Title tag come up differently on search results

When I Google our company's name I get a much shorter title tag then when I search for a keyword that we rank for. The correct title tag shows when I look for our company through keywords but not when I search the company name (the same home page shows up but with different title tags).

I figured the title might be echoing the WordPress name but when I changed it in the WordPress settings, forced Google to index and waited a few days the title was still wrong.

I also checked the source code and the correct title tag is displayed in there.

I use Yoast plugin and have a title tag for our home page so that is not the issue. I also looked at header.php and the only two chunks of code that I found related to the title were:

<title><?php wp_title(''); ?></title>

and

<link rel="stylesheet" href="<?php bloginfo('stylesheet_url'); ?>" type="text/css" media="screen" title="no title" charset="utf-8">

I should also add that my understanding of php/java etc is very limited.

Any help would be appreciated.

When I Google our company's name I get a much shorter title tag then when I search for a keyword that we rank for. The correct title tag shows when I look for our company through keywords but not when I search the company name (the same home page shows up but with different title tags).

I figured the title might be echoing the WordPress name but when I changed it in the WordPress settings, forced Google to index and waited a few days the title was still wrong.

I also checked the source code and the correct title tag is displayed in there.

I use Yoast plugin and have a title tag for our home page so that is not the issue. I also looked at header.php and the only two chunks of code that I found related to the title were:

<title><?php wp_title(''); ?></title>

and

<link rel="stylesheet" href="<?php bloginfo('stylesheet_url'); ?>" type="text/css" media="screen" title="no title" charset="utf-8">

I should also add that my understanding of php/java etc is very limited.

Any help would be appreciated.

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Share Improve this question asked Feb 8, 2019 at 22:10 Ben GBen G 1 2

• Google decides what title to use for the search result, and it will change depending on the user’s search query. It’s not something you can control. Google is not like a phone book where you get to choose what shows up. Google will display what it thinks is most useful to its users. For example, if the user searched for your company name, why would it show anything else? – Jacob Peattie Commented Feb 9, 2019 at 1:32
• But when I look up my company name it only shows the company name and when I look up another keyword it shows the full title tag. I looked at many other companies, and non of their title tag is affected like this. I'm thinking there is some kind of conflict in the code etc. – Ben G Commented Feb 9, 2019 at 17:44

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I think that your title is too long. That's why, Google has truncated it. However, if it's not the case, try resubmitting your sitemap.

Also, keep in mind that Google modifies the title according to what you're looking for.