Why is Google rewriting titles with the brandname @ the front followed with a conon " : " i.e. > Brandname: the rest of the title

[Zanox]

Example: https://www.google.nl/search?q=providercheck.nl&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&ei=9xUCUuH6DYPePYHSgKgJ&fp=96e0b845c2047734&q=www.providercheck.nl&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=X&spell=1&ved=0CC4QBSgA

Look @ the first result: www.providercheck.nl

[Martijn_Scheijbeler]

It's probably a signal that they see this site or it's brandname as an authority for the query you did. I've seen it before at some really specific brand searches like this one.

[Chris.Menke]

Wesley,

When Google believes the content of the page fits the query but the title may inhibit click through, it will revise the title (and/or the description) in order to enhance the snippet.  Here's what google has to say:

If we’ve detected that a particular result has one of the above issues with its title, we may try to generate an improved title from anchors, on-page text, or other sources. However, sometimes even pages with well-formulated, concise, descriptive titles will end up with different titles in our search results to better indicate their relevance to the query. There’s a simple reason for this: the title tag as specified by a webmaster is limited to being static, fixed regardless of the query. Once we know the user’s query, we can often find alternative text from a page that better explains why that result is relevant. Using this alternative text as a title helps the user, and it also can help your site. Users are scanning for their query terms or other signs of relevance in the results, and a title that is tailored for the query can increase the chances that they will click through.

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35624?hl=en

[EGOL]

I think that google is overreaching when the modify title tags.

At best they are generalizing and at worst they are stinking up careful marketing or turning an accurate description into spam (title that does not match the content).

They are changing title tags that some people have spent a lot of time writing.

They should pull their nose out of our title tags and get it back into the work of running a search engine.

[Chris.Menke]

Hear, hear!

[KarlBantleman]

I've had the same issue with a few pages of a clients' website. I've also heard that it may be the title that is used in DMOZ.