Title case and sentence case are the two main ways to capitalize headlines and headings. Both are correct. What matters is choosing one deliberately and using it consistently. This guide explains the difference, how major style guides use each, and how to decide for your own content.
The Google and Microsoft guidance below is quoted from their official style guides, checked October 1, 2026. The APA Style summary is deliberately brief; if you write in APA Style, follow its official guidance directly. Recommendations marked "Our guidance" are WriterFlowLab's editorial advice.
The difference, with examples
- Title case capitalizes the major words and lowercases most short minor words, such as articles, short conjunctions and short prepositions: How to Write a Blog Post That Gets Read.
- Sentence case capitalizes only the first word and proper nouns, like an ordinary sentence: How to write a blog post that gets read.
The exact title case rules differ between style guides, especially for prepositions, longer short words and hyphenated words. That is one reason sites end up with inconsistent headings.
What the style guides say
APA Style
APA Style, widely used in academic writing, uses both styles for different parts of a paper. Broadly, title case appears in elements such as paper titles and headings, and sentence case in elements such as the titles of works in reference lists. APA has its own detailed rules for which words to capitalize, so check its official guidance on title case and sentence case rather than relying on a summary.
Google developer documentation style guide
Google's guide says: "In document titles and headings, use sentence case. That is, capitalize only the first word in the title, the first word in a subheading after a colon, and any proper nouns or other terms that are always capitalized a certain way." Source: Google developer documentation style guide.
Microsoft Writing Style Guide
Microsoft's guide says to "use sentence-style capitalization in most titles and headings", and notes that "titles of blog posts, documentation articles, and press releases use sentence-style capitalization." It keeps title-style capitalization for cases such as product and service names, book and song titles, and article titles in citations. Source: Microsoft Writing Style Guide.
When to use title case
Our guidance: title case suits sites with a traditional editorial or publishing style, short headlines that need to stand out, and work that follows a style guide requiring it, such as academic papers in APA Style. Names of products, books and other titled works keep their own capitalization whichever style you choose for headings.
When to use sentence case
Our guidance: sentence case suits long headlines, subheadings, interface text such as buttons and menus, and documentation. It is easier to apply consistently, because there are fewer rules about which small words to capitalize, and it reads like an ordinary sentence.
Headlines, subheadings and buttons
One option is title case for article headlines and sentence case for subheadings and interface text. Another, in line with the Google and Microsoft guides, is sentence case throughout. Either works if it is applied consistently. Our guidance: avoid mixing styles within the same level of heading.
Brand names, acronyms and special terms
In both styles, proper nouns keep their capitalization. Write product and brand names the way their owners do, and keep acronyms in capitals. Automatic converters cannot always tell which words are names, so check the result. In Title Case, our case converter usually leaves words already written in capitals or mixed case, such as NASA or iPhone, unchanged. In sentence case it lowercases everything except the first word of each sentence, so names need fixing by hand.
How to choose a house style
- Check whether a style guide you already follow, such as APA, sets a rule.
- Pick one style for headlines and one for subheadings and interface text. They can be the same.
- Write the decision down with a few examples, including tricky cases such as short prepositions and hyphenated terms.
- Apply it to new content, and update older headings gradually.
Consistent capitalization is an easy win in a pre-publish review. See how to clean AI-generated text before publishing for a full checklist.
Frequently asked questions
Is title case or sentence case better for SEO?
We are not aware of any Google guidance saying that either style affects rankings, and Google's own developer documentation style guide uses sentence case. Choose the style that is clearest and most consistent for your readers.
Should every word be capitalized in title case?
No. Title case lowercases most short minor words, such as "a", "and" and "of", unless they start the title. Exactly which words stay lowercase depends on the style guide.
What is the difference between sentence case and lowercase?
Sentence case still capitalizes the first word and proper nouns. Lowercase uses no capital letters at all.