Struggling with My Title Tag...
-
I have read so many articles that stress the importance of the Title tag but I am having a hard time really finding good advice on what we should do. Everywhere I read stresses the importance of short title tags due to Google's display limitations but also the importance of including important keywords in our title - talk about a catch 22. Our Law Firm is "Brock & Stout Attorneys at Law" and we have 3 primary services: Bankruptcy, Social Security Disability, Personal Injury. We have 6 office locations all around Alabama.
Our website is: http://www.brockandstout.com/
The current title is: "Alabama Bankruptcy Attorneys | Social Security Disability | Personal Injury | Brock & Stout Attorneys at Law" - 108 characters (well over the 70 recommended characters, but does contain our Brand, and Services)
Is this a good title for SEO purposes? Should we consider making a change? We are ranking "ok" for certain locations and then barely at all for others. I know the title tag is just one of a million factors but I would love some advice/opinions from those who know much more than I. Thanks for any input you may have.
-
Thank you all for this valuable feedback. I will try some of these variations to see what yields more favorable results. Thanks again!
-
Hey Matthew,
Some really nice feedback from the community so far on this. I think you may be trying to get too much into a single title tag, and your other pages will need to step up to fully cover all these terms. I would suggest, as this is your homepage, that you put your brand first in the title tag. Maybe more like:
Brock & Stout Attorneys at Law: Alabama Bankruptcy, Personal Injury & Disability Lawyers
That's 89 by my count, so some engines may truncate but it does remove repetition and shorten to some degree and gives you 'lawyers' which is missing from your current title.
Or, maybe you go shorter, selecting out just 2 of the most important services you offer:
Brock & Stout Attorneys at Law: Alabama Bankruptcy & Personal Injury Lawyers
That's 77, so again closer to your desired 70.
I recommend reading this Dr. Pete article from last year to help you keep playing this this: https://moz.com/blog/new-title-tag-guidelines-preview-tool
I further recommend that you view each change as a test. Make the change and see how it performs for you. Finding that sweet spot may require some months of experimentation.
-
Matthew
Title tags are very important and often it can take some time to get them right. Everyone above gives great advice. A issue with your Title tag is it is simply too long. On short Title tags I assume you are talking within the 512 pixel limit before the title age often truncates.
H1 tags I believe should also be considered at the time of finalizing your Title tag.
It is a delicate balancing act.
Current: Alabama Bankruptcy Attorneys | Social Security Disability | Personal Injury | Brock & Stout Attorneys at Law.
I have not done any keyword research but it is best to target a "area of law" each page. ie Page 1 could be Bankruptcy Attorneys | Alabama | Brock & Stout (I would not start with Alabama) with a H1 Bankruptcy Lawyers Alabama. Page 2 Personal Injury Lawyers | Accident Experts | Brock & Stout - H1 Personal Injury Attorneys Alabama. Alternative google often does not include the brand in a Title on prime keywords so you vary your Title to not include brand.
You need to test it, see how you go. make decisions off hard data, ie WMT's/GA on impact rather than gut feel.
Hope that assists.
-
When I create Title tag I usually target one or maximum two keywords that are available on the page. If you have 3 major services why not create dedicated page for each service and target one keyword per page.
This way you will be able to create title tags more specifically instead of general titles and title will relate to the content of the page accordingly.
In my opinion, title tags that are more targeted to the page works well.
Hope this helps!
-
HI Matthew,
I referred to this post by Rand about how to structure a title tag many times. Title Tag
It maybe a little difficult to get all you main keywords on your homepage, but you can certainly create content pages that will hopefully pick up the additional keywords.
Hope it helps you too,
Don
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
-
How to use canonical tags/hreflang for a company in multiple English-speaking countries?
