Title Tag: Phrases vs. Keywords Separated by "|"

[BobGW]

Hello,

One of my client's old sites has all category titles of the form (for example)

running shoes | running shoe | walking shoes | walking shoe

including many that perform well with over 60 characters.

I'm in the process of rewriting the titles into something like

Running and Walking Shoes, A quality shoe at OurShoes.com

The reason I'm rewriting them is for future google penalties, and to look better to possible guest post opportunities. Also to look better in the SERPS

But the old style is performing very well.

What are the real pros and cons of each?

Thanks.

[RyanKent]

There are a lot of variables to consider Bob. A few are:

• the page's content

• the site's internal links to the page

• the site's external links to the page

• the site's ranking and traffic for each term

All things being equal, if you had a title tag of "running shoes" you will likely perform noticeably better for the term "running shoes" then with the current title tag, but not as well for the other terms. By targeting 4 keywords the page is not focusing on any one term leaving the page vulnerable to competitors with an optimized page.

If I were in your situation, I would recommend tracking your rankings and traffic on each term, then changing a couple pages, then review the results in both SERPs and analytics. At that point, you can test further tweaks or choose to roll out the change site wide.

I would expect a site named OurShoes.com to have a separate category page for Running Shoes and Walking Shoes.

[Devanur-Rafi]

Hi Bob,

All of us SEOs run into situations like this very often where a client's website though not up to Google's guidelines performs well in the search engines and we as SEOs tend to correct these so called, 'not so Google compliant' elements despite apprehensions from both the client's side and our side about these changes being made.

Personally, I always stick to what's going to be a winner in the long run and go ahead and implement it. At times, we might need to educate our clients about the purpose behind these changes. We have to make it very clear that, just because something is working out really well does not mean it will do so forever and it takes just another update from Google with some black and white animal name to make the website vanish overnight from the SERPs.

Believe me my friend, I did a lot of practical research with live domains that I maintain which are dedicated just for the search engine tolerance level tests and learned the above. Whenever I train someone in SEO, I always urge them to stick to the best practices and they can reap the fruits from search engines. Going or taking the other route might give you or your client some temporary gains but in the long run, this will not only destroy the rankings of your website but also leave a big dent to your reputation.

Always remember, a happy customer might fetch you one or two new customers but an unhappy customer can sometimes cause irreparable damage.

Let me cut the crap and conclude by saying, please have those titles re-written in a descriptive way and so enticing that they literally force the visitors click through the listing in the SERPs. If possible, include a call to action in the description. And always remember to push the brand towards the end of the title and let the primary keyword /phrase be at the beginning. Also never include multiple keywords/ phrases in the title tag as this will leave the search engines confused. Ideally wherever or whenever possible, optimize a page for only one keyword/ phrase

The above is based on my experience and please do consider the other valuable suggestions that our friends write in here.

Good luck my friend.

Best regards,

Devanur Rafi.

[BobGW]

Both responses bring up another good discussion point. When is it best to incorporate branding into the title if it is already performing well?

Also, it seems that titles a little longer than 60 characters work well sometimes in the SERPs even if the term is partially cut off. Is it just that that last term is diluted with the long title?

[Devanur-Rafi]

Hi Bob,

If you are new and trying to build the brand online, you can include the brand at the beginning of the title along with doing some value based link building with branded anchors. So this would be your brand building phase and then comes your ranking phase for certain keywords/ phrases. This is when you push your brand name to the end of the title and this can be beyond the 65 character limit. Google strips the text after this limit in the SERPs but this does not mean that Google cannot read or will not consider text beyond this limit for ranking. So, I always say, try to include the essence or vital SEO info in the first 65 characters but come up with good titles that read natural and at the same time very enticing.

Best regards,

Devanur Rafi.

[Martin_Harris]

I'm a fan of piping, from personal experience CTR have been higher from dashes or commas.  Which one is best, well according to Matt Cutts it's neither:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2_7PTio3Qc

As he suggest,  it's trial and error. See what works best for you.

In terms of keywords, i'd try and keep it to two keyword phrases, use Wordtracker or Google's keyword tool to see what is getting the most traffic and split between.

Remember the value of each keyword is diluted the longer the meta title gets, as Ryan Kent suggest, focus on one or two, depending on if you want branding in the Meta title.

My rule of thumb is:

Just keywords:

"Keyword phrase 1" | "Keyword Phrase  2"

Keywords and Brand:

"Keyword phrase 1" | "Brand Name"

Hope this helps

[BobGW]

Ryan, do you agree with the "piping" that MartinEvolveRetail recommended below? You're one of the best SEOs I know of, you would know.

[RyanKent]

Approaches vary widely based on the client, site and SEO involved. I agree with the logic Martin applies, although there are other ideas as well. Of course, that response is likely not helpful so I will share the approach I prefer.

When working with a new site, I first determine what is the goal of the page. While you wish to attract search engine traffic, you also wish to present your brand in a specific manner as well. For example, Wikipedia style writing is very effective, but it is also mechanical and does not necessarily scale to ecommerce sites.

The typical approach I prefer is to take an all out "I want tot rank #1 for this keyword" stance. The title I would choose is "Running Shoes" and I fully optimize the page. I would ensure internal linking is solid, work to earn external links, and watch the SERPs for 30 days. Next, I may make some tweaks to the page and watch SERPs for another 30 days. At this point, the rankings are likely as good as they will get without earning more links to the page.

Now you can ask yourself, how can I make changes to improve CTR or branding without losing any ranking positions. Here is when you can try adding the pipe and your brand, or an alternate keyword, etc. I still would not create a single page for Running Shoes and Walking Shoes. Running is higher impact and a different audience.

[BobGW]

Thanks Ryan, very clear. I learned to look at the page and the goals of the page, and with a new site to start with one keyword, etc. Wow. very nice thank you