Best title tag structure?

[activitysuper]

Hi,

In the below example, which one do you think would work best if any.

The website is called greatshoes.co.uk (fictitious)

The category is 'work shoes'

and a page under this cat is lets say 'Size 9 work shoes'

I tend to build my title tags like this:

size 9 work shoes, cheap size 9 work shoes | greatshoes.co.uk

BUT I have read on here it should be more like this:

size 9 work shoes < work shoes | greatshoes.co.uk

Does anyone think it would make a difference when targeting for the term 'size 9 work shoes' which title tag I use.

Cheers

[Millibit]

I tend to use the pipe as the delimiter, but the arrow could work as well.  I think that once you get the need SEO information in your title tag (which you do) the next step is to think about usability on the SERPs.  I think the second example is more intuitive and visually catching to the eye which can draw you some extra clicks in itself.

Part of the SEO battle is that once you are on the SERPs, what little things can you do to capture the user's attention.  I think your second example does that better than the first.

[RyanKent]

Have you considered alternate titles? It seems a little spammy to have the same text repeat itself in the title.

I would prefer "size 9 work shoes | greatshoes.co.uk" for the title. It doesn't include the term "cheap" but you can include that in your meta description. If you use breadcrumbs with HTML5 microdata then your breadcrumb with your categories will appear in SERPs as well. If you find an Amazon result you will see how that works.

[activitysuper]

Ok, im not completely clued up on the microdata front, from what I read it helps to break things up a little so indicate product titles, images, links etc.

So im guessing your saying use microdata on the breadcrumb attributes but I didnt think Google would rank for a term without it being in the title.

So 'cheap size 9 work shoes' would not show my result unless it existed in the title tag but if your saying yes you can im guessing it would not rank anywhere near as well as it being in the title tag.

Thanks for responses.

[CPLDistribution]

How about adding a call to action or site slogan in the title tag to increase the CTR?

[RyanKent]

You are correct. You would not rank as well for "cheap size 9 work shoes" if you did not include the term "cheap" in the title.

[ReneReinholdt]

cabbagetoe is right, and so is Ryan:
Repeating the keywork fraces too many times will seem spammy. Personally I would go for something like:
size 9 work shoes | buy cheap work shoes at greatshoes.co.uk
or
buy cheap work shoes | greatshoes.co.uk | size 9 work shoes
all depending on if the brand name is vital. it's kinda trial and error what will work for one site might not work for another. And note that I included a call to action in the title.
Whether u use | - _ or whatever in you title will have the same effect in google. It will ignore them. you could for that matter use a . or a , whatever you chose just bare in mind that you need to make the title easy to read for the end consumer. And you should modify the page title and experiement to find out what generates the most clicks. If you notice your bounce rate jump but and your CTR do the same, then you have a title that generates allot of clicks but the content on the page isn't what the consumer expects or it a bad design or... (could be a gazillion things.)
What I'm trying to say is that there is not one winning strategy, you need to experiment and find out what works for you.

[seanmccauley]

Title tags are important not only for SEO but also for CTR. Google doesn't care which order you put your keywords nor give any weight to repeats. As far as I am aware their is some advantage to having your main keywords at start of title tag, otherwise write a title tag attractive to humans. eg Cheap Size 9 Work shoes | greatshoes.co.uk. From this Google will extract cheap shoes, size 9 shoes, cheap work shoes are give your site relevance when any combination of these words is the search term. (The title doesn't have to include the url though is no harm for branding. Another closely linked point not to be overlooked is your meta description)

[Tiedoctor]

Is there any value in adding semantically similar words in the title tag? For instance, I have an alcohol rehab website www.alcohol-rehab.ltd.uk, I offer local search pages too.

Would the title tag "Alcohol Rehab Bedfordshire | Alcoholic Rehabilitation Clinics Beds" Be more valuable than "Alcohol Rehab Clinics Bedfordshire | www.alcohol-rehab.ltd.uk"

And is is worth wile having the url in each title tag?

Also is it worth while (seo wise) writing a description tag for each page, other than for a call to action that is?

[KeriMorgret]

This thread is over a year old. I'd actually suggest starting a new question, as it will get more visibility. Thanks!