide this one applies.

Claude Code Save it as ~/.claude/skills/title-rewrite-diagnosis/SKILL.md and Claude loads it on its own when what you are doing matches the trigger line. Put it in .claude/skills inside a project instead if the whole team should have it.
Claude Upload the file in the skills section of your settings. Once it is there it applies itself in any conversation where the trigger fits, so you do not have to remember it exists.
ChatGPT There is no skills format to install into, so paste the file contents into a Project instruction or a Custom GPT instead. It then applies to every chat in that project rather than only the one you paste it into.
Anything else Paste the markdown into the chat before your question. It works in any assistant, it just has to be pasted again each time.

Questions about this skill

When is a rewrite diagnosis the right move rather than just writing a new title?

When Search Console shows impressions but the title in the result is not yours. The obvious move is to write a new title and hope, which is how teams go through four versions without learning anything. Diagnosis first tells you which trigger fired, repetition, boilerplate, pixel length or a contradicting H1, so the replacement removes the actual cause.

What do I need in hand before starting?

The rendered title tag, the H1, and the title as actually displayed, taken from a live search or a rank tracker. Without the displayed version there is nothing to compare against, and you are guessing at a trigger rather than reading one. The substitution itself is the evidence: what Google put in its place names what it preferred.

What do I end up with, and which part gets used?

Per affected page, the trigger identified and a replacement title that removes it. The replacement is what ships, but the trigger is the part worth keeping, because it usually applies to a whole template rather than one page. A repeated keyword or a brand-heavy prefix found on one URL is normally emitted across the section.

What most often ruins this?

Rewriting again before the page has been recrawled. Each change resets the experiment, so after three attempts you still cannot say which one Google responded to, and the page has spent weeks in results with a title nobody chose. Counting characters instead of measuring pixels is the other one: wide capitals blow past the limit well under sixty characters.

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