Should you include domain / brand in Meta Title

[6thirty]

Hello,

I am trying to come up with a strategy for creating meta title information for my eCommerce store. I have read mixed reviews on the examples below. The first includes the company / brand in the meta title and thus is included in SE results. The second does not. Probably not a 'right' answer here so I look forward to answers with rationale... also open to a completely difference strategy all together!

1MR Vortex by BPI Sports - $Company_Name

OR

1MR Vortex by BPI Sports - Pre Workout Supplement

Thanks!

[vivekrathore]

Yes !!!

I recommend using the brand name at the end of a title tag instead, and there are times when this can be a better approach. The differentiating factor is the strength and awareness of the brand in the target market. 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.

Personally I think Brand on titles are good for the following

1. Brand Exposure (User point of view)
2. Reputation Management (Google point of view)

Google also started putting many site's name in the title. I think the reason Google started doing it was to distinguish
many of the same titles in the SERPS. Lots of sites, me included, just put "Build Blue Widgets" in the title and the SERPS looked a bit silly with 5 of the top ten having the same title.

Nowadays, if anybody searches for your brand and you don't have your brand name in your title tag, google ignores your hard coded Title Tag shows Brand name as your title Tag in its serp.

If Google wants to add site names to the title who am I to disagree with them.

P.S - However if you do your seo right and you rank on important keywords, everytime user searches in google and find you and see your brand on the google serp, you are spreading Brand awareness and you are building your brand for Free ! and gradually the user will know that this brand sells this product and then if you are not ranked on top the user will still click on your link. So you are killing two birds with one stone. Free Traffic + Free Brand building...

Happy Selling !

[6thirty]

I came across this:

Nowadays Google includes your brand name automatically to the end of your title tag(if theres enough space), so it doesn't make any sense to include your URL in the title tag or description.

from this link: http://moz.com/community/q/url-domain-used-in-meta-description

Any validity to that?

[DennisSeymour]

A/B testing is always there, but I'm assuming the site is new and doesnt really have much traffic yet, I can't really say specifically answer that. So it's more of a preference as it's normally the one that brings in results for me more often than not. Then I'll test from there with the traffic/rankings/ctr.

Heck, I'll just imitate Zappos first if I need to then test from there. lol

[6thirty]

Dennis,

Thanks for the reply. Is this because you have a/b tested and including was the better option? Or just preference?

[MoosaHemani]

There is no rule book for crafting titles except one and that is to create the titles that encourage users to click on the website plus after reading they get a clue of what they are going find in the website. The idea is to test different titles and see is working for you and your business.

I have experienced website that receives are better click ratio when the brand name was added and for few other websites the CTR goes higher as we remove the brand name from the title.

My advice for you is to test and see what works best for you!!

[DennisSeymour]

This is subjective but yes, I almost always opt to have the company brand in there.