Constructing the perfect META Title - Ranking vs CTR vs Search Volume
-
Hello Mozzers!
I want to discuss the science behind the perfect META Title in terms of three factors:
1. Ranking
2. CTR
3. Search Volume
Hypothetical scenario: A furniture company "Boogie Beds" wants to optimise their META Title tag for their "Cane Beds" ecommerce webpage.
1. The keywords "Cane Beds' has a search volume of 10,000
2. The keywords " Cane Beds For Sale" has a search volume of 250
3. The keywords "Buy Cane Beds" has a search volume of 25
One of Boogie Beds SEO's suggests a META Title "Buy Cane Beds For Sale Online | Boogie Beds" to target and rank for all three keywords and capture long tail searches.
The other Boogie Bed SEO says no! The META Title should be "Cane Beds For Sale | Boogie Beds" to target the most important two competitive keywords and sacrifice the "Buy" keyword for the other two
Which SEO would you agree more with, considering
1. Ranking ability
2. Click through rates
3. Long tail search volume
4. Keyword dilution
Much appreciated!
MozAddict
-
No, not as long as it doesn't get overused. What Google doesn't want you doing is "Cane Beds | Cane Beds for sale | Buy Cane Beds"
If you are refering to character count, Keep it as compact as possible, while still being readable. Looks like you have already done the research on what is popular and ranking, now you just need to implement in a SEF and user friendly format. Think of it this way; what would you click on if you were looking for a cane bed? If you arent sure, draft a few examples, and show them to someone else for a few opinions.
-
What about keyword dilution. Would adding too many words dilute the strength of your main keyword "Cane Beds"?
-
lol, if only it were a real scenario, id be on it!
-
lol... That is a lot better than mine.
Try it. I bet you get great CTR.
Let us know how it works!
-
I have seen a lot of sites that tie in main keywords closer together not rank as well as ones that use them in a more natural fashion.
We have done our own tests with this, and while it can take a while to find the right combination, the payoff is well worth it. When you construct the title, make sure the content, description and keyword list are all consistent.
On of the formats we have found to be successful for titles is to use the main keyword as the leader, and then be more descriptive in the secondary part of the title.
Example: Cane Beds | Boogie Beds Shopping Online Store
Keep in mind this is only an example, and could be polished better than this. If possible, use subpages to rank for additional terms or keywords rather than packing them all into one page and hoping for the best.
-
hah
Cane Beds: Boogie all night
-
<title>Cane Beds: Sleep like a Rock!
</title>
-
Thats a good point Tom. A new site might not be able to outrank a competitor due to PA or DA, but one could try and win more clicks through a compelling Title and description. An offer like free shipping would certainly be more compelling.
-
Hi Andy,
Thank you for your response. There is a fine line between targeting search volume and trying to remain relevant and sacrificing certain keywords for others. With this example, I wanted to see where the fine line lies for different SEO's.
Since the site I am optimising is a new site, there isnt enough data to test the variation. But it would be interesting to test the variations and see how search engines and users respond.
My feeling is that CTR for "Buy Cane Beds For Sale Online" would be lower due to its spammy feel, even if its search volume is higher.
It would be interesting to see the argument of a Mozzer that supports the other case
-
What else do you offer?
Do you do free shipping? Running any discounts?
I'd be much more inclined to click a title tag that says: "Buy Cane Beds - Free UK Shipping | Boogie Beds". Looks like it fits in the Moz Title Tool too.
You definitely want to get your primary keyword in there - it's good for SEO and for users. But after that, make it as compelling as possible that will drive people to click your ad, even if you're #3 instead of #1. Your title tag and meta description are your shop window - make sure you stand out.
-
Hi,
I certainly wouldn't go with the first SEO's recommendation as this is sacrificing usability and a title that reads well, for one that is only there to try and get as many keywords into it as possible.
There comes a point where you have to do a bit of a trade-off, and in this case, you trade a minor phrase "Buy Cane Beds" for a more highly searched one "Cane Beds For Sale".
This just doesn't read well at all... "Buy Cane Beds For Sale Online". Keyword stuffing at its finest.
Edit- Can I also point out that it doesn't really matter that the word "buy" isn't in there, as Google is pretty smart and knows how to apply the word "buy" to someone who is selling something.
If I do a search for the phrase "Buy cane beds", no-one in the top 10 has the word "buy" in their title.
