Keyword and Branded Title Tags Site Wide

[culturefoundry]

I have a client who is using a structure like this for site wide title tags:

Page specific keyword | Brand Name | Industry specific keyword + locations

So in an example it'd look like:

Drupal Development | BrandName | Web Services for Los Angeles, San Fransisco, New York

I've researched this structure pretty thoroughly to be able to make a case for or against doing this site wide.
However, I've received many mixed signals on many things. My questions are as follows:

1. Should brand name be last in this structure? Does it matter? The length of this is obviously causing truncated Title in search results, so which is more useful?
2. Is using a keyword intended for site ranking like "Web Services", "Digital Agency", "SEO Specialist" useful for every page to have or damaging? Is this cannibalizing that keyword?
3. Is having multiple locations on every page title helping, hurting, or neutral

It seems like all these things could go either way to me, but I don't want to tell them one way or another without having some more detailed explanations to give them.

Thanks for your help!

[culturefoundry]

Thanks so much! This is very helpful

[Nozzle]

First, the correct answer for each page is to test different title tags over time to see which version gives you the best rankings for a handful of phrases that are mapped to that page along with the best click through rate.

Second, don't be scared of testing longer title tags. Google still reads everything after the ellipsis.

Third, I'm a fan of putting more keywords in a title tag wherever possible (or at least testing it). So for example, on a page that talks about drupal development services, I would test a title tag like, "Experienced Drupal Developers - Drupal Development Company & Services for Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York - Brand Name".

Now to answer your questions specifically:

1. Should brand name be last in this structure? Does it matter? The length of this is obviously causing truncated Title in search results, so which is more useful?

• I always push to put brand name last because it doesn't help rankings or CTR (in most cases) to list it earlier. If a client is adamant about it, then I let them have their way.

3. Is using a keyword intended for site ranking like "Web Services", "Digital Agency", "SEO Specialist" useful for every page to have or damaging? Is this cannibalizing that keyword?

• I believe it is a waste of precious title tag space to include these words on all pages because there is only one page you are trying to rank for "Web Services", for example. It's better to include more focused keywords that are relevant to that specific page in the title tag than these generic terms. In my example title tag above, that page is now going to rank better for all of the following keywords:

• drupal developers

• drupal developer

• experienced drupal developers

• experienced drupal developer

• drupal development

• drupal development company

• drupal development services

• experienced drupal development

• experienced drupal development company

• experienced drupal development services

• and all these phrases with those city names attached as well

5. Is having multiple locations on every page title helping, hurting, or neutral

• It's probably neutral. I would suggest testing with and without them and monitor your rankings for the local terms to see if it makes a difference. Typically if it's only 1-3 locations, I don't have a problem throwing them in at the end to where they won't even be seen by a human because it'll be truncated. But again, test, test, test.