Top-10 displayed titles containing 'best', by search intent and position
| Search intent | Keywords | Top-10 titles | All top 10 % | #1 % | #2 to #5 % | #6 to #10 % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial | 1,975 | 19,733 | 16.6% | 14.7% | 16.3% | 17.1% |
| Transactional | 1,732 | 17,286 | 11.1% | 6.8% | 11.2% | 11.8% |
| Informational | 5,305 | 53,013 | 7.0% | 5.8% | 7.0% | 7.3% |
| Navigational | 1,007 | 10,000 | 2.9% | 2.9% | 2.7% | 3.1% |
| All study keywords | 10,019 | 100,032 | 9.2% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Source: PageSpeed Matters, Oct 2026. Displayed titles, not title tags; intent labels are model-assigned.
Summary
"Best" is one of the most familiar words in search results. It promises a ranked choice, and it matches how people search when they are ready to compare. We wanted to know how often the titles Google shows in its top 10 actually use it, and whether that depends on what the searcher wants.
It depends a lot. 16.6% of 19,733 top-10 titles for commercial-intent keywords contain the word "best", against 7.0% for informational and 2.9% for navigational keywords. When the query itself says "best", about two in three titles repeat it.
What we measured
We looked at Google US results for 10,019 keywords across 30 verticals in October 2026, and took the top 10 for each keyword. Each keyword has a search intent label: commercial, transactional, informational or navigational. Those labels are assigned by a model, not by hand.
For every top-10 result we checked whether the displayed title contains the word "best". These are the titles Google shows in the results, which can differ from the title tag in a site's HTML. So the figures describe what searchers see, not exactly what sites wrote.
Commercial results use 'best' most often
16.6% of 19,733 top-10 displayed titles for 1,975 commercial-intent keywords contain "best". That compares with 11.1% of 17,286 for transactional keywords, 7.0% of 53,013 for informational and 2.9% of 10,000 for navigational. Across all study keywords the rate is 9.2%.
The commercial gap is not only queries that already say "best". For commercial keywords without the word in the query, 13.7% of 18,675 top-10 titles still use it. For informational keywords without it the rate is 6.9% of 52,903, and for navigational keywords 2.8% of 9,980. A likely reason is that commercial searches often rank listicles and buying guides, which tend to put "best" in the title.
16.6%
Share of 19,733 top-10 Google titles for commercial-intent keywords that contain the word 'best'.
When the query says best, titles echo it
When the query itself starts with "best", 67.9% of 1,148 top-10 titles for those 115 keywords echo it. Searchers who type "best" mostly see results that promise exactly that.
Intent hardly changes this. When the query contains "best", 67.8% of 1,058 commercial titles and 68.2% of 110 informational titles repeat it. Once the word is in the query, the label matters much less than the query wording.
Position and vertical shift the rate
Within commercial results, the #1 title is a little less likely to say "best". 14.7% of 1,975 #1 titles contain it, against 16.3% of 7,900 at #2 to #5 and 17.1% of 9,858 at #6 to #10. Transactional and informational results follow the same pattern, as the table shows. The gap is small, and it does not show that "best" holds a page back.
By vertical, commercial results use "best" most in fitness (38.0% of 400 titles), beauty (28.8% of 1,348) and software (27.2% of 2,268). They use it least in real estate (3.8% of 1,098) and insurance (5.0% of 2,436), likely because those results are more often listings, quotes or provider pages than buying guides.
What this means for your site
Use "best" where the page earns it. On a genuine comparison or buying guide for a commercial search, the word matches what searchers expect, and roughly one in six commercial top-10 titles use it. For informational and navigational searches the word is far less common, so on an article or a brand page it can read as filler.
If you target a query that starts with "best", plan to say it in your title. About two in three top-10 results do. Then check how Google displays your title in the results, since it can rewrite titles. If it drops or changes your wording, make the title tag shorter and closer to what the page delivers.
Sources
- PageSpeed Matters analysis of Google US top 20 results for 10,019 keywords across 30 verticals, with model-assigned search intent labels, October 2026
- Google Search Central, influencing your title links in search results: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/title-link
Embed this research
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<script>window.addEventListener("message",function(e){if(e&&e.data&&e.data.psmEmbed==="best-in-title-tags"&&e.data.height){var f=document.getElementById("psm-best-in-title-tags");if(f){f.style.height=e.data.height+"px";}}});</script>
<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/best-in-title-tags">'Best' in Search Result Titles: 16.6% of Commercial Results - PageSpeed Matters</a></p>
Frequently asked questions
How often do Google results use 'best' in the title?
It depends on intent. 16.6% of top-10 titles for commercial keywords contain 'best', against 11.1% for transactional, 7.0% for informational and 2.9% for navigational keywords. Across all 10,019 study keywords the rate is 9.2%.
Should I put 'best' in my title tag?
If you target a query that starts with 'best', most competitors do: 67.9% of top-10 titles for those queries echo it. For commercial keywords without 'best' in the query, 13.7% of top-10 titles still use the word.
Do #1 results use 'best' in the title?
Slightly less often than lower results. Within commercial results, 14.7% of #1 titles contain 'best', against 16.3% at #2 to #5 and 17.1% at #6 to #10.
Title wording is one of the easiest things to test on a page, and matching it to what searchers expect is a change that needs no new content. Need help with this? See our on-page SEO services.