Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • MozCon
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers

        Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. Intermediate & Advanced SEO
    4. Best Practices for Homepage Title Tag

    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.

    Best Practices for Homepage Title Tag

    Intermediate & Advanced SEO
    4
    9
    9810
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • teconsite
      teconsite last edited by

      Hi,

      I would like to know if there is any update about the best practices for the homepage title tag.

      I mean, a couple of years ago, it was still working placing main keywords in the homepage title tag. But since the last google SERP update, the number of characters that are being shown were reduced, and now we try to work with 55 and 56 characters. That has reduced our capacity of including many keywords on the title tag.

      Besides, search engines are smarter now to choose the correct inner page to show in SERP.

      But I am wondering if the Homepage Title should have a branded orientation or should include main keywords, cause it is still working that strategy.

      I would appreciatte any update in this issue.

      Thank you!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • teconsite
        teconsite @ClaytonJ last edited by

        Thanks again!

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • ClaytonJ
          ClaytonJ last edited by

          Correct - I can give you a trick though.

          If the SERP is a high value page. Thousands if not millions of dollars has been spent on Adwords A/B testing the Ads that work on that page. When you frame your meta description and Title if you can - take into account the top Ads that companies keep on replaying.  They would not keep running them, if not highly successful on that page.

          Go get them...

          teconsite 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • teconsite
            teconsite @Alick300 last edited by

            Thank you!

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • teconsite
              teconsite @TomRayner last edited by

              Thank you Tom!

              For sure, a ctr optimized title works better. I still don't know if having less kws in title tag  pays the worth...

              I still don't know, what would be better

              Attractive title, but less keywords.
              or
              less attractive title and more keywords

              Spanish language makes it a little more difficult, cause generally words are longer, and you cannot say too much...

              Maybe the only way is testing for each case, what works better.
              I wish it were esier!

              Thank you!

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • teconsite
                teconsite @ClaytonJ last edited by

                Thank you John for your detailed answer! Very interesting insights
                It seems that there is not easy way and not a general answer to this question.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • ClaytonJ
                  ClaytonJ last edited by

                  Interesting responses - we specialize in title tags and descriptions. There is no uniform practice as such.  I disagree more with Tom on the above, but he is also right!  The suggested method by Alick is I believe still generally the best way forward.

                  That said as Tom pointed out clickability should also be an integral feature in how you form the Title tag and description. So there is a trade off - and difficult often to find the balance SEO -v- Clickability.  High traffic pages should have alot of thought and consideration - impacts can be massive.

                  The positive is with the new search traffic data available in WMT's you can try a few options over several weeks. In the new WMT's you can monitor each page more accurately and the effect of Position, Impressions, Clicks and CTR changes. Our experience is that with changes to the Title & Description & the subsequent Clicks on page google re-evaluates "the page relevance to the query" to answer a "searchers query".  Google re-sets or re-tests you. Google either then "publishes the page on more or less searches" and google monitors searchers behavior on the page when people click through, for stickiness.

                  A good Title tag will have strong keyword elements and this can be be measured in WMT's as Google places the Result on more "searched pages".  Immediately after indexing the page position may drop and likewise CTR.  However the clicks go up.  Why does this happen?  It is because google believes the new result answers more searchers queries.  Then the google tests how people respond to the page when they click through - if positive the page position climbs on the new pages - if there is no stickiness (ie they pogostick) it declines.

                  If google believes the new page is answering a "searchers query" then the page ranking generally will slowly increase, and likewise CTR.

                  Anyway maybe got a bit off track.  But feel free to ask any questions. ps Yes I know google state CTR is not a ranking factor however they do take stock of what customers do on a page.

                  teconsite 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                  • TomRayner
                    TomRayner last edited by

                    I disagree with the post above.

                    The most important thing for your title tag is to make it compelling enough to click.  It's your biggest shop window - you need to use the space.  A "Keyword - Keyword | Brand" isn't going to do that.

