Titles reused by a shared template
In the reportBoilerplate title
boilerplate_title · Review item
This appears when at least three pages have the same words beside an inferred shared title segment, such as Our cakes | Example Bakery on three different cake pages. That segment is often the site name, but the check cannot know that for certain. If it is your site name, keep it and give each page words that tell it apart.
Severity: Medium. Plan it with your next round of title changes; this finding alone does not mean these pages are missing from search.
Why it matters
Google advises distinct title text for every page and names repeated or boilerplate text as something to avoid; titles that repeat across pages are among those it may rewrite. When several pages carry the same words, their titles no longer tell a visitor which page is which.
What to do
- Open each page listed in the finding and write a title that names what that page offers, for example
Chocolate fudge cake | Example Bakery. - If the titles come from a template, ask your developer to fill it from each page's own name or product field instead of fixed text.
- Check the inferred shared segment before changing the titles. If it is your site name, keep it and change the repeated words beside it.
When to leave it as it is: if the listed pages are really one page at several addresses, different titles do not solve that. Keep one address and permanently redirect the others to it; a new audit can confirm a permanent redirect within your site.
What we read
We read the first <title> of every page in the crawl that answered 200 with HTML, carries no noindex and either declares no canonical or names itself as canonical. The homepage is included. Pages with no title and pages already reported as having a half-empty title are left out, and so are pages that are only a frame for scripts, with almost no text of their own; pages where scripts add part of the content are still checked from the HTML we read.
First we work out the text your titles share at their start or end, normally the site name: a text counts when it is at least two characters long and stands first or last in titles made of two or more parts, on at least three pages and at least 60% of the titled pages compared. We set that text aside in every title that carries it. When at least three pages are left with the same words, ignoring letter case, spacing and the separator used, they form one finding.
Example & evidence
Illustrative example — three pages share one title, not a live audit.
Four of the five titled pages on this site end in | Example Bakery, so that is the shared site name. Three cake pages carry the same words before it:
https://bakery.example/cakes/chocolate/, https://bakery.example/cakes/lemon/ and https://bakery.example/cakes/carrot/
<title>Our cakes | Example Bakery</title>With the site name set aside, all three pages are left with Our cakes, so they form one finding. It lists the pages, the shared site name and the repeated words.
A possible correction:
<title>Chocolate fudge cake | Example Bakery</title>
<title>Lemon drizzle cake | Example Bakery</title>
<title>Carrot cake | Example Bakery</title>Each page now has its own words. Renaming only one leaves two identical titles; review the remaining pair too.
Confirm & check again
Check for yourself: open the listed pages and compare their titles in the page source. Check the shared prefix or suffix the rule inferred before setting it aside: if the words left are the same on three or more pages, the titles repeat.
Check again: Full audit — run a new audit of the site. The finding closes when every page it lists is read again and no three pages share the repeated words any more. If the new audit can no longer infer a shared title segment, it cannot confirm changes on listed pages that still have titles.
Limits & sources
Titles that differ by one word or number, such as Chocolate cake and Lemon cake, count as different, so a template that swaps a single word is not reported. Only pages in this audit's crawl are compared, and the site name is inferred from the titles rather than read from your settings.
Confidence: Medium because the site name is inferred from the titles themselves, and a word many titles share can be taken for it; check the listed pages before changing a template.
Sources
- Google, Influencing your title links in search results — advises distinct title text for each page and warns against repeated or boilerplate text in titles. Checked 25 September 2026.
Editorial review: 29 September 2026