Lately I’ve received this question a lot:
Why does my Google ranking say: “such and such” when that is not our Title Tag.
No one knows 100% for sure why Google is changing website’s Title Tags, but they are doing it and doing it often. I put together a bunch of good resources that talk about this Title Tag issue:
- Rethinking the Title Tag for 2012 (and beyond)
- Beware! Google is Changing Title Tags at Will
- Watch Out for Long Title Tags – An SEOmoz Case Study
- Google: We Show Better Titles Than Your Title Tags
Quick Suggest to help your Title Tag from not getting re-written by Google:
- Keep them short (under 45 characters, used to suggest 65… now less)
- Make sure your H1 and navigation breadcrumbing supports your Title Tag
- Write them for humans 1st and search engines second
Tell us, are you seeing your Title Tags being re-written? What are your thoughts on this subject? Let us know in the comment section below.
Matt:
I’m not seeing too many instances of my client’s title tags being rewritten. I attribute it to the fact that I’m keeping the titles short (around 60 characters or less) and I’m making them read very natural (i.e. for human consumption).
So I’d say your recommendations are spot on…at least based on my experiences so far anyway.
Travis Van Slooten