                    You will, of course, want to include your primary keyword in there, but you tell me which of these you'd prefer to click:

                    "Blue Widgets - Red Widgets | The Widgets Co"

                    "Cheap Blue Widgets - Free USA Shipping! | The Widgets Co"

                    Try and get your key selling points in the title tag as often as your keywords.  Give the user a reason to click.

                    In addition, title tags are truncated/shortened based on character width, not the number characters.  Dr Pete at Moz put together a great preview tool that you can check your title tags in to make sure they won't be shortened.

                    Hope this helps.

                    teconsite 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 6
                    • Alick300
                      Alick300 last edited by

                      Hi,

                      Optimal format for any page title tag is **Primary Keyword - Secondary Keyword | Brand Name. **

                      You can use it same for homepage also. If a brand is well-known enough to make a difference in click-through rates in search results, the brand name should be first. If the brand is less known or relevant than the keyword, the keyword should be first.

                      If you keep your titles under 55 characters, you can expect at least 95% of your titles to display properly

                      Hope this helps.

                      Thanks

                      teconsite 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                      • 1 / 1
                      • First post
                        Last post

                      Got a burning SEO question?

                      Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                      Start my free trial


                      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.

                      • See all categories

                      Related Questions

                      • Choice

                        How does Google handle fractions in titles?

                        Which is better practice, using 1/2" or ½"? The keyword research suggests people search for "1 2" with the space being the "/". How does Google handle fractions? Would ½ be the same as 1/2?

                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Choice
                        2
                      • Fubra

                        Sitemaps: Best Practice

                        What should and what shouldn't go in the sitemap? In particular, pages like subscribe to our newsletter/ unsubscribe to our newsletter? Is there really any benefit in highlighting those pages to the SEs? Thanks for any advice/ anecdotes 🙂

                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Fubra
                        0
                      • Imagination

                        Proper Title Tags for ecommerce

                        In terms of E-commerce title tags. We are a manufacturer of our own clothing products. We are new to the SEO landscape so if this question is an obvious answer, then i apologize for wasting any one times in advance. We Manufacture our own clothing. Each item has a name. The names are American womens names such as amanda or lori or jenniffer etc. When we create the title tag for them should we include the name of the item itself at the beginning or end.  For example should it be Item Name - Keyword - Keyword - Brand Name(aka manufacturer) or Keyword - Keyword - Item Name - Brand Name (aka manufacturer) The reason we ask this is because we think it would be a waste to rank for actual American names such as Jennifer and Jessica. All that we have read on Moz suggests that it seems to be better to have pertinent keywords in the beginning of the title as opposed to the end. In terms of our brand name we already rank number 1 for every combination of our brand. So we would like to start picking up traffic for the different product types we sell and there respective synonyms. Not sure if i am making any sense. Sorry in advance, and any help is very very much appreciated.

                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Imagination
                        0
                      • Atomicx

                        Yoast seo title question

                        I was referred to this plugin and have found it to be the most irritating and poorly designed plugin in the world. I want to be able to set my titles without it changing my page headers as well. For instance - If I set my title to be "This is my article name | site name" it will make my H1 tag read the same. I do not want or desire this nonsense. Why would they think this is something wise? Why would I want my site name on every single H1 tag on my site? How can I fix this? I only want my title to be my title. I want my H1 tag to remain the post/page name that I define in wordpress.

                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Atomicx
                        0
                      • PeteC12

                        Ecommerce Site homepage , Is it okay to have Links as H2 Tags as that is relevant to the page ?

                        Hi All, I have a Rental site and I am bit confused with how best do my H Tags on my homepage I know the H1 is the most important, Then H2 Tags and so on.. and that these tags should really be titles for content. However, I have a few categories (links) on my homepage so I am wondering if I could put these as H2 Tags given that it is relevant to the page . H3 Tags will my News and Guides etc , H4 Tags will the whats on the footer. I am attached a made up screenshot of what I propose for my homepage  if someone could please  give it a quick look ,  it would be very much appreciated. I have looked at what some competitors do a lot of them don't seem to have h2's etc but I know it's an important factor for rankings etc. Many thanks Pete dJSFQwI

                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | PeteC12
                        0
                      • Hatfish

                        What is the best practice for URLs for E-commerce products in multiple categories?

