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Regular Title Tags vs Very Short

by TLondon
11 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hey warriors!

Another quick question, since I can't find any definite answer to these questions. Even SeoMoz and similar sites don't cover this (weird).

Any benefit to having your title tag shorter than the standard 70 characters? For example, the length of the KW is 30 chars; would it benefit the page to leave just that one KW of 30 chars in the title, or would it benefit the page more if I include an additional 40 chars possibly hitting another KW?

I'm aware that old school SEO would say hit as many KWs as possible, but in July 2014 - what's the rule? First KW is my primary concern, everything else is just a perk. If I can rank better my 30 chars primary KW when not including anything else in the title tag, I'd rather omit the rest of the 40 chars and just stick with 30 chars.

Same question applies to the slug in the URL. Anybody knows for sure, or at least have seen proof themselves?

Thanks guys!
#regular #short #tags #title
  • Profile picture of the author seopratyush
    Optimizing your Title tags in order to cover up your keywords is really a heck of task. What I believe is you can have more than 70 chars in title if you think you misses some of your important keywords. However, Google CUTS that in search result but I have experienced it and it helps if you no other URL to target.

    Here is a detailed Title tag update - New Title Tag Guidelines & Preview Tool - Moz
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Keep the <title> short, compact & focused.

    Repeat with one <h1> tag & a few <h2> tags (If needed). The <h> tags act as alternative page titles.

    Breakdown:
    • <title> = (best short page title)
    • <h1> = (2nd best short page title)
    • <h2> = (3rd best short page title)
    • <h2> = (4th best short page title)
    • <h2> = (5th best short page title)
    • etc...

    Make the <h> tags reference additional internal pages/titles that target the same subject (relevancy).
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    • Profile picture of the author chris_87
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      Make the <h> tags reference additional internal pages/titles that target the same subject (relevancy).
      When you say make the <h> tags reference additional internal pages that target the same subject, are you talking about link proximity + internal linking?

      For example
      <title> Plumbers in Phoenix Arizona </title>
      <h1> 24 hour plumber service calls Phoenix Arizona</h1>
      We are open 24 hours a day for your plumbing needs in Phoenix and we are only a <ahref>call away</ahref> (linking to an internal page about 24 hour service calls in Phoenix)

      Is that what you had in mind or am I misinterpreting what you are suggesting? Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author TLondon
    yukon, thanks man, but I'm already doing that obviously. That wasn't really the question.

    My question is more specific and, I believe, hasn't been covered anywhere online.

    To make it short: 30 chars (1st KW) in the title vs. full 70 chars (1st KW + 2nd KW) in the title. In an identical setup, which one would rank higher if my aim is to rank 1st KW.

    Thank you.
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    • Profile picture of the author johnben1444
      Originally Posted by TLondon View Post

      yukon, thanks man, but I'm already doing that obviously. That wasn't really the question.

      My question is more specific and, I believe, hasn't been covered anywhere online.

      To make it short: 30 chars (1st KW) in the title vs. full 70 chars (1st KW + 2nd KW) in the title. In an identical setup, which one would rank higher if my aim is to rank 1st KW.

      Thank you.
      Both should do well so long as you optimize other facet like the description, keyword tag and body. A lot of times i have more than one keyword in my website title and the perform very well in the SERP.
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by TLondon View Post

      yukon, thanks man, but I'm already doing that obviously. That wasn't really the question.

      My question is more specific and, I believe, hasn't been covered anywhere online.

      To make it short: 30 chars (1st KW) in the title vs. full 70 chars (1st KW + 2nd KW) in the title. In an identical setup, which one would rank higher if my aim is to rank 1st KW.

      Thank you.
      You can go past the full 70 characters, Google will keep reading text past what is shown in Google SERP titles.

      Here's an example, this site/page has a long page title, If I look at the HTML source code & grab the last part of the <title>, Google still returns the same page but the SERP title changes, it's not the exact same as the <title> text. Google is still reading the text.

      HTML Code:
      <title>Wisconsin DMV Official Government Site - Getting a titles and license plates </title>

      Here's the original page title:
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      • Profile picture of the author raiko
        Here's the original page title:
        Google should penalize them for their poor use of the English language.
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        • Profile picture of the author yukon
          Banned
          Originally Posted by raiko View Post

          Google should penalize them for their poor use of the English language.
          Thankfully Google doesn't comprehend sentence structure yet or we would all be screwed, lol.

          SEO in 2050 might include hiring proofreaders.
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  • Profile picture of the author a2hosting
    I've always put the most important keywords first (as you are doing), but I also focus on the fact that Google will weigh each keyword equally. My advice is to use less keywords when possible, but also place differentiators or any items that will stick out from the pack a bit in the results. I guess my vote is for the 30 character option.
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  • Profile picture of the author Laubster
    No reason it would "benefit" from being shorter. You'll get more traffic if you put Keywords in the title, and may get a tiny bit of Google love with your Brand name, but less is not more in this case.
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  • Profile picture of the author SEO Power
    Both lengths of titles would rank well if used. I always aim to make my titles as descriptive as possible to my potential visitors, so if requires hitting the 70 chars limit, I would as long as it's descriptive enough. Besides, whenever you use a short title for your articles, you run the risk of making Google rewrite your titles for you, which will likely turn out to be dissatisfying.

    Therefore, use long titles and make them as descriptive as possible.
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