Validating Page Titles in Selenium Python

When it comes to web automation or testing with Selenium, one of the simplest yet essential validations is checking the page title. Page titles often indicate whether navigation was successful, whether the correct content is loaded, and if users are in the right place. In this blog post, we’ll explore how to validate page titles using Selenium with Python, along with tips and best practices for making your tests more robust and reliable.

Why Validate Page Titles?

Validating the page title is often used to:

• Confirm navigation success (e.g., after login or clicking a link).
• Ensure the correct page is rendered (important in multi-page workflows).
• Help catch redirection or misrouting errors.
• While it may seem trivial, title verification can be a powerful checkpoint in end-to-end tests.

Setting Up Selenium in Python

Before writing tests, make sure Selenium is installed:

bash

pip install selenium

Also, download the appropriate WebDriver for your browser (e.g., ChromeDriver for Chrome) and make sure it’s in your system path.

Basic Example: Validating Page Title

Here's a simple Python script using Selenium to validate the title of a web page.

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from selenium import webdriver

from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

import time

# Setup WebDriver

driver = webdriver.Chrome()

# Navigate to a web page

driver.get("https://example.com")

# Get the actual title

actual_title = driver.title

# Define the expected title

expected_title = "Example Domain"

# Validate

if actual_title == expected_title:

    print("Test Passed: Page title is correct.")

else:

    print(f"Test Failed: Expected '{expected_title}', but got '{actual_title}'.")

# Close the browser

driver.quit()

This script checks whether the page title of https://example.com matches the expected title "Example Domain".

Using Assertions for Automated Testing

If you're integrating Selenium with a testing framework like unittest or pytest, you should use assertions rather than conditional statements.

Example with unittest:

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import unittest

from selenium import webdriver

class TitleTest(unittest.TestCase):

    def setUp(self):

        self.driver = webdriver.Chrome()

    def test_title(self):

        self.driver.get("https://example.com")

        self.assertEqual(self.driver.title, "Example Domain")

    def tearDown(self):

        self.driver.quit()

if __name__ == "__main__":

    unittest.main()

This approach integrates seamlessly into CI pipelines and provides better test reporting.

Best Practices

Use Explicit Waits: Sometimes the page title changes after the initial load (e.g., due to JavaScript). Use WebDriverWait for more reliable checks.

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from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait

from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC

WebDriverWait(driver, 10).until(EC.title_is("Example Domain"))

Avoid Hardcoding: Store expected titles in variables or configuration files to make tests more maintainable.

Log Title Mismatches: Always log actual vs expected values for easier debugging.

Partial Matches: If a title has dynamic content, use title_contains instead of title_is.

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EC.title_contains("Example")

Conclusion

Validating page titles is a foundational aspect of Selenium testing in Python. It's simple, fast, and provides immediate feedback about whether the navigation and page loading are behaving as expected. As your test suite grows, combining title validation with other assertions will ensure more robust, reliable end-to-end tests. Whether you're testing static pages or dynamic web apps, don’t underestimate the value of a correctly set page title.

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