Title Tag as: 'Site Name: Meta Title' on Google Serps

Have you viewed source and checked what's in your title element?

FireFox/Chrome: Right Click on the page >> View Page Source

Look for the title element, what's in it?

Looking for something like this:

Also check you don't have double title elements, if you are using Yoast (which is rubbish SEO wise BTW) for the title tags and your theme generates it's own title tags you could have two sets.

Google won't always use the title tag you set.

Searching Google for "Stallion Responsive" and the page I copied the above title element code from is number 1 in Google SERP title:

Stallion Responsive Theme - SEO Dave

Google isn't using the title tag for this SERP, using other metrics for the first part and the SEO Dave part because I've wrote probably a couple of thousand comment on that site and use the author name SEO Dave and it links back to home:

So Google considers the domain branded to my SEO nickname (I wanted this outcome). I only have one page on the site with SEO Dave as part of the title tag, it's the internal links to home from comments that results in the above (there's more internal links back to home using SEO Dave than any other phrase).

Search Google for "Best WordPress SEO Package" the same page is around 8th in Google, this time with Google SERP title-

Best WordPress SEO Package - SEO Dave

With this search it's using the title tag and site name because it better matches the search used to find the page. This is great for us, someone searching for Stallion Responsive is less likely to click on my page is the title is Best WordPress SEO Package, but the name of my theme isn't a big SERP, more traffic to Best WordPress SEO Package and derivative SERPs (I get the Stallion Responsive SERP for free, didn't use valuable title tag space for that SERP).

You can control this to some degree (as I do), by varying internal anchor text. Check "SEO Tutorial" (about 11th in Google) and "SEO Tutorial 2014" (about 7th in Google) and you'll find my main SEO tutorial page for both SERPs.

Got the above as an SEO feature in the theme I develop, anchor text of internal links vary to generate the above sorts of SERPs. Pretty cool when you get it right.

A quick way to check your actual title element content is a site: search

https://www.google.com/search?q=XYZ#...nsive-theme%2F

Though will use your sites brand name at the end even if you haven't added it to the title.

Don't understand why anyone would add the site name to their title tags today when you can manipulate Google so easily to show the title of your choice without having to use valuable title tag real estate.

David