Meta Title Tags - Quick question!

[ChrisHolgate]

Hi all,

Our category Meta Title Tags are a little woeful and so I'm in the process of rewriting them.

Let's say you have a product for sale.... some inkjet cartridges for a Canon BJ10V printer for example. In an effort to keep things concise I was thinking that for this category I should have the meta title set simply as:

'Canon BJ10V Inkjet Cartridges' and perhaps our company name after this text (and a pipe delimiter)

This takes us just under 50 characters which is ideal but doesn't include any real keyword variation and will result in the company name being duplicated at the tail of the title tag on 6,000 odd pages.

A large number of my competitors have title tags along the lines of:

'Canon BJ10V Cheap Inkjet Cartridges for Canon BJ-10V Ink Printers'

I understand the reasoning behind this but does the variation of keywords compensate for the fact that the title looks spammy (to both humans and Search Engines).

What would you do? Keep it clean and concise or stuff the title full of keywords. In the event of the former would you include the company name in each title in the knowledge they would be well under 50 characters without?

Thanks for your help.

[BradsDeals]

Honestly, I like your example competitor's tag, and here's why:

• Canon BJ10V
• Canon BJ-10V
• Cheap Inkjet Cartridges
• Canon BJ-10V Ink
• Canon BJ-10V Ink Printers
• Cheap Inkjet Cartridges for Canon BJ-10V Ink Printers

Just look at all those beautiful keywords that look just like something someone would actually type into a search engine to find your product. It's descriptive and gets the job done pretty well. You could probably lose one of the printer names and add your brand, but I don't think it's so spammy as you think.

[ClaytonJ]

Chris

The title tag has significant impact on SEO. Concurrently we believe you should work on your H1's and meta descriptions as well. For us though go hand in hand.  We spread excel sheet them out for large companies.  Very important.

A basic rule of thumb is Keyword | Second Keyword | Brandname.

The title tends to truncate over 512 pixels hence the 50 Character rule you refer to however it is best to try and get close to 512 pixels.  That could be 60 characters. If you go over 512 pixels google often flips the brand name to the front.

The most aesthetically pleasing separator generally is the pipe. Bob is correct on taking the brand name out if possible, but often google includes it, so you will have to monitor how google interprets your title and meta description when implemented. Then change accordingly.

Feel free to ask any questions and hope that helps. .

[Bob_van_Biezen]

You're right to set your priority on keeping them under the limits. I normally use the keyword preview tool from Moz to check this since Google started using pixels instead of characters.

https://moz.com/blog/new-title-tag-guidelines-preview-tool

In your case, I would use one of your longer product names and make a good title with that so the majority of your pages won't cross the line. At least, that's what we do in this situation.

I don't know if a longer title will dilute the effectiveness of each keyword. Interesting question, sounds logical (especially if the title gets cut off) but I never read anything about it. Would love to hear someone else his view on this.

[ChrisHolgate]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your response. My main reason for wanting to keep things below 55 characters is because Moz is currently giving me several thousand warnings for going over this length!

'Google typically displays the first 50-60 characters of a title tag—or as many characters as will fit into a 512-pixel display. If you keep your titles under 55 characters, you can expect at least 95% of your titles to display properly. We recommend that you keep your title to 55 characters or less to ensure that customers see your full title—and to avoid replacement text that may not provide the same incentive to click as a custom-written tag.'

I also wasn't sure as to whether a longer title diluted the effectiveness of each keyword within the title.

[Bob_van_Biezen]

Hi Chris,

I think limiting your title tag to 50 characters is a waste of visibility in the SERP’s. A good meta title (in my eyes) combines the essence of the page, keywords and a clear call to action. In this case I wouldn’t use your company name in the meta title unless you’re an well-known brand or advertising your way to it at the moment.

I think the meta title of your competitor is pretty ok, if you remove “cheap” it would be a good sentence in my eyes and it gives the searcher extra conformation that this cartridge fits it’s printer.

A few things I would keep in mind:

1. What makes your websites stand out? That might be a good addition to the title.
2. What is it people are looking for? Sometimes people want to see a price very quickly, if so, and you’re not the most expansive one you could add this.

I hope this helps!

Best regards,

Bob