Use "Brand Name" or things like "Free Shipping" in Ecommerce Product Title Tags?

[jeffbstratton]

Given the current industry best practices and changes to Google algorithms, should I be using "Product name...Brand Name" or something like "Product Name...Free Shipping (or similar)" in my ecommerce title tags?  Thanks!

[flowsimple]

Brand + Product, in that order for Title Tag is definitely recommended not only for your SERP, but also to influence the quality of your Product Feed. Usually we do Brand + Product - SiteName. And if there is room, a USP at the end of that too. so: Brand + Product - SiteName + USP is our usual Title tag pattern.

It's also good to have some variation on the On Page Title (H1) and make it different from the Title Tag. Usually the H1 is just the Product Name itself, and H2, H3's will reiterate the Brand/Category/Offer, etc.

[MoosaHemani]

Title tag is great way to catches users attention and including free shipping can be an added point to cater user attention and increase the CTR volume but I believe title tag also have a much SEO value to you have to use it wisely and play it around to a place where you can incorporate branding as well as SEO keywords.

If it is not possible to add website USP in the title but you can include brand name and product titles then I would prefer to go it that way but remember in my experience Meta description also help people increase a click through rate to a greater extent so product testimonials, special features and your business USP can be used in Meta description tag to increase the CTR and conversion rate.

Hope this helps!

[jeffbstratton]

Thanks again for taking the time to provide your feedback.  Yes I do have each title tag different for each product. Thanks again!

[max.favilli]

Keep in mind what works for others doesn't necessarily works for you, I guess you will have to run your own tests. The programmatically wording change worked for me to avoid duplication and improve ranking. I will stay tuned to hear what others have been testing.

[jeffbstratton]

I understand what you're saying but it's not the answer I'm looking for.  I have a history with strong rankings for product pages but am having a discussion with someone else who believes it should be worded differently.  I know that rankings and CTR don't always work hand-in-hand when it comes to title tags and changing them later could cause issues with ranking.  What I'm looking for is specifics from people who have tried it both ways and have an opinion or who have done it a certain way and have had lots of success.  I appreciate your responses, but I'm looking for a specific "I've done it this way and believe it's right based on...."

[max.favilli]

I think your approach is wrong. You can't tweak the <title>for ranking and then change it for CTR, first because CTR is a factor in ranking too, maybe a little one, but the general consensus is that it counts; second because if you change it once you rank well tweaking it for CTR you risk of loosing ranking... <title> is one of the most powerful on-page factor... <a href="http://moz.com/search-ranking-factors">http://moz.com/search-ranking-factors</a></p> <p>So I strongly believe you should design it for both CTR and ranking from start.</p> <p>Since <title> is so critical for SEO I think you should test it: <a href="http://moz.com/blog/how-do-i-successfully-run-seo-tests-on-my-website-whiteboard-friday">http://moz.com/blog/how-do-i-successfully-run-seo-tests-on-my-website-whiteboard-friday</a></p> <p>I don't think there's much doubts the keywords you are willing to rank should be there, but you don't know how much is too much unless you test.</p> <p>To make an example your original question was "product name" + "brand name" or "product name" + "free shipping"</p> <p>For that business and for the analysis you already did on keywords how much important is "brand name" as a keyword? And a good ranking of the product page for that keyword is good, or it would be better to focus on different keywords for product page and leave the "brand name" for a brand page or category page?</p> <p>"Free shipping" is considered damn important for a website conversion rate, and have been for a while, so having it on the title could improve your serp CTR as well... But in what position? Maybe better to give your target keyword the best placement (the beginning of the title)... But remember title is chopped (read the link I posted in my previous answer <a href="http://moz.com/blog/new-title-tag-guidelines-preview-tool">http://moz.com/blog/new-title-tag-guidelines-preview-tool</a>), which means depending on the lenght of the product name you may have to dynamically change the title wording to accomodate everything you consider relevant.</p> <p>Last thing, looks at zappos and their home, categories, products... The always put the free shipping, but they adapt the title depending on the page.</p> <p>Last last, it's the title of the product pages, you want it to be different for every page, even when product names doesn't differ much, so you need to programmatically change the wording to avoid title duplication.</p> <p>But I am not that much of a SEO expert so take my advices with a grain of salt, and wait for others to support or bash my answer.</p></title>

[jeffbstratton]

My question relates to Product Pages only.  I'm talking about best practices for ranking and CTR.  Which is best for which? Specifically, right now our main goal is to rank first, CTR second, since if we aren't ranking then no one will click.

[max.favilli]

Which title tags? Product pages? Brand pages? Categories? All of them?

And your doubts about what to put there are related to serp CTR? Ranking?

I think you should keep in mind <title>is very much related to CTR because that's what people will see in a prominent position in serp, so I think you should craft them to be as much related to the search query you are targeting as possible, and of course make it as catchy as possible. Unfortunately I am not aware of any solution to A/B test <title></p> <p>About SEO, as far as I know is one of the strongest asset when it comes to on-page optimization.</p> <p>It's few months old but bet still very much relevant: <a href="http://moz.com/blog/new-title-tag-guidelines-preview-tool">http://moz.com/blog/new-title-tag-guidelines-preview-tool</a></p></title>