Title

Your page title should reflect what the user wants to do.

Title is a required component on all pages.

The title should precisely describe to readers what the page's contents are about.

Use sentence case (only capitalize the first letter)!

Use short titles

Titles should be less than 65 characters, as search results cut off longer titles.

The CMS will allow you to input more, but note that it won't fit as well in the formatting and may be cut off in search engines.

Only unique, specific titles are allowed

Your title becomes the URL of your page.

Karl does not allow duplicate titles or urls. You will not be able to use a title that someone else has already used.

Do
Don't do

Public notices for TIDA

Public notices

Rent Board forms

Forms

Be very specific and let your users know what the content is about.

Sentence case

Titles should be in sentence case, so only the 1st letter is capitalized. This makes the title easier and faster to read.

Explain what users want to do

Your title must explain to the user what they will get by clicking on your page.

Don’t use puns, jokes or idiomatic expressions in titles. They don’t translate well into other cultures or languages.

Do
Don't do

  • Get a marriage license

  • Register a new business

  • Start a business

  • COVID-19 vaccinations by neighborhood

  • Get information to help with a legal problem

  • Marriage: general information

  • Business Registration Certificate

  • Get your business off the ground

  • Data and statistics on vaccinations in Bayview Hunters Point, Financial District, Excelsior, Japan Town, Mission Bay, and more

  • Self-help

Search engine optimization (SEO)

More than half of people on SF.gov come from a search engine. So your title and description need to work together to tell users what they will get when they visit your page. Use keywords people will search for in your title to boost your SEO ranking. If they won’t fit in the title, you can include them in the description.

Acronyms

Acronyms should be written out word for word on first mention. Include the acronym in parentheses.

After this first mention, you can use just the acronym for the rest of the page.

For example: Use "search engine optimization (SEO)" in the title; "SEO" throughout the page text

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