What it means
A page has no page name attributed to it. It is literally blank.
Why it matters
A page title is important for several reasons. It describes the content or purpose of a page (E.g., Contact ITS, List of Faculty and Staff, Apply to Carleton University.) This is not only useful in navigation menus and links but also adds this label to the tab of a browser window for that page. Browser tabs not only provide visual cues for ably sighted users; they are also read to users who employ a screen reader to assist in the browsing of a page. Without this, a user with a visual disability has no cue as to the content without diving into the page and having the content read to them. As annoying as this is for one page, imagine opening several pages in several different tabs with no titles.
Page titles also play a great role in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Without titles, pages lose ranking because search engines use page titles as a key source of information in ranking pages for relevancy. Promoting your page is important; enabling users who browse with disabilities to find your page via a search engine is even more crucial as it saves them time and effort.
Uninformative titles might be too long, unclear, or repetitive.
What to do
- Ensure your page has a title
- Make certain it is clear and succinct (E.g., Faculty and Staff Listing, rather than A list of all the Faculty and Staff in our Department)
- Make sure it differentiates its content (E.g., Faculty and Staff might mean a list of faculty and staff, or it could be a list of resources for Faculty and Staff, so be careful to name the page carefully to reflect the content)
More information on page titles can be found in Module 2 of our accessibility training: