If your brand name is the same as your URL should you include it in your homepage title tag?

[EvanC.EGC]

I  have always felt that having your brand name in every title tag though-out your website when your URL is your brand name is a waste. The space your brand name takes up could be used for more valuable non-branded keywords. If your brand name is unique, the URL (and content optimized with your brand name) should be enough to have you rank #1 across the board in search results. Though I beleive this I still think it is valuable placing your brand name in the back of your homepage title tag.

Example: Full Service Advertising Agency | Your Brand Name

Any thoughts why you should or shouldn't do this?

Isn't this useful for branded purposes? Doe this help click-though rate? Don't you want your visitors to know our brand at first glance of search results?

Another argument I had for doing it was if it weren't important, than why does every search site do this?

http://moz.com/

http://searchengineland.com/

http://searchenginewatch.com/

http://www.seroundtable.com/

Thanks for the help!

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Hi,

Brand is very important to Google now, and you need to shout about it as much as you can and it can help with a number of factors, especially now Google has said that Brands will gain dominances in the SERPs for related searches.

Rather than turn this into a huge thread, have a read of this article, which looks at many aspects of what Google is doing to branding now:

http://socialmediatoday.com/georgestevens48/1317336/google-rewriting-page-titles-time-brand

-Andy

[EGOL]

I  have always felt that having your brand name in every title tag though-out your website when your URL is your brand name is a waste.

I agree.

The space your brand name takes up could be used for more valuable non-branded keywords. If your brand name is unique,

I agree.

If your brand name is unique, the URL (and content optimized with your brand name) should be enough to have you rank #1 across the board in search results.

If it doesn't you are in some type of trouble with Google... or you really have a weak site.

Though I beleive this I still think it is valuable placing your brand name in the back of your homepage title tag.

Here's what I think... with a few example title tags...

<tltle>MyBigAssCompany:  Golden Widgets - Over 500 Varieties  (these guys think that their ass weighs a ton...  their company name is more important than their message)</tltle>

<tltle>Golden Widgets - Over 500 Varieties | MyBigAssCompany  (OK... at least they are not stinking up the message with their brand name)</tltle>

<tltle>Golden Widgets - Over 500 Varieties  (BAM!   This nails it in my opinion.  Short.  Sweet.  Really, people don't give a damn about MyBigAssCompany... and if they think that the company is really important they are going to see my URL in the SERPs, right below the title)</tltle>

If my company had enormous recognition then I might use the name in the title tag... but I would rather add "free shipping" or some other value proposition than add my brand name to the title.

This is a subject where you are going to get a lot of disagreement and I think that the guy who insists on having HisBigAssCompany on the front end of the title tag will argue a lot louder and longer than I do. 

[Andy.Drinkwater]

This is a subject where you are going to get a lot of disagreement and I think that the guy who insists on having HisBigAssCompany on the front end of the title tag will argue a lot louder and longer than I do. 

Amen to that

I don't agree at all with having brands at the front - not needed, but when Google appends it with this, there isn't a lot you can do, sadly. If you see a Brand: <title></strong>, then you know Google have been doing their thing.</p> <p>-Andy</p></title>

[EGOL]

Recently it seems Google has started tweaking page titles with one apparent intention: to promote branding.

That article makes a really strong point.   It seems that google does like the brand in the title tag.  They are doing it to a lot of my title tags and I have to say I don't really like it.

I think that this makes the point that google "knows" who is a brand without reading it in their title tag.. but google wants the brand in the title tag badly enough that they are willing to overwrite the carefully crafted marketing message in my title tag to get it there.

In some cases, google might improve the message, but if they are using a one-size-fits all algo they are not going to improve things every time.  If google thinks that I deserve my brand in the title I am flattered, but I'd rather bet on my marketing message than on how their algo will slap a brand name over it in the SERPs.

[Vizergy]

Wouldn't it be logical then that if Google is doing it.... you don't have to?

[Andy.Drinkwater]

There is no guarantee Google will do this. The advice is work on Brand, but you can't guarantee they will change anything.

-Andy