-Andy
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 not being ranked properly
Hi, Wondering if someone could possibly shed some light on why some of our pages are not being ranked properly on Google. For example this page https://www.mypetzilla.co.uk/dog-breeds Keyword "Dog Breeds" we can't be found on and we are absolutely baffled why? Could it be that we are listing all 100 and something dog breeds on one page? Should we introduce pagination or load more as user scrolls down. This page has been up for at least 4 years. Any suggestion or advice would be much appreciated. Many thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Mypetzilla0 -
Essential to Have a Blog to Rank Well?
I have noticed that several competitors that rank very well rarely update their blogs, www.42floors.com for instance. We are redesigning our commercial real estate Wordpress website in the hopes of improving traffic, ranking and conversions. How critical is it to invest resources on creating and categorizing blog posts? Is frequently updating a blog post less necessary in late 2018? Curious to hear how much effort we should take to create new blog content and whether or not it will assist us in a competitive niche. Thanks, Alan
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Kingalan12 -
Google related searches
Hello, Are the related searches, the words that I should use when writing my content. For ex : when I type online spreadsheet in google, in the related searches it list online spreadsheet open source and spreasheet download. Does it means that when writing content I should included those terms in order to be relevant on the keyword online spreadsheet ? because they are considered closely related by google ?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seoanalytics0 -
Im scoring 100% in the page optimization, wht else I need to do, because I rank 7-12 in search results
Hi All, Pls check the below url http://www.powerwale.com/inverter-battery for inverter battery keyword in google.co.in im scoring 100% in the page optimization, wht else I need to do, and also I still rank in between 7 to 12 in search results.. How can be in Top 3 search results.. Pls suggest.. Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Rahim1191 -
Checking keyword rankings
I have 2 questions: 1. To check keyword rankings with firefox, i am choosing: Tools>Options>Privacy>"clear all current history" Timerange to clear: Everything Check Boxes: Browsing and download history, form and search history, cookies, cache, active logins Is there anything else I need to be doing? 2. Search results in my Niche are heavily localized. Is there any way to check rankings in another area? Ex: By default, our rankings are for Northeast NJ. Is there any way to check Baltimore, for example?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | CsmBill0 -
Correct Syntax for Meta No Index
Hi, Is this syntax ok for the bots, especially Google to pick up? Still waiting for Google to drop lots of duplicate pages caused by parameters out of the index - if there are parameters in the querystring it inserts the code above into the head. Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | bjs20101 -
Different pages ranking for search terms, often irrelevant.
Website: www.templatemonster.com
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | templatemonster
Problem: Positions dropped while pages which were ranking previously disappeared from top 100 and now different - often completely irrelevant - pages are ranking. Examples:
Search term: Joomla Templates
Previous Position: 8
Current Position: 35
Previously Ranked Page: http://www.templatemonster.com/joomla-templates.php
Currently Ranked Page: http://www.templatemonster.com/logo-templates.php Similar situation with the following search terms: virtuemart templates, virtuemart themes, prestashop templates, prestashop themes, magento themes, zencart templates, zencart themes, zen cart templates, zen cart themes When: according to the Google Analytics (drop in visitors stats) this happened on July, 2nd Preconditions: we had 45 minutes downtime on July 2-nd - but could this 45 mins have had such disastrous results?
No redirects or canonical URL were used which could lead to such change of ranking page.
No changes in the site's informational structure and design.
In webmaster tools (inbound links report) we saw a website yesterday which had over 800,000 links pointing to our domain - http://moviebestwatch.com/ - and today this site is NOT found in Webmaster Tools report! Also, site is down, domain is quite new (how could it have possibly developed 800,000 pages in such a short time?) and whois is privacy protected. Is this some dirty trick from competitors - could it have possibly influenced our positions? Still, what I completely fail to understand - how could a page like http://www.templatemonster.com/logo-templates.php be the top ranking page for 'Joomla templates' if there is: not a single mention of the word 'Joomla' on the page (or source code), i.e. the page is completely irrelevant to the search term not a single link with 'Joomla templates' anchor text pointing to that page, neither external nor internal PS. No similar changes in other search engines noticed. Also, the pages in question have been re-spidered July 4th and cache shows the right pages, i.e. it is not that Googlebot has seen logotypes page instead of Joomla templates page. I checked any possible reason I could think of (see "Preconditions") but still have no clue - what is going on?1 -
Quick ranking boost
Hi, What is hte quickest way to get up the rankings for a particular not hugley competitive keyword ? Thanks,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Prongo0