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Frequently changing title and its effects on ranking

by Rehmat
13 replies
  • SEO
    • |
It seems that several good people aren't much active since Warrior Forum has been acquired by Freelancer but I'm asking this question hoping that the "GURUS" are still there to help me like before . Getting back to my question, I have a site where the title of each page is changed each time I make any update to the page. i.e. its an apps market where new version is updated in title every time I post a newer version.

My question is, is this bad for my site's health in Google to keep modifying the title? Please be clear that main target keywords remain there, just the version number is updated. Please let me know if this frequent change has any negative impacts. If Google doesn't love frequent modifications to titles of pages (with minor changes to inner page content), I will make the title static. Any expert help would be greatly appreciated.
#changing #effects #frequently #ranking #title
  • Profile picture of the author TrafficFlow
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    • Profile picture of the author DABK
      If your title is something like

      Best Dallas mortgage broker

      And you change it to

      Awesome Dallas mortgage broker
      The best Dallas mortgage broker
      Dallas mortgage broker does great reverse mortgages
      Dallas mortgage broker for FHA loans

      no impact.

      If you change it from
      Dallas mortgage broker
      to
      Texas home loan originator
      Chicago mortgage broker
      FHA loans in Dallas
      you're trying to rank for a different keyword every time you change, so, yes, you're making your life hard(er).

      Keep in mind that even if you keep the keyword the same, Google might demote you... You probably won't go from #3 to $373, but you could go from #3 to #6 ... which cuts by more than half the number of visitors you get from the keyword or to #11.

      Worst case scenario: Google does a new, in-depth analysis and concludes it's former analysis was not quite right (it takes into account not only the page but the other pages). The in-depth analysis my trigger a thin content penalty, or some other things Google's algo's didn't catch the first time they did an in-depth analysis.

      (Caveat: I call it in-depth analysis... it might be something different... but the result, from my experience, is the same... I used to have a site with a 2 PR home page... I changed the title and a couple of words (2 years after I built the site), first and only change in 23 months... I got a thin content penalty...

      On another site, I got moved from #3 to #11... Obviously, I'm not Google, so I'm just guessing that the down movement was due to my change of title... But Google might have been acting to something my competitors did (like Google found a bunch of backlinks they created).
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      • Profile picture of the author Rehmat
        Originally Posted by DABK View Post

        If your title is something like

        Best Dallas mortgage broker

        And you change it to

        Awesome Dallas mortgage broker
        The best Dallas mortgage broker
        Dallas mortgage broker does great reverse mortgages
        Dallas mortgage broker for FHA loans

        no impact.

        If you change it from
        Dallas mortgage broker
        to
        Texas home loan originator
        Chicago mortgage broker
        FHA loans in Dallas
        you're trying to rank for a different keyword every time you change, so, yes, you're making your life hard(er).

        Keep in mind that even if you keep the keyword the same, Google might demote you... You probably won't go from #3 to $373, but you could go from #3 to #6 ... which cuts by more than half the number of visitors you get from the keyword or to #11.

        Worst case scenario: Google does a new, in-depth analysis and concludes it's former analysis was not quite right (it takes into account not only the page but the other pages). The in-depth analysis my trigger a thin content penalty, or some other things Google's algo's didn't catch the first time they did an in-depth analysis.

        (Caveat: I call it in-depth analysis... it might be something different... but the result, from my experience, is the same... I used to have a site with a 2 PR home page... I changed the title and a couple of words (2 years after I built the site), first and only change in 23 months... I got a thin content penalty...

        On another site, I got moved from #3 to #11... Obviously, I'm not Google, so I'm just guessing that the down movement was due to my change of title... But Google might have been acting to something my competitors did (like Google found a bunch of backlinks they created).
        Thank you for the clarification and for sharing your experience. I'll wait for the results now. If same thing happens with me too, then I'll remove the changing part from title and will make it static. Thanks again!
        P.S.: Main keyword isn't changing in my title
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        • Profile picture of the author DABK
          Why do you change the title? I see no advantage.

          Originally Posted by Rehmat View Post

          Thank you for the clarification and for sharing your experience. I'll wait for the results now. If same thing happens with me too, then I'll remove the changing part from title and will make it static. Thanks again!
          P.S.: Main keyword isn't changing in my title
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  • Profile picture of the author richasharma
    Changing site title instantly then it's effect site ranking but after read your description you need to change the site title. But you need to take care for site content and SEO part too...
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  • Profile picture of the author designandplace
    I have been changing my site title lately as I found a new keyword to target.

