Shopify Title Tags and Meta Descriptions: Where to Edit Them and What to Write
The title tag and meta description are what people usually see for your page in Google results. Google may rewrite them, but well-written ones are used often and directly affect whether someone clicks.
Where to edit them in Shopify
| Page | Where |
|---|---|
| Homepage | Online Store → Preferences: Homepage title and Homepage meta description |
| Product | Open the product, scroll to Search engine listing, click edit |
| Collection | Open the collection, Search engine listing |
| Page or blog post | Open it, Search engine listing |
If a product's SEO title is left blank, Shopify themes generally fall back to the product title, and the meta description falls back to the start of the product description. That's why empty descriptions also mean empty or odd snippets.
Lengths
- Title: roughly 30-60 characters. Google truncates by pixel width, so longer titles get cut off with an ellipsis. Many themes also append " | Your Store Name", which counts.
- Meta description: roughly 120-160 characters. Shopify's admin will accept more, but the extra is usually cut off.
What to write
- Homepage title: what you sell plus your brand. "Handmade Leather Wallets & Bags | Oak & Hide" beats "Home | Oak & Hide".
- Product title: the product name and the attribute people search for (material, size, use).
- Meta description: a reason to click: what's special, plus a concrete detail like free shipping or a guarantee, if true.
One H1 per page
Most Shopify themes render the product or collection title as the page's H1. If the audit finds zero or several H1s on your homepage, it's usually a theme setting (logo as H1, or several sections using H1 headings). A developer can usually fix it in a few lines of theme code.
Social share image
Set a default social sharing image under Online Store → Preferences. It's what appears when someone shares your homepage link.
Check your own store in 20 seconds
The free Shopify Catalog Audit scans up to 1,000 products for empty or thin descriptions, duplicate titles, missing alt text and more, then links each issue to a fix.
Prefer to hand it off? I'm Evan, a Shopify and full-stack developer. Leave your email and store URL and I'll reply with a short, prioritized fix list. Free, no obligation.