Page title help

Try switching to the default theme (Twenty Seventeen) and testing. If it works, the problem is with your theme.

If it’s your theme, you can try toggling the Force Rewrites option: https://semperplugins.com/documentation/performance-settings/

Thanks Michael,
I deactivated the theme and switched to the generic wordpress one, but it still was not working. I also clicked yes on title rewrites in the general settings (did not see listed in performance tab) but no luck