SEO Titles and Keyword Density
-
Hey guys,
I'm doing some on page SEO for a few clients and I've always wondered about this question. I have read tons of articles on the perfect <title>tag, but they don't often mention this.</p> <p>So my titles, like most others follow this format:</p> <p>Keyword 1 | Keyword 2 - Company</p> <p>So say for example I am trying to rank for 'life insurance' and 'life insurance quote' for 'axa sunlife'.</p> <p>It's my assumption that the title should be:</p> <p>Life Insurance Quote - Axa Sunlife</p> <p>rather than:</p> <p>Life Insurance | Life Insurance Quote - Axa Sunlife</p> <p>Am I right in thinking that putting it twice has no added value, and could in fact have an adverse effect?</p> <p>Thanks,</p> <p>Lewis.</p> <p> </p></title>
-
if you included the plural and singular versions of a keyword in title tag would that be considered a keyword repeat ?
-
Maybe you can read this tutorial : http://www.seomoz.org/learn-seo/title-tag
An advice don't repeat the keywords in the title
-
Hi Lewis,
I've done a couple of tests (nothing scientific - just trying things out and looking for trends) on this in the last few months and have found the following:
- Using the same keyword more than once doesn't seem to have any impact on keyword rankings
- The first keyword in the title element seems to be given priority, assuming that it's matched up with other on page elements (ie. Broad usage throughout the page, alt tags, etc)
The best title tag will most likely have your keyword first, followed by some kind of call to action, and then your site name at the end. This works on a few levels - namely that you're improving your rankings, click throughs and also brand awareness.
Kieran's definitely correct in saying that it should be tied in with the meta description, although I'd disagree that there's no benefit to having the brand at the end of the tag - particularly if you're working with a client who's looking to build, or reinforce, their name.
Remember that it isn't all about getting to the top. By including your call to action you're potentially helping with conversion rate optimisation and by including the brand you're helping build trust over the long term... which is incredibly hard to measure but will surely add hidden benefit and gives you another string to your bow!
As far as keyword density goes, the old ways of looking at it are completely outdated. If you aim to use your keyword 3-4 times in a reasonable sized page whilst also employing the ~ operator on Google to find, and use, related terms you'll be fine.
Hope that's helpful - would be really interested to hear how you get on
Matt
-
Thanks Gianluca
I agree 100% I was thinking of the actual site Title tag when typing this so answering it from that context. Yes Keyword(s) + Hook
-
You are right and not at the same time. Right telling that a redundant use of the keywords is not generating benefits (instead, it can look simply spammy)... not, because the title you are suggesting in not "exciting".
Remember that Titles are the first line of a Search Snippet. Therefore it should have to be crafted wisely:
- In order to focus Search Engines on your page's main keyword;
- In order to push the searchers into clicking your result and no other.
I usually suggest to think to Title as they where the Page Tagline. This also make easier its use into the same content of the page itself, as the HTML Title usually is converted to the H1 Title by many CMS.
Therefore, in your case, a Title could be:
Life Insurance? Ask now a life insurance quote to Axa Sunlife
And the Meta Description would renforce the Title call to action, maybe citing the main competitive advantage of the Axa Sunlife life insurance.
Ciao and I hope this helps
-
In my opinion putting it in twice is not a good idea. I assume that you have done the appropriate keyword research in this area and that the keywords are appropriate. I personally don't even think there is value in adding the AXA Sunlife as AXA is meaningless to the Search engines. It does help when the title is displayed to give some people idea.
I think your title should be along the lines of Main Target Keyword in Body of the Page x 1 to 3 then stop. I would not use multiples. If you have multiple keywords you want to target create an additional page for the keywords.
So
Life Insurance Quotes
Life Insurance Premiums
Life Insurance Special Offers
the Title is of course only the beginning. Get some nice meta description under it as well to if your link with this Title does show then it makes sense. this may be the place to mention AXA or the company so people get some good company name visuals
-
For sure the title tag is one of the most important elements in SEO. Make use of the maximum length of 70 characters. As this title is displayed in SERPs, make sure to integrate a call to action. The mention of the company name is usualy not so important, as long as you are not a brand in the eyes of Google.
For the keyword density: take a look at your competitors. Stuffing is dangerous!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Page Title versus H1 title
What's the difference between the Page Title and the H1 title? It seems like both summarize the page. Is it a wasted opportunity to make them the same? Should they be similar but slightly different?
On-Page Optimization | | amybethmegjo1 -
Breadcrumbs keyword repeats
Hi I have a client project who's developers platform is populating the category part of the breadcrumbs with the header tag. Since these include the pages primary target keywords/phrase they are being repeated in the breadcrumbs increasing the keyword/phrase count on the page as well as repeating/duplicating the sentence. Can this cause problems ? or not because Google knows its not part of the page content/body copy (because its a breadcrumb) ? Cheers Dan
On-Page Optimization | | Dan-Lawrence0 -
Changing my title tags
My title tags always get changed, i label them correctly, no too long or short and they always get changed, any ideas?
On-Page Optimization | | benjaminmarcinc1 -
Title Tags for Index Pages
What tactics do you use to change the title tags of your index page so they're not all the same? For example, if you have an index page that has 100 pages, each with the same title, what tactics do you use to give each page a unique title and how important is it?
On-Page Optimization | | felt0 -
On-page SEO optimization
hi there! Is it possible not to be in the first 20 or 30 positions in the SERPs after executing onpage SEO actions (keyword optimization, metatags, ....) even for keywords for which there's not "too much" competition? Is there a way of visualize the pages indexed by the google bot? (the pages especifically, not the number) in order to discard indexing problems? Thank you!
On-Page Optimization | | juanmiguelcr1 -
On-page keyword usage
SEOMOZ gave me all zeros for keyword usage. Why? The site is www.grass2greens.com and the keywords are "Asheville Landscaping Edible." The site includes these words in the title page and throughout the body text. I am not really sure, but maybe one cause for these low keyword usage ratings might be redirects or some meta tag issues, but I am really not sure. Any ideas?
On-Page Optimization | | dcaudio0 -
Should I include a "|" for better page title SEO results?
I have seen many sites that include the "|" in page titles and was wondering if there is some SEO value in the practice. Example: Product Name | Company Name Instead of: Product Name by Company Name I have not seen any value in it myself other than a good way to avoid stop words. I wanted to make sure. Currently I have the "by" included in the page titles.
On-Page Optimization | | JedHenning0 -
Keywords in URL:
what kind of URL should we use? www.keyword.net/keyword-city or www.keyword.net/city which URL you would prefer?
On-Page Optimization | | alibeef0