                        Hello all! I have always worked successfully with SEO on E-commerce sites, however we are currently revamping an older site for a client and so I thought I'd turn to the community to ask what the best practices that you guys are experiencing for url structures at the moment. Obviously we do not wish to create duplicate content and so the big question is, what would you guys do for the very best structure for URLs on an E-commerce site that has products in multiple categories? Let's imagine we are selling toy cars. I have a sports car for sale, so naturally it can go in the sports cars category and it could also go in to the convertibles category too. What is the best way you have found recently that works and increases rankings, but does not create duplicate content? Thanks in advance! 🙂 Kind Regards, JDM

                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Hatfish
                        0
                      • RG_SEO

                        Best practice for retiring old product pages

                        We’re a software company. Would someone be able to help me with a basic process for retiring old product pages and re-directing the SEO value to new pages. We are retiring some old products to focus on new products. The new software has much similar functionality to the old software, but has more features. How can we ensure that the new pages get the best start in life? Also, what is the best way of doing this for users? Our plan currently is to: Leave the old pages up initially with a message to the user that the old software has been retired. There will also be a message explaining that the user might be interested in one of our new products and a link to the new pages. When traffic to these pages reduces, then we will delete these pages and re-direct them to the homepage. Has anyone got any recommendations for how we could approach this differently? One idea that I’m considering is to immediately re-direct the old product pages to the new pages. I was wondering if we could then provide a message to the user explaining that the old product has been retired but that the new improved product is available. I’d also be interested in pointing the re-directs to the new product pages that are most relevant rather than the homepage, so that they get the value of the old links. I’ve found in the past that old retirement pages for products can outrank the new pages as until you 301 them then all the links and authority flow to these pages. Any help would be very much appreciated 🙂

                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | RG_SEO
                        0
                      • underscorelive

                        What is the best URL structure for categories?

                        A client's site currently uses the URL structure: www.website.com/�tegory%/%postname% Which I think is optimised fairly well, as the categories are keywords being targeted.  However, as they are using a category hierarchy, often times the URL looks like this: www.website.com/parent-category/child-category/some-post-titles-are-quite-long-as-they-are-long-tail-terms Best practise often dictates (such as point 3 in this Moz article) that shorter URLs are better for several reasons. So I'm left with a few options: Remove the category from the URL Flatten the category hierarchy Shorten post titles two a word or two - which would hurt my long tail search term traffic. Leave it as it is What do we think is the best route to take? Thanks in advance!

                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | underscorelive
                        0

                      Get started with Moz Pro!

                      Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                      Start my free trial
                      Products
                      • Moz Pro
                      • Moz Local
                      • Moz API
                      • Moz Data
                      • STAT
                      • Product Updates
                      Moz Solutions
                      • SMB Solutions
                      • Agency Solutions
                      • Enterprise Solutions
                      Free SEO Tools
                      • Domain Authority Checker
                      • Link Explorer
                      • Keyword Explorer
                      • Competitive Research
                      • Brand Authority Checker
                      • Local Citation Checker
                      • MozBar Extension
                      • MozCast
                      Resources
                      • Blog
                      • SEO Learning Center
                      • Help Hub
                      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                      • How-to Guides
                      • Moz Academy
                      • API Docs
                      About Moz
                      • About
                      • Team
                      • Careers
                      • Contact
                      Why Moz
                      • Case Studies
                      • Testimonials
                      Get Involved
                      • Become an Affiliate
                      • MozCon
                      • Webinars
                      • Practical Marketer Series
                      • MozPod
                      Connect with us

                      Contact the Help team

                      Join our newsletter
                      Moz logo
                      © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                      • Accessibility
                      • Terms of Use
                      • Privacy

                      Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.