When your homepage appears in Google’s SERPs, under what name does Google display your site? For a while, Google used your <title> tag – the same as for every other page. But starting in October 2022, Google introduced a new system for explicitly specifying your site name when displaying homepage results. The idea is that a homepage is a different kind of SERP to which different rules apply.
Why Not Just Use <title> Tags?
I suspect that the reason why Google created this explicit specification is that it’s actively rewriting titles in the SERPs and draws from a range of sources such as:
- Headings
- Structured data
- <title> tags
- og:site_name tags
And more. I’d written an earlier post complaining about Google rewriting titles, but of course, all complaints were ignored, and Google is now full steam ahead regarding title rewriting. They must have figured, however, that website names were too important to be left purely to an algorithm, so they’re giving a chance to the website owners to manually specify not just one site name but an alternate title as well.
Here’s how to do it.
Use Structured Data to Specify the Website Name
The easiest way to tell Google what your website is called is to include the following structured data code only on your homepage:
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context" : "https://schema.org",
"@type" : "WebSite",
"name" : "YourWebsiteName",
"url" : "https://www.yourwebsite.com/"
}
</script>
In the above code, replace “YourWebsiteName” with the name you want Google to show in the SERPs for your site, and for “url”, use your site’s URL.
Providing an Alternate Name for your Site
In addition to the primary name, you can also provide an alternate name, as shown here:
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context" : "https://schema.org",
"@type" : "WebSite",
"name" : "YourWebsiteName",
"alternateName" : "EC",
"url" : "https://www.yourwebsite.com/"
}
</script>
This will give Google options to determine which title to use in case it has to deal with things like space constraints or whatever strange considerations the alien mind of Google’s AI deems worthy!
Don’t Count on this Working
The frustrating thing about Google’s site name recommendations is that it doesn’t always work. For example, on my site, I’ve used the Site name WP-Tweaks. But when Google shows my homepage in the SERPs, this is what I get:
So Google has pretty much decided by its own sweet self what Title it wants to show. The strange part is that, in this case, Google has mixed my site name with the <title> tag! The actual headline that it shows doesn’t appear anywhere on the source code for my site.
Simplifying the Site Name with Yoast
Most people will not manually add the site name structured data on their homepage. Instead, use the Yoast SEO plugin if you’re using WordPress. You probably already have Yoast installed on WordPress, and if you’re using another website software, you should find something similar. Here’s the configuration screen for Yoast:
Under the “Yoast SEO” settings, choose “Search Appearance” and scroll down the “General” tab till you find the “Knowledge Graph & Schema.org” pane. Under “Website”, write the site name that you want Google to use, and you can even choose an alternative website name like an acronym. Save your changes, and Yoast will automatically insert the structured data on your home page to generate the site name.
I Don’t Expect too Much of a Difference
As far as impactful changes go, I don’t think much of this. I didn’t have a problem when Google used the <title> tag in the SERPs, either for the homepage or individual pages. And anyway, what’s the point if Google is going to just ignore your preferences, as shown in the screenshot? But this might be useful to some people, so it’s worth setting it and forgetting it!
I’m a NameHero team member, and an expert on WordPress and web hosting. I’ve been in this industry since 2008. I’ve also developed apps on Android and have written extensive tutorials on managing Linux servers. You can contact me on my website WP-Tweaks.com!
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