Why Page Title is important and why we consider page title important in web accessibility, in fact this text does not appear on page?
Confusing??? Page Title vs Page Heading….
Page title is text which you see on browser’s title bar on separate "window" or "tab", and Page heading is text which you see on "web page" on top with big font size or in different color.
- ?Page title is important if you have multiple web pages open in browser tabs, page title helps you to see or preview title of web page without opening the tab so that you can make out what page is open in the tab, this is for people who are visually abled and able to operate the computer using keyboard/mouse or any device.
- And for visually challenged it helps them to listen the page title in screen reader so that they know about topic on the web page without going inside the page. If Page title is improper or not convey the accurate page information then it will confuse or keep the user away from the page because page title is not conveying the topic and purpose of the page.
- It also helps in search engine to show results with page title (see screenshot). The Page title tag is critical for SEO as it affects how Google's or any other search engine algorithms understand your content and rank your page. It appears as the clickable link in search engine results pages, making it the first thing users see when they search for relevant keywords.
- When you bookmark a page, it gets saved and page title becomes the name of the page in bookmark. So if page title is not proper then after bookmarking the page it will get saved with inaccurate name and you have to modify it manually to refer it later. If page title is good, then you don’t need to manually type name for bookmarked page.
- A consistent and recognizable page title helps to establish a brand identity and differentiate a website from competitors.
- ?If Page title is not available or not accurate then it violates WCAG Success Criteria 2.4.2 (A Level).
- Page title always coded inside <head> element structure <title> </title>
- Page heading goes in <h1> </h1>
In summary, a page title is an essential element of any webpage that can impact web accessibility, search engine visibility, user experience, branding and legal requirements.
