Annex

Fixing Page Titled on WooCommerce (WCAG 2.4.2)

Every page needs a unique title element that describes what the page is about.

Why it matters

The title is the first thing a screen reader announces when a user moves between tabs. If all 200 products in the catalogue carry the title 'Shop', the customer cannot tell which product they are on. It is also the line that appears in search results, so the fix improves click-through at the same time.

WooCommerce — where to look

SEO plugin title templates (Yoast, Rank Math); the theme must call wp_head().

What to do

Define separate title templates for products and categories. The theme must call wp_head() or the plugin cannot output a title at all.

Verification status

Checked by reading the platform’s own source code. Storefront emits no title tag of its own and calls wp_head(), which is correct — WordPress and the SEO plugin generate the title there. A theme that hard-codes a title or omits wp_head() breaks this, so check both.

Source: https://github.com/woocommerce/storefront/blob/trunk/header.php

Reference themes change. If your store runs a different or older theme, confirm the file before editing it.

How to verify the fix

  1. Open several product pages in separate tabs and see whether the tab titles let you tell them apart.
  2. Go to page 2 of a category listing — does the title change?
  3. Check the cart, checkout, account and 404 pages individually. These are the ones usually forgotten.

Other platforms

The full criterion

Read the full explanation of WCAG 2.4.2 Page Titled, or the formal W3C definition.