Shortened Title in Google Places/Local Results in SERPs
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I've been doing some local SEO lately and noticed something today. When I do a search for "State/town name Cat Toys", I see the title tag of the website in the local results as opposed to the business name.
I'm happy they are showing up above the normal results, but I wonder if having the brand name at the end of the site title impacts clicks. For example:
Site name: New Hampshire Cat Toys and Accessories | Cats R Us
But in the places results the title is cut short because they show the address, so all they see is: New Hampshire Cat Toys and....
Do you think branding is especially important in local results? Or less important? I could hear arguments for both sides. I realize the site URL is shown in green below the title, but it's not the same as having a brand in the title portion. It also looks like some of the competition has just their name show up as opposed to their website title. Is this something I can fix in Google Places, or is something Google does on its own?
Cheers,
Vinnie
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I'd probably value branding if it's clear what the store provides. For example, I'd certainly click on Fred's Pet Store, but I wouldn't necessarily click on Fred's Home Goods, even if they happen to have tons of pet supplies.
Title changes like that are typically something Google does on their own that you can't change. Take a look at the articles below for other recent info (Jan 2012) about Google changing titles and snippets.
For what it's worth, "New Hampshire Cat Toys" isn't showing any local results for me
- SEO by the Sea: How Classification of Page Elements and Search Results May Influence Alternative Titles and Snippets Displayed in Google
- Google Webmaster Blog - 01/12/2012: Better Page Titles in Search Results
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