Titles and descriptions — how to write them so people find you

In Ukraine, about 90% of searches happen on Google. Clients look for a photographer the way they speak: “wedding photographer Lviv”, “family photo session Kyiv price”. A page's title and description are the first things they see in search results and in a Telegram link preview. They decide whether people click on you.

Where to fill in these fields — see SEO settings for the site and its pages.

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Where the title and description show up

• In Google — the title is the blue link, the description is under it.
• In the browser tab and in bookmarks — the title.
• In link previews in Telegram, Viber, Facebook — the title, the description and the preview image.

Google may replace your description with a snippet of the page text if it fits the search query better, and sometimes it changes the title too. The more accurately the title and description describe the page, the less often this happens.

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The title formula: genre + city + name

• Most important words first. Google shows roughly 50–60 characters and cuts the rest.
• A title of its own for every page. Identical titles on all pages confuse both people and Google.
• Write the way people search. Genre and city, not “Portfolio” or “Home”.
• No lists of words. A title with a dozen keywords looks like spam, and Google will most likely rewrite it.

If your site also has a Ukrainian version, write its titles the same way: “Весільний фотограф у Львові — Олена Петренко”.

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The description is a short ad

The description doesn't affect your Google rankings directly, but it decides whether people click on your site.

• 1–2 sentences, up to 160 characters. On phones Google shows even less, so put the key point first.
• What you shoot, where, what makes you different, and what to do next.
• A description of its own for every page. The global description is shown only on the home page; on other pages without their own description, Google takes a snippet of the page text.

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The main heading on the page

People see the SEO title in Google, while visitors on the page itself see the main heading — the largest text at the top. Google reads it too, to understand what the page is about.

In Gallera, a page's main heading (H1) is the heading of the “Banner” block or the “Heading” block. Headings of other blocks are subheadings.

• Start the page with a banner or a “Heading” block and say what the page is about: “Wedding photography in Lviv”, not just “Hi there!”.
• It's best to have one such block per page — then both people and search engines can tell what matters most here.

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Text on the page

Google doesn't “understand” photos well without hints, and a page with only a gallery is nearly empty to it. Add 2–4 sentences to every portfolio page: what kind of shoots these are, where, for whom, and how to book you. For example: “I photograph weddings in Lviv, the Carpathians and abroad. I work in a documentary style, without long posing. Send me your date and I'll tell you if it's free.”

• Write naturally, for people. Don't repeat the city in every sentence.
• Don't hide important text on phones: Google judges your site by its mobile version. See The mobile version of your site.
• Describe your photos: how to write alt text — see Photos and search.

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Page addresses

The address also appears in search results, and people forward it in messengers.

• Short, in English or transliterated, with words separated by hyphens.
• Don't change the addresses of published pages unless you need to: the old address stops opening, and there are no redirects yet. See Site pages.

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Myths

• “You have to fill in the keywords.” Google ignores the keywords meta tag. You can leave the field empty.
• “There's a right number of words or keywords per page.” There isn't. Write as much as you need to explain the service.
• “The more often you repeat ‘photographer Lviv’, the higher the site ranks.” The opposite: Google treats stuffed text as spam.
• “You need a separate page for every city.” Only if you really work there and have something to say. Identical pages where only the city name changes are duplicates to Google.
• “You set up SEO once and the site goes straight to the top.” A new page appears in search within days or weeks, and rankings grow gradually: reviews, your Google Business Profile, and links to your site from other sites and social networks all help.

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If something doesn't work

Google shows a different title. Shorten the title to 60 characters and remove lists of words. The title should match what the page says.

Google doesn't show my description. Google picks a description for each specific query, and it may differ between queries — that's normal.

I changed the title, but Google still shows the old one. Google updates it when it crawls the page again. You can speed this up in Google Search Console.