    I see no problem with this as long as you are doing it for a valid reason. If a title looks natural then there is no penalty, only when you stuff it with kw.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jeff Schuman
      I do not change the title and I update pages regularly, especially now that I am going back and making pages and posts I want to rank for 1000-2000 words.

      If I have a new keyword I want to target I just create a new post which gives me more total words Google can spider. More words means more rankings beyond just the targeted keyword phrase as well.
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      • Profile picture of the author Rehmat
        Originally Posted by DABK View Post

        Why do you change the title? I see no advantage.
        My sites is a software distribution one where the version is updated on regular basic. So I just update the same page without creating a new one each time. In title, I update the version whenever a new one is released.
        Originally Posted by designandplace View Post

        I have been changing my site title lately as I found a new keyword to target.

        I see no problem with this as long as you are doing it for a valid reason. If a title looks natural then there is no penalty, only when you stuff it with kw.
        Thanks, I hope Google doesn't consider my title as keyword stuffed

        Originally Posted by Jeff Schuman View Post

        I do not change the title and I update pages regularly, especially now that I am going back and making pages and posts I want to rank for 1000-2000 words.

        If I have a new keyword I want to target I just create a new post which gives me more total words Google can spider. More words means more rankings beyond just the targeted keyword phrase as well.
        Thanks for sharing your results Jeff. In my case, my main keyword remains the same. To get some more views, I show the version number (as it is a software site) in title and the version is updated in title whenever I update my page with the newer version. I hope this small modification isn't going to put me in trouble.
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        • Profile picture of the author nettiapina
          Originally Posted by Rehmat View Post

          My sites is a software distribution one where the version is updated on regular basic. So I just update the same page without creating a new one each time. In title, I update the version whenever a new one is released.
          I'm not sure why you'd need to update the title. You can't really rely on it to communicate the correct version, because tabbed browsing means that people don't see it and Google might just cache an old version of the page for some time. Just have something like "latest" in there, and update the page contents.
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          Links in signature will not help your SEO. Not on this site, and not on any other forum.
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          What's your excuse?
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  • Profile picture of the author deekay
    Hello Rehmat

    One of the best way to have a consistent ranking is to have a consistent title. There are some consideration though if your titled are just in the same thought. For example you titled "How to bake a cake" then change it to "Easy way to bake a cake or Be a cake master" it does not make much of a difference.

    But if you change it to something very unrelated to the first title, then it really makes a lot of difference.

    Still the best way is to stick the first one to have a consistent rank.

    Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author st0nec0ld
    For me, it'll affect the ranking especially if it is frequently.
    Title and description should be something that best describes your site, and it should be for long term use. So, if you are an online business and just starting out it is better if you can have a title and description that best suits your business. It is just like branding your business, it needs to be consistent.
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  • Profile picture of the author ranksonic
    According to what everyone said I think you've already made the right conclusion. I really don't see a big necessity to update the title so often.
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    • Profile picture of the author dewalds86
      Changing the meta title slightly should give such a big impact.
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      Locksmith Somerset West
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      • Profile picture of the author Rehmat
        Originally Posted by deekay View Post

        Hello Rehmat

        One of the best way to have a consistent ranking is to have a consistent title. There are some consideration though if your titled are just in the same thought. For example you titled "How to bake a cake" then change it to "Easy way to bake a cake or Be a cake master" it does not make much of a difference.

        But if you change it to something very unrelated to the first title, then it really makes a lot of difference.

        Still the best way is to stick the first one to have a consistent rank.

        Thanks
        Thanks for the explanation. My title isn't changed entirely. Its just a small change. Now I'm deciding to keep it consistent.

        Originally Posted by nettiapina View Post

        I'm not sure why you'd need to update the title. You can't really rely on it to communicate the correct version, because tabbed browsing means that people don't see it and Google might just cache an old version of the page for some time. Just have something like "latest" in there, and update the page contents.
        Thanks for the suggestion. In my case, the page is recrawled by Google and it indexes the updated title. The logic behind this modification is to get more traffic as people mostly search by the latest version number. I was unable to decide either I should keep changing the title or make it static and now going to keep it static. Thanks for all your help.
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