Struggling with My Title Tag...

[MattStamant]

I have read so many articles that stress the importance of the Title tag but I am having a hard time really finding good advice on what we should do. Everywhere I read stresses the importance of short title tags due to Google's display limitations but also the importance of including important keywords in our title - talk about a catch 22.  Our Law Firm is "Brock & Stout Attorneys at Law" and we have 3 primary services: Bankruptcy, Social Security Disability, Personal Injury. We have 6 office locations all around Alabama.

Our website is: http://www.brockandstout.com/

The current title is: "Alabama Bankruptcy Attorneys | Social Security Disability | Personal Injury | Brock & Stout Attorneys at Law" - 108 characters (well over the 70 recommended characters, but does contain our Brand, and Services)

Is this a good title for SEO purposes? Should we consider making a change? We are ranking "ok" for certain locations and then barely at all for others. I know the title tag is just one of a million factors but I would love some advice/opinions from those who know much more than I. Thanks for any input you may have.

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[donford]

HI Matthew,

I referred to this post by Rand about how to structure a title tag many times. Title Tag

It maybe a little difficult to get all you main keywords on your homepage, but you can certainly create content pages that will hopefully pick up the additional keywords.

Hope it helps you too,

Don

[MoosaHemani]

When I create Title tag I usually target one or maximum two keywords that are available on the page. If you have 3 major services why not create dedicated page for each service and target one keyword per page.

This way you will be able to create title tags more specifically instead of general titles and title will relate to the content of the page accordingly.

In my opinion, title tags that are more targeted to the page works well.

Hope this helps!

[ClaytonJ]

Matthew

Title tags are very important and often it can take some time to get them right. Everyone above gives great advice. A issue with your Title tag is it is simply too long. On short Title tags I assume you are talking within the 512 pixel limit before the title age often truncates.

H1 tags I believe should also be considered at the time of finalizing your Title tag.

It is a delicate balancing act.

Current: Alabama Bankruptcy Attorneys | Social Security Disability | Personal Injury | Brock & Stout Attorneys at Law.

I have not done any keyword research but it is best to target a "area of law" each page. ie Page 1 could be Bankruptcy Attorneys | Alabama | Brock & Stout (I would not start with Alabama) with a H1 Bankruptcy Lawyers Alabama.  Page 2 Personal Injury Lawyers | Accident Experts | Brock & Stout  - H1 Personal Injury Attorneys Alabama. Alternative google often does not include the brand in a Title on prime keywords so you vary your Title to not include brand.

You need to test it, see how you go. make decisions off hard data, ie WMT's/GA on impact rather than gut feel.

Hope that assists.

[MiriamEllis]

Hey Matthew,

Some really nice feedback from the community so far on this. I think you may be trying to get too much into a single title tag, and your other pages will need to step up to fully cover all these terms. I would suggest, as this is your homepage, that you put your brand first in the title tag. Maybe more like:

Brock & Stout Attorneys at Law: Alabama Bankruptcy, Personal Injury & Disability Lawyers

That's 89 by my count, so some engines may truncate but it does remove repetition and shorten to some degree and gives you 'lawyers' which is missing from your current title.

Or, maybe you go shorter, selecting out just 2 of the most important services you offer:

Brock & Stout Attorneys at Law: Alabama Bankruptcy & Personal Injury Lawyers

That's 77, so again closer to your desired 70.

I recommend reading this Dr. Pete article from last year to help you keep playing this this: https://moz.com/blog/new-title-tag-guidelines-preview-tool

I further recommend that you view each change as a test. Make the change and see how it performs for you. Finding that sweet spot may require some months of experimentation.

[MattStamant]

Thank you all for this valuable feedback. I will try some of these variations to see what yields more favorable results. Thanks again!