The Viking StackKnowledge Base

Page titles, meta descriptions, and Open Graph

How to write and set the title, description, and social preview for every page so it looks right in search results and when shared.

8 min readbeginnerUpdated September 9, 2026

Before schema markup, before sitemaps, before anything else — every page needs a good title and description. These are the two pieces of text most likely to determine whether someone clicks your result in search, and the same fields control how your link looks when someone shares it on social media or in a chat app. This is foundational SEO, and it's quick to fix once you know where the fields live.

The three things you're setting

  1. Title tag (SEO title) — shows as the clickable blue headline in search results and as your browser tab's title.
  2. Meta description — the gray summary text under the title in search results.
  3. Open Graph (social preview) — the image, title, and description shown when your page link is pasted or shared on social platforms, messaging apps, and some chat tools.

These aren't automatically the same as your visible on-page heading — you can (and often should) write them slightly differently, optimized for the search results list and the share preview rather than the page itself.

Where to find these fields

Funnel and website pages

Open the page in the editor and look for the SEO settings panel (the same area referenced for schema in Generate schema markup with AI) — it holds title, description, and social image fields together.

Screenshot coming soon

A page's SEO settings panel showing Title, Description, and Social Share Image fields

Blog posts

Open the post, use its options menu, and choose Change Blog Post SEO Details. This gives you:

  • Title — the post's SEO title
  • Cover Image — also used as the social preview image
  • Alt Text — describes the cover image for accessibility and image search
  • Post Description — the meta description equivalent for blog posts

Click Update Blog Post to save.

Screenshot coming soon

The blog post options menu with Change Blog Post SEO Details selected

Writing a good title tag

  • Keep it under roughly 60 characters — longer titles get cut off with an ellipsis in search results.
  • Lead with the most important, specific term. "HVAC Installation in Springfield, IL" beats "Welcome to Our Services Page."
  • Make every page's title unique. Duplicate titles across pages confuse search engines about which page to rank for a given search.
  • Skip keyword stuffing — one clear phrase reads better and performs better than a title crammed with variations of the same term.

Writing a good meta description

  • Aim for roughly 100–160 characters. For blog posts specifically, a description between 100 and 250 characters works best.
  • Summarize what the page actually delivers, and give the reader a reason to click — mention a benefit, an offer, or answer the implicit question behind the search.
  • Don't just repeat the title tag word-for-word. Use the description to add information the title didn't have room for.
  • Search engines sometimes override your description with their own excerpt if they think it matches the search better — this is normal and not something you can fully control, but a strong, relevant description makes it less likely to happen.

Tip: Write the title and description as if they're an ad for the page, because functionally, that's what they are in a search results list.

Setting up Open Graph correctly

Open Graph controls what shows when someone pastes your link into Slack, texts it, or shares it on social media — a broken or missing preview looks unprofessional and can hurt click-through.

  • Social image: use a clear, high-contrast image at least 1200×630px. Avoid small text in the image — it becomes unreadable at preview thumbnail size.
  • Social title and description: some page editors let you set these separately from your SEO title/description. If separate fields exist, use them — a slightly punchier, more shareable phrasing often performs better in a social feed than a search-optimized title does.
  • If no separate social fields exist for a given page type, the platform typically falls back to your SEO title, description, and (for blog posts) cover image.

Checking your work

After publishing, verify what you set actually took effect — metadata caching on social platforms is a common source of "I changed it but it still shows the old version":

  • Use a metatags testing tool (metatags.io or similar) to preview exactly how your title, description, and social image will render across Google, Facebook, and Twitter/X.
  • If a social platform is still showing an old preview after you've updated the page, that platform has cached the old version. Most platforms offer a way to force a cache refresh (Facebook's Sharing Debugger, for example) — look up the specific tool for whichever platform is showing stale data.
  • For search results specifically, use Google's URL Inspection Tool in Search Console (after verifying your domain) to see how Google currently has the page indexed and to request a re-crawl if you've made a meaningful update.

Warning: If your metadata "isn't updating" after a change, first confirm the page is actually published — not just saved as a draft. That's the most common cause, ahead of caching.

What done looks like

  • Every important page has a unique title under ~60 characters and a description in the 100–160 character range (100–250 for blog posts).
  • A social preview image is set and renders cleanly at thumbnail size.
  • You've spot-checked at least one page in a metatags testing tool and confirmed it displays as intended.
  • Stale previews on social platforms have been refreshed, not just left to "catch up eventually."

Frequently asked questions

Does the meta description affect my search ranking directly?

Not as a direct ranking factor, but it strongly affects click-through rate — and a page that gets clicked more, and satisfies the searcher once they land, tends to perform better over time. Treat it as conversion copy, not a ranking lever.

What if I don't set a title or description at all?

Search engines will generate their own from the page content, and social platforms will often show a blank or oddly-cropped preview. It's rarely as good as something you write intentionally, so it's worth the few minutes per page.

Can I use the same title and description on multiple pages?

You can, but it works against you — search engines have a harder time knowing which page to show for a given search, and it looks repetitive to anyone comparing your pages in a results list. Keep every page's title and description unique.

How is this different from schema markup?

Title, description, and Open Graph control how your page looks in a results list or share preview. Schema markup tells search engines and AI assistants what the page structurally is underneath that — they work together but aren't the same thing. See Generate schema markup with AI.