TL;DR: WordPress by itself does not have SEO title or meta description fields. The page title you type becomes the title tag by default, and there is no meta description at all until something adds one. Those fields come from an SEO plugin such as Yoast or Rank Math, which puts them in a panel below the editor or in the sidebar, or occasionally from a theme with SEO settings built in. If you cannot find the fields, you almost certainly do not have a plugin handling them yet.
This question gets asked constantly, and the usual answers make it more confusing than it needs to be. So let us start with the part that trips everyone up.
WordPress does not include these fields
Out of the box, WordPress gives you a post title, a permalink, and an excerpt. It does not give you a separate SEO title, and it does not give you a meta description field.
What happens without a plugin is that your post title gets used as the title tag, usually with your site name appended, and no meta description is output at all. Google then writes its own snippet by pulling text from the page. That sometimes works fine and sometimes produces something unfortunate.
So if you have been hunting through the editor sidebar for an "SEO" section and coming up empty, nothing is broken. The feature is not there.
What these two fields actually control
The SEO title, also called the title tag, is the clickable headline in search results and the text that shows in the browser tab. It is one of the more direct signals you give a search engine about what a page covers, and it is the single biggest factor in whether someone clicks your result over the one above it.
The meta description is the short block of text underneath. It has no direct effect on rankings. It affects whether the click happens, which affects everything downstream.
Both are separate from the headline on the page itself. That separation is the point: you can write a title tag aimed at search and a headline aimed at the reader.
Where they live in Yoast SEO
Yoast is the most widely installed option, so this is where most people find these fields.
Open a post or page for editing and scroll below the content editor. Yoast adds a panel there with a preview of how the result will look in Google. Click into the snippet editor and you will see an SEO title field and a meta description field, each with a length indicator that turns from green to orange when you run long.
The same fields are available in the Yoast sidebar panel if you prefer working there, and site-wide templates for titles are under the Yoast settings in the main WordPress menu.
Where they live in other SEO plugins
Rank Math places its panel in the same spot below the editor, with a snippet preview and General tab holding the title and description fields.
All in One SEO puts a settings block below the editor as well. SEOPress and The SEO Framework both add compact fields in the same area. The layout differs, the concept does not: look below the content editor or in the sidebar for a panel branded with the plugin's name.
If you have not picked one yet, it is worth reading through which SEO plugin is best for WordPress before installing.
When your theme handles it instead
Some commercial themes and page builders include their own SEO settings, and a handful of them output title tags and meta descriptions without any plugin involved.
In that case the fields usually sit in the theme's own settings panel, either inside the page editor or in the theme customizer. Check the theme documentation before adding a plugin, because running a theme's SEO features alongside a plugin can produce duplicate tags.
Writing an SEO title worth clicking
Keep it under roughly 60 characters so it does not get truncated. Put the phrase people are actually searching near the front. Make it describe the page honestly, because a misleading title gets clicks and then bounces, which helps nobody.
For a local business, the location usually belongs in the title. "Emergency Plumbing Repair in Amarillo, TX" beats "Services" by a wide margin.
Writing a meta description that earns the click
Aim for about 150 to 155 characters. Say what the page delivers and give a reason to choose it over the other nine results.
Include the search phrase where it fits naturally, mostly because Google bolds matching terms in the snippet and bold text draws the eye. Avoid writing the same description for multiple pages. Duplicate descriptions across a site are a common and easily fixed problem.
Check what Google is actually showing
Filling in the fields does not guarantee they get used. Google rewrites title tags and descriptions when it decides its own version fits the query better.
Search for your page directly, or use Google Search Console, and compare what appears against what you wrote. If Google is consistently overriding you, the usual cause is a title that does not match the page content or a description that reads like filler.
FAQs
Does WordPress have built-in SEO title and meta description fields?
No. WordPress uses your post title as the title tag and outputs no meta description on its own. Those fields come from an SEO plugin or, occasionally, a theme with SEO features built in.
Where is the SEO title field in Yoast SEO?
In the Yoast panel below the content editor, inside the snippet editor, or in the Yoast sidebar panel. Site-wide title templates are under the Yoast settings in the main WordPress menu.
How long should an SEO title and meta description be?
Keep the SEO title under roughly 60 characters and the meta description around 150 to 155, so neither gets truncated in search results.
Does the meta description affect rankings?
Not directly. It affects whether someone clicks your result, which is why it is worth writing carefully even though it is not a ranking factor.
Why is Google showing a different title than the one I wrote?
Google rewrites titles and descriptions when it thinks its own version better matches the query. That usually signals a title that does not reflect the page content or a description that reads as filler.
