Google showing wrong title

[DaddySmurf]

Hi,

Can anyone assist a newbie please?

My keyword 'Security Systems' is giving me position 1 on page 1, but the title it is using is not the page title. I am assuming for some reason it has made it up, please see below. The actual title tag says -

<colgroup><col width="420"></colgroup>
| Security systems | wireless | battery powered | Police Approved | CSS |

Google is showing -

Compound Security Systems: Wireless Security Systems | Battery ...

1. <cite>www.compoundsecurity.co.uk/</cite>‎Manufacturers & suppliers of The Mosquito Device & Professional industry compliant and Police recommended battery powered wireless security systems.‎Contact us - ‎Mosquito Anti-Loitering Devices - ‎Security Equipment - ‎Installers<iframe class="SEOmoz-iframe" src="chrome-extension://eakacpaijcpapndcfffdgphdiccmpknp/html/serpbar.html#{" settings":{"dmr":false,"dmt":false,"mr":true,"mt":true,"serp-overlay":true,"toolbar-enabled":true,"subdomain-metrics":false,"serp-panel-open":true,"toolbar-position":"bottom"},"lsdata":{"feid":1245,"fipl":315,"fmrp":4.717881718426137,"fmrr":3.169235978744307e-9,"ftrp":5.245402699173709,"ftrr":8.283399271183101e-8,"fuid":15756,"pda":47.20670031521297,"peid":1266,"pid":315,"pmrp":4.634793943915049,"pmrr":1.137485303730264e-7,"ptrp":4.949510322693934,"ptrr":1.6938187788875737e-7,"puid":15777,"ueid":510,"uemrp":4.693787066897207,"uemrr":2.520503065617982e-10,"uid":1060,"uipl":191,"ujid":1038,"umrp":4.96103855611017,"umrr":5.477715129904515e-10,"upa":55.929113684261466,"utrp":6.066855084050327,"utrr":2.1655670926371268e-10},"user":{"level":"pro","options":{},"proenabled":true,"aclurl":"http:="" moz.com="" users="" level?src="mozbar","loginURL":"https://moz.com/login&quot;,&quot;logoutURL&quot;:&quot;https://moz.com/logout&quot;,&quot;apiRequest&quot;:&quot;url-metrics&quot;,&quot;cols&quot;:&quot;133146078688&quot;,&quot;expired&quot;:false,&quot;accessId&quot;:&quot;pro-RGFkZHlTbXVyZg%3D%3D&quot;,&quot;expires&quot;:1374249469,&quot;signature&quot;:&quot;M%2Bh%2FXh4OS%2BAMtT2j6kuntWSTvNI%3D&quot;,&quot;displayName&quot;:&quot;DaddySmurf&quot;},"serp":1,"host":"www.compoundsecurity.co.uk"}"" scrolling="no"></iframe>

If anyone can tell me how to correct this, i would very much appreciate it.

Regards,

Si

[MikeRoberts]

Google changes title tags when a page is relevant for a query but the title doesn't appear to be relevant enough or, in some cases, is too long. There is nothing you can do about it except to possibly re-write your title to be more concise and user-friendly, and then hope that Google decides not to change it in other search queries.

But i've found that Google changing titles can be more beneficial than harmful. i.e. You rank better or look better in SERPs for related terms that you had not originally planned on. You can't stop all instances of Google changing your title, nor can you be certain of knowing all the search terms in which they have decided to alter the appearance of your title.

[jesse-landry]

Mike is right.

And it's a pretty dang long title. Too long, really. That could be part of what's going on. But in any case I honestly think your title needs work to begin with. Google's is slightly better even.

Make it read a bit more humanly while still conveying the message you desire. Remember this is the single most important line in your entire site as it is what people will click on to visit your site.

Think about what makes people click on your link and why. What are they looking for? Do they want to know that your systems are battery operated? Do they only care about police approval? Is there a better way to condense this and combine the messaging? What about your branding? Shouldn't that be more prominent?

Spend a ton of time experimenting with this title tag. It is so incredibly important.

[RobMay]

Mike and Jesse are both correct!

Here's an old video from Matt Cutts and Google which might help explain a little further what is happening and why. https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35624?hl=en . This talks about the site TITLE and DESCRIPTION elements for Google indexing. Always a good reference point

Another good article I have referenced before is: http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/google-changed-my-title (from 2011)

Thanks!

[josh-riley]

I'm bandwagon jumping - the title Google is using is a bit better. The one you have could be keyword stuffing-ish.

[DaddySmurf]

Hi Mike,

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply to my question. Do you mind if i ask you another? When i change my title and do a 'fetch as google' and submit the page to index, how long should i wait before checking my keyword ranking data to see what difference it has made?

Kind regards,

Si

[DaddySmurf]

Hi Jesse,

Thank you for your advice. Everyone is saying pretty much the same thing. I am doing the SEO College course that Moz promote and i optimised my title tag the way they suggest, however, the consensus here seem to be to make the title read more like a sentence.

All the very best.

Si

[DaddySmurf]

Hi Andrea,

Wow, this is harder than i thought. Lots of conflicting information around, but what you guys are all saying makes sense, so i will give it a try.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to help.

Have a great weekend.

Si

[MikeRoberts]

It will really depend on how often Google crawls and indexes your site or a regular basis.