Google Algorithm change? - Brand name now overwriting title tag?
-
Anyone else noticing this happening? In Google search results, many of my sites are now showing up in the following fashion...
"Site name: page title"
I read a few articles in the past few days that state that Google may be playing with the algo but have not read anything from Google directly.
I should add that I first noticed this on Feb. 21 and have seen it rolling out more and more since. I have only noticed it on a few competitor websites thus far.
Edit:Some links talking about the subject
http://www.seroundtable.com/google-brand-title-appending-16432.html
http://semandseo.blogspot.ca/2013/03/google-brand-title-in-search.html
http://www.designbigger.com/blog/seo/google-rewrites-page-titles-to-push-brand-over-keywords/
-
I am seeing this too, Google flips the order of our brand name and our USP in our homepage title.
"USP - Brand Name"
now becomes
"Brand Name: USP"
-
Why not just put up the link you are talking about so we can see for ourselves?
-
Thanks for the response Francsisco.
I do not think this it the case but will test regardless. I am noticing some competitors who are not stuffing and they are also being hit by this. At the same time, I am seeing a few competitors who are much more likely to be stuffing and they are not being affected.
http://www.seroundtable.com/google-brand-title-appending-16432.html
Rand, where art thou? Help!
-
That used to happen to me. I changed my title tags to see if Google would display them differently on the next crawl. It didn't work. THen I rewrote them again using completely different keywords and then Google displayed it the way I had written it.
My suspicion as to why this happened to me was I used the words car & auto in the title. I also used rates & cost. Maybe Google thought I was over optimizing my titles. Try it out and see if something changes on your title tags.
-
Dana
I read over at searchengineland that Google is testing something. I will try to find the article shortly. Also, it has been noticed by many that this is only affecting websites homepages.
Mat
Google is overriding the title to display as I mentioned above, regardless of how you have it formatted.
And yes, Mathew is the most awesome way to spell our name
-
Hi Mat,
As a matter of habit, we tend to construct our title tags with the configuration you mentioned: Title | Company Name
I just checked our listings as well as many competitors and they are all showing the title tags as normal, and as we've configured them. I'm not seeing anything different right now.
It could be that Google is testing this and may be serving different results from different data centers or to users in certain locations.
Thanks for the heads up though. I'll keep and eye out for anything different and post back here if I see something different.
Dana
-
Not currently seeing it from here. I'll check it from some proxies tomorrow.
-
I am seeing the same thing happening. Check out the seomoz title in the search results. The company name and title tag are getting flipped.
-
Nice to see another Mathew spelling their name the correct way
Are you talking about people structuring their title tags in that way, or Google over-riding the title tag & showing the title in that format in the snippet?
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
-
Keywords in Paragraphs: How much do they matter at Google?
Hi all, Generally we care a lot about keywords at headings, title tags, URL, etc. always. But I wonder how much impact they have being in paragraphs. How much do they matter at paragraphs? Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz0 -
Reviews - Google & Third Party
Hi We have reviews on our product pages & service reviews on Feefo, but how important is it to also drive customers to review your company on Google? I'm guessing we should be doing both, but it proves difficult when you already ask them to review your company through a third party? Any tips moz?
Algorithm Updates | | BeckyKey0 -
Google sidebar advertising dropped
Has anyone noticed how the google sidebar advertising has completely disappeared? They only display top 4 adwords and then remaining on the bottom of each search page. I can't find any info on it or when it actually happened?
Algorithm Updates | | Purplesars110 -
Google search analytics position - how is it worked out
In our Google search analytic s graphs total clicks and impressions appear as a sold line on the graph(ie showing a result for each day) Position only shows as an occasional dot or line - not a continuous result for each day) sometimes there are days with no result for position. How do google get these results
Algorithm Updates | | CostumeD0 -
Google Algorithm change this month - theories ?
Hi Moz fans! If you've not had the chance to check out moz cast go check it out it seems Google has been busy and so much so it broke Moz cast. There has been some discussion on seo round table about the changes and something seems to be going on. I wanted to find out how you guys are all finding it have you had a change in rankings? Any theories on what you think Google is up to? Personally I've seen rather a few of my sites go up in the rankings last week or so. As always look forward to hearing your thoughts and feelings on it Moz.
Algorithm Updates | | GPainter3 -
Google keyword tool
I was quite happy with google keyword tool for basic and accurate searches for keywords. Can anyone suggests a new tool that will give accurate search volume on google ( country specific ) I am not interest in info for adwords, and find a keyword planner tool way out in traffic results, compared to Keyword tool. Is the keyword tool completely gone?
Algorithm Updates | | summer3000 -
Organic Search Result in google
Hello! Actually, I would like to know the major check points which decides the organic search result[Google]. I see many of the sites in first page which are not even having good level of page and domain authority. I am a beginner but i have done all the score card checkpoints and issue free pages 🙂 Some where i dropped on organic search result. Ex Keyword : blikkenslager Targeted page : http://www.nortekk.no/vi-utforer/blikkenslager-15/ Search Engine : Google.no [norsk (nynorsk)] Thank you for your help!
Algorithm Updates | | Webworld_Norway0 -
CTR for Google Rankings
I run a local business, and I'm working on ranking for keyword + city. I currently rank on the first page for just about every keyword I'm working on, but only the top 3 for a little less than half. Because the search volume is so low for each keyword (for most cities Google doesn't have an estimated monthly search volume) the grand total of a few searches a month for each keyword + city combination is where I get my traffic. Although I seem to be getting consistently higher in the rankings, I am curious as to how much more traffic I can expect. I read somewhere that sites that are ranked number one are clicked 50% of the time, number two 20% of the time, number three 15% and from there on it goes down fast. Rank 7 and on is below 1%. Probably around 30% of my keywords are ranked between 7-10 and probably about 20% are ranked 4-6. Are the CTR numbers fairly accurate? I understand that there are a lot of influences on CTR, such as title/description, but generally is that somewhat accurate? If it is, I am missing out on A LOT of traffic. I am pulling about 800 unique visitors a month from Google. If I get in the top 3 for most of my keywords, can I expect significantly more traffic? I ask the question because there are many other things I could be doing with my time to help the business aside from SEO. I don't want to be working constantly on SEO if traffic is only going to increase very little.
Algorithm Updates | | bjenkins240