Titles - Should they be short or long and descriptiive with keywords?

[tiffany1103]

I just asked a question about ALT tags and then this got me to wondering....I have 300 products, so coming up with titles is not the easiest at times.  Some have my keywords and some do not.  Should they all have my keywords, despite making the title and the URL longer? It seems like you would want the keyword in the title, but then again the category itself it long. Here is an example:

www.site.com/sea-glass-jewelry/by-the-sea (not too long)

www.site.com/sea-glass-jewelry/blue-sea-glass-necklace (longer...I have some even longer than this)

Thoughts?

[OlegKorneitchouk]

Longer with more keyword for sure.

Title is important for rankings so definitely include keywords describing the product with search terms.

edit: to defend my point, look at the titles of the largest ecommerce sites like amazon, walmart, overstock - they have the product title which contains many relevant terms.

[eyepaq]

I would say: shorter and with at least the main keyword din the title tag. Plus the keyword should be as close as possible to the beginning of the Title (as long as it sounds natural).

Cheers.

[Bryan_Loconto]

I agree eyepaq.

Keep the title tags:

1. Relevant/Targeted to the page (targeted kw/phrase as close to the beginning as possible)

2. Dense. Don't exceed the recommended pixel length. This tool from Pete Myers always comes in handy. You don't want to truncate your title in the SERP

3. Natural/Readable to the users

[Everett]

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[Bryan_Loconto]

Hey Everett! Are your choices for a Title or Description?

[Everett]

A Title. But I was confused because he started off with alt tags, then moved to titles, but now I just noticed the reference to URL slugs.

In terms of URLs, just go with the product name. In terms of the title, you can go with the product name, followed by your brand, but it's best to customize each one as much as possible for the user. As for alt tags, describe the image. This is where you could use "Blue Sea Glass Necklace" even if it isn't the product title since it accurately describes the image.

You can also put blue sea glass necklace in the description and on-page content. But if the title of the product is "By The Sea" then that should be in the title tag and URL, or else every "blue sea glass necklace" is going to end up with the same title and similar URLs, assuming you have more than necklace made of blue sea glass.