Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Google changes my title in search results randomly, any idea why?
-
hi all,
i recently noticed google changing the title tag of one of my pages in search results for certain keywords...
I've done a bit of a search and see its not uncommon, however from what i can tell they usually change the title if it is too long, or they seem to change the branding location etc...
In my case they are litterally adding key words to it...
Example -
See Image 1 - This is my main keyword - the title displays correctly
See Image 2 - Another keyword - see how google has added "irrelevant" keywords to the title
Any ideas why this happens?
-
Thanks for the info Sorina, i agree with you that Google decided the page is also relevant for the keyword cctv cameras...
But i disagree with google.. lol.. i mean, we have a cameras page, the recorder page has nothing to do with cameras, there are no cameras on that page, it is recorders...
Just seems a little odd to me... I will try lengthening the title as it is a little short (only 36 characters)... perhaps if its a bit longer they wont bother adding to it...
Thanks again
-
In some cases Google rewrites the title of web pages in its search results pages. Here is the exact answer from a Google Employee about this issue:
In general, when we run across titles that appear to be sub-optimal, we may choose to rewrite them in the search results. This could happen when the titles are particularly short, shared across large parts of your site or appear to be mostly a collection of keywords. One thing you can do to help prevent this is to make sure that your titles and descriptions are relevant, unique and compelling, without being "stuffed" with too much boilerplate text across your site.
(source: http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/webmasters/GxPvar_uSwE/ARAsgZ5Rt0kJ)
In your case I believe Google decided that your page is also relevant for the keyword "CCTV Cameras" and added that to the page title.
-
sorry
I just realised in image 2 i used the words "scrolling down" suggesting the search result in question is on page one... my mistake - it is not, the search result in question is on the second page of results...
The images were just to show people the same website page with different tittle tag in google search results...
-
just logged out and tested, i still get the same...
i should point out with image 2 - there is another of our pages that ranks on page 1 for the keyword in that image... but if you go to page two, it shows the page reffered to in image 1 - and you can see the different title...
-
I'm getting different results then you,
I can see your login to your Google account, try login out or if your using Chrome use incognito to search.
What you got, same or different?
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
-
Has the keyword planner search volume metric gone crazy?
I use the search volume found in keyword planner to score and weight my keywords in a similar way as Rand showed us in this WBF. This week I've found that in many cases suddenly the singular and plural version of the keyword have the same search volume. This seems crazy to me as singular and plural is not the same, the intent is different but more importantly they behave very differently from each other when looking at their track record in Adwords (impressions, clicks, conversions, CTR, CVR etc...all different). For example, here's a screenshot of 4 keywords (singular and plural versions of 2 phrases) with search volume captured a couple of months ago. Now here's another screenshot of the same keywords taken from Keyword planner today. Any ideas why this would be happening? Does it makes sense to you? It just seems buggy to me. Thanks!
Keyword Research | | E_F0 -
How can I tell if Google considers two words to mean the same thing
For example, "wives" and "brides" They're often interchangeable, but given context they can still mean fairly different things. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks
Keyword Research | | CupidTeam0 -
KWs w/ no bids on Google AdWords
When using the Google Keyword Planner to research KWs, is it a correct assumption that if the KW doesn't have a suggested bid, there's probably not going to be a real impact in optimizing for it? Hypothetically, if I saw a high-volume, low-competition KW w/out a suggested bid I'd feel differently, but I'm just seeing it happen with low volume and competition. Thanks,
Keyword Research | | SSFCU
Sarah0 -
Google trends quota's limit?
Hi Mozers, I've a problem with Google trends tool : after 5 searches, I reach the "quota limit". Have you the same issue? Do you use other tools "similar" to Google trends? SEMrush,...? Thank you for answers Regards, Jonathan
Keyword Research | | JonathanLeplang0 -
Is there any way to track search volume for a particular keyword on a day-to-day basis?
My boss has asked me to track the number of searches for a keyword (a particular company's name) on a daily basis this week to see how the volume fluctuates from day to day. Is this even possible? I should note that his request does not involve an active SEO or AdWords campaign. In fact, the company my boss is interested in doesn't even have a website at the moment. Thanks in advance – either for helping me confirm that it's impossible to track keyword search volume on a day-to-day basis, or for showing me the magical way to actually do this.
Keyword Research | | matt-145670 -
Search Terms with Apostrophes
In doing keyword research I discovered that the Google Adwords Tools returns results with a space in search terms where an apostrophe should be. For example: Searching for 'mens fashion' or 'men's fashion' will return keyword ideas like 'men s fashion trends', 'men s fashion styles'. Same thing happens if yous search for '50s fashion' or 'mens suits'. Not only that but if you search for 'men s fashion' in the adwords tool you get 14,800 exact matches! Who would you use that term? And if you do search for it in Google, it will auto correct to 'men's fashion'. If you know the answer to what a term like 'men s fashion' signifies, you can skip the rest of this post and answer my question (thanks!). If not, here's what I did to try and figure it out - but I'm stuck and I need your help. First off, I did a search for all 3 terms: (mens fashion, men's fashion and men s fashion) in the adwords tool. The tool responded with different numbers for each, with 'men s fashion' far exceeding 'men's fashion'. See image 1 I did a search for each of the three terms in Google. The top 10 results for each were different. See image 2 Google reads 'men s fashion' as 'men's fashion'. I know that because: Google says 'showing result's for men's fashion' (obvious!) Google instant lists terms beginning with 'men's fashion...' See image 3 Related searches are identical for those two but not for 'mens fashion'. But it's not completely the same since as I mentioned you get different results, and the number of results found are different as well. So that brings me back to my question: When the tool says that 28 people search for [men's fashion] and 14,800 search for [men s fashion]. What on earth does it mean? bknQU tNKo7 C0P7S
Keyword Research | | 5225Marketing2 -
Unusual Words - How to Check what Google Recognises
I want to check which words Google is aware of, I remember Danny Dover talking about "SeoMoz.org" and theorising that Google couldn't understand that SEO was in the URL because it didn't understand that "Moz" was a word and therefore couldn't seperate the 2 words "SEO and "Moz" out. Any ideas, I thought about using Google Instant but as it comes up with "seomoz" when i type in "seom" so am assuming that this detail is taken from a diffrent source. Justin
Keyword Research | | GrouchyKids0 -
How does Google treat the symbols ® and ™ if they are part of keyword?
For example: As a keyword, is "Cisco®" the same as "Cisco"? I tried a couple of things to find out: 1. I put both keywords in Google adwords tool. Google displayed search volume data only for Cisco. That means it ignores the ® symbol. 2. I typed in Cisco® and Cisco in Google search. of SERPs are the same. And the first page results are almost same excpet for Google Places listings. Based on above two observations, I think that Google treats Cisco® and Cisco in the same manner. So if we optimize a page for Cisco®, we will get benefit for the keyword Cisco as well. Does anybody has any other experience? (Note: the keyword used here(Cisco) is just an example. Thanks, Supriya.
Keyword Research | | Amjath0