My company is a global company with locations in AU, UK, and USA. Each has their own website. For example, we have https://www.catskill.us (for the USA), a https://www.catskill.com.au (for the AU), and https://www.catskill.co.uk (for the UK). I have used both canonical tags and hreflang tags for our USA website to distinguish any duplicate content from our AU and UK websites. I am wondering if I used the canonical tags and hreflang tags appropriatley in the below example for our USA website. Is it the best way to avoid link value loss? | |
Local Website Optimization | | joseph.defranco
| | |
| | |
| | |0 -
Page Title Local SEO - 2 places
Hello guys, I am from azores are 9 islands in portugal. I live in São Jorge is one island. My question is. If one person seach by Azores Canyoning or São Jorge Canyoning. Because Azores is one region and São Jorge is one island inside Azores. And i want have this two exact keywords in title page. Canyoning is a service. Azores Canyoning - São Jorge Canyoning | Brand Name what is best way to write this title? Or is not good?
Local Website Optimization | | Flaske0 -
Hreflang errors "no return tag" sitemap.xml , and local search landing page with wrong Languages
Really need help , our website when search in google(US) will provide global page (keyword:asus/asus zenfone3). and search console also return "no return tags"another wear thing is when use googlebot crawl sitemap.xml googlebot cannot finish the file less than a quarterCan you please advise on what needs to be edited or changed to make sure my implementation is correct and not returning errors?
Local Website Optimization | | June01270 -
URL and title strategy for multiple location pages in the same city
Hi, I have a customer which opens additional branches in cities where he had until now only one branch. My question is: Once we open new store pages, what is the best strategy for the local store pages in terms of URL and title?
Local Website Optimization | | OrendaLtd
So far I've seen some different strategies for URL structure:
Some use [URL]/locations/cityname-1/2/3 etc.
while others use [URL]/locations/cityname-zip code/
I've even seen [URL]/locations/street address-cityname (that's what Starbucks do) There are also different strategies for the title of the branch page.
Some use [city name] [state] [zip code] | [Company name]
Other use [Full address] | [Company name]
Or [City name] [US state] [1/2/3] | [Company name]
Or [City name] [District / Neighborhood] [Zip Code] | [Company name] What is the preferred strategy for getting the best results? On the one hand, I wish differentiate the store pages from one another and gain as much local coverage as possible; on the other hand, I wish to create consistency and establish a long term strategy, taking into consideration that many more branches will be opened in the near future.1 -
Should I use pipe in title tags for local seo?
Hi, I've created a bunch of landing pages for local areas, reading, windsor, slough etc for the title tag I have for Windsor Emergency Electrician Windsor - BrandName should I be using a pipe in the tag to further help search engines learn/identify the location? Emergency Electrician | Windsor - BrandName Thank you Kev
Local Website Optimization | | otex1 -
Canonical for blog tag or search site
Dear all, I have problem with duplicate content on my site and crawled by seomoz as "duplicate content", might be i am not clear enough about how to put "canoncial" but the problem is with my site mostly on blog or tags or categories, so some link that actually different tags ....come with same result..so like: http://www.livingwordfreelutheran.org/news-events/blog/tag/ Gymnastics and http://www.livingwordfreelutheran.org/news-events/blog/tag/ God's Power It will show same result..the problem is,all are dynamic... and what i should put the canonical for that page? Both of link use same page or controller? If i put the canonical itself on each result it will be fix it? Or how? …and also I confusing how I put it also on search result? Like ?query=keywords that show same result? How I put canonical on there? Sorry if this duplicate question... I very very appreciate for the help…thank you! Best regards,
Local Website Optimization | | lwflc
Harrison0 -
Is it okay for my H3 Tag to appear above my H2 Tag on the Web Page
Hello All, I am currently doing my H1 ,H2, H3 Tags on my redesigned website We have the ability to have links to relevant DIY Guides on the bottom of our webpage and these are currently displayed under a heading "DIY Useful Guides" above my on page content which is at the bottom of the page. My H2 Tag will obviously be the title that sits above my On Page Content at the bottom of the Webpage and I was going to do the H3 Tag for my DIY Guides Is it a problem if the H3 tag sits above the H2 Tag on the Page or not ? Or have i got this wrong and I need to move the DIY Guides (links) to below the on page content so the H3 tag sits below the H2 tag? thanks Pete OTmPbbR
Local Website Optimization | | PeteC120 -
City in title tag hurt Local Search?
Big city A is the target optimization for services. Suburb city B is the location of the business. Will having big city A in the title tag of pages confuse the NAP consistency and local SEO for the site?
Local Website Optimization | | LyntonWeb0