Google truncating or altering meta title - affect rankings?
-
I have a site that the title tag is too long and the title is simply the name of the site (I think they get it from ODP, not sure)
Anyway, the rankings for the home page have dropped quite a bit. I'm wondering if the change that Google makes affects rankings (i.e. name of site doesn't have all the keywords).
-
I have a site that the title tag is too long and the title is simply the name of the site (I think they get it from ODP, not sure)
Now if you believe that it is the ODP that is causing the trouble, you can add this Meta tag in the section of the pages -
However, if this has not been the case, it could be that the links that have been built are not in line with the existing title. And sometimes, Google changes the title itself if it feels that the title is not well optimized –
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.in/2012/01/better-page-titles-in-search-results.html
-
While I don't think anyone can say for sure if one specific thing like this could result in lower ranking, IMHO a truncated title is not generally going to be the culprit of rankings drop. However, I do think a truncated title can significantly lower click-thru rate on your organic listings, which could be a factor in rankings (i.e. higher click-thru rate could equal higher rankings).
I always encourage the sites that I SEO to adhere to Google's character limitations and make the most out of the organic real estate Google gives you. It's your chance to get someone to come to your site. If the title/and or description is truncated, it has less chance of being compelling, or containing the information that makes someone want to click through and visit your pages.
Hope that's helpful!
Dana
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Google Not Picking Up Posts
I am trying to work out why from March 4th Google is not seeing my posts. Our google impressions have dropped from 8,000 to 40. If you put in the full article name with speach marks it does not find it, and instead shows the home page in google. We have not had any warnings. We did have work done on our site but nothing else i could think of to cause this. Can anyone let me know what may have caused this. All articles are original
Technical SEO | | headlinesplus0 -
Mobile site not ranking
Hello, Our main site ranks well for all the keyword terms, and yet, our mobile site is buried. It is a "m." configuration, and I am wondering if it is a question of not using the correct programming language to get it there? Or if the redirects to the main site should relate differently? I have tried to read up on the topic of mobile site SEO and cannot find (or understand) the answer? Could someone please help? Thanks so much in advance!
Technical SEO | | lfrazer0 -
Hit by Google
My site - www.northernlightsiceland.com - has been hit by google and Im not sure why. The traffic dropped 75% last 24 hours and all the most important keywords have dropped significantly in the SERP. The only issue I can think of are the subpages for the northern lights forecasting I did every day e.g. http://www.northernlightsiceland.com/northern-lights-forecast-iceland-3-oct-2012/ I have been simply doing a copy/paste for 1 month the same subpage, but only changing the top part (Summary) for each day. Could this be the reason why Im penalized? I have now simply taken them all down minus the last 3 days (that are relevant). What can I do to get up on my feet again? This is mission critical for me as you can imagine. Im wondering if it got hit by this EMD update on 28 sept that was focusing on exact match domains http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4501349-1-30.htm
Technical SEO | | rrrobertsson0 -
Is there a way I can track Arabic keywords on the Arabic version of Google Qatar using SEOMOZ Rank checker?
I have a Qatari website in Arabic and I would like to know if it is possible to track the Arabic keywords using google.com.qa in Arabic using SEOMoz rank checker. When selecting the three search engines, I have no choice over the language. Only the country can be modified. Any solution?
Technical SEO | | mrlee1 -
SEOMOZ Ranking
Im pretty new to all this so hopefuly im going the right way ive been using SEOMOZ Pro for about 3 weeks. I have a website and a blog, I noticed that my website (flash based) was not doing very well but my blog was doing well. So i decided to turn my blog into a website for my main website and my old website into another category for my services. So I have now transferred everything over to my blog and on website grader I have got my rating upto 74/100 from 17/100 which is higher than anyone else in my keyword, my traffic ranking is higher but Im not even in the top 50 in google, they do have more backlins than me significanlty more but I am working on it. So the question is it the backlinks that help MOZ ranking, and how long does it take before google recognises my links to give me a position on google. My keywords are coventry wedding photographer and my site is rnblog.co.uk
Technical SEO | | robanewman0 -
Wrong Title Tag & No Meta Description showing up in Google SERP's
I'd like to know what I can do to get the correct title tag + meta description that I have on the page for www.myescondidomovers.com/ to actually show up in the SERP's on Google? It's currently just showing my main keyword and the domain name, nothing else. See attached and thanks in advance for you help. Much appreciated. SERPS.png
Technical SEO | | afranklin0 -
Redirect and ranking
Wehave 2 websites for the same keyword Website 1 is indexed on place 2 but we do not like that name any longer it does not fit our long term marketing Website 2 is indexed on place 5 and this domain fits better What will happen if we redirect website 1 to website 2? Fall down to postion 5 Fall down to position 5 and after a certain period we get back at position 2 or 3 thanx in advance for your reply
Technical SEO | | turnon0 -
Meta Title Keywords and Company name
Currently our meta title says "Network Security Audit | Pivot Point Security" which is pretty broad considering how many services we offer. In trying to restructure our keywords, marketing and SEO focus, I came up with a new title. The problem I have is figuring out which keywords to use in the title, and with a company name with 3 words - I am running out of room. The new title idea is "Information Security Assessments - Penetration Testing | Pivot Point Security" So my questions are the following. Do I need to put the company name? Should I choose different keywords? I'm sort of at a stand still trying to figure out the best possible title since meta keywords or description won't really help ranking.
Technical SEO | | pivotpointsecurity0