SERP Title shows up-with-dashes
-
Occasionally I see the our 'listings' on Google where the Title line shows up with dashes... like
sony-professional-hard-drive - TapeandMedia.com
It appears to be the URL shortened and rehashed. This example was after I searched for "Sony PSZ-HA1T" without the quotes. The title for this page is <title></span><span class="html-tag">Sony 1TB Professional Portable External Hard Disk Drive (PSZ-HA1T)</span><span class="html-tag"></title> and the url is http://www.tapeandmedia.com/sony-1tb-professional-portable-hard-drive.asp
Link to image: http://i.imgur.com/FmvAn6c.jpg
Other searches (like "Sony 1tb PSZ-HA1T") yield normal looking SERP Titles
Does anyone know why this happens and what I can do to avoid this?
-
Ha, no worries. Somehow it happens all the time! Good luck in solving your SERP title issue!
-
Ooops! I'm very sorry about that Brady.
-
Barry?
-
Looking at this again, It could also be due to the fact that part of the keyword searched for (PSZ-HA1T) appears at the very end of your title tag and would likely not show up in SERPs (due to your title tag being too long).
Try reworking it so this keyword would appear in the first ~512 pixels.
You can use this Moz tool to see a preview. http://moz.com/blog/new-title-tag-guidelines-preview-tool
-
Hi Giovatto - Thank you very much for the help.
-
Hi Barry - Thank you very much for the help.
-
Got it now ! Many times i saw that kind discussion. Most of the optimizers said, Google re-writed it for showing result on user. I think, Your keyword and your topics is vey close but your title tag is not good enough for that keyword. Thats why google re-write your title. Without it i have no experience with that kind of problem . I am also thinking that, is it conflicting with shema ? May be Its not good thinking.
I am helpless
-
The most likely explanation of why your page's title was changed is because it doesn't mention your company/website at all. Google may have thought that the title was misleading and may cause searchers to think they are visiting a website that is official endorsed by Sony. Try adding some branding to the end of your title tags like Google did for you in the example. Something like "- Tape and Media" or " - TapeandMedia.com" to avoid that kind of confusion.
-
Hi tafser,
Thanks for the response. I tried the search on other computers and saw the same result. The title varies by what you search for. If you don't mind, please try searching for:
Sony PSZ-HA1T
and let me know what you see.
-
I don`t see anything like your screenshot. Here is my screenshot, Check it out: http://prntscr.com/6iqfyx
I think, its your cash problem. Clear your browser cash. -
In my experiences, any time there's a dash in the SERP title, it means Google re-wrote it to some extent. Whether they've shortened it, changed it to something completely unique, it always re-writes with a dash and not a colon, or some other separator.
What Google is essentially saying is, "we think this title better describes your page." The first obvious places to look are length and keyword placement/usage: if the title is too long, shorten it. If the main keywords in your title aren't prominently displayed on the page (H1, H2s, body copy, other internal pages using that anchor text, etc.) then I'd try and make those types of changes.
Don't go overboard with keyword stuffing or anything like that, of course. It's usually not too hard to get these changed back, just do a little digging, keyword research, and make some of the changes I've recommended. I bet you'll see the title change to what you've suggested after optimizing and another crawl or two.
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 Showing wrong image in the SERPS
Hi Guys, In organic SERPS Google pulling incorrect product image, instead of product image its showing image from relevant products, Checked the structured data, og:image everything is set to the product image, not sure why google showing images from relevant product sidebar, any help, please?
Technical SEO | | SpartMoz0 -
Is the Google results serp broken?
Hi everyone! We've been trying to decipher how many of our pages are indexed by google at the moment. If we do the usual "site:https://www.hobbydb.com" search term, the serp says that we have more than 740,000 pages indexed. However, when I do a deep dive and click through to the last page of results, I can only get to page 54, and then there are no more results. This would mean that I only have 540 pages indexed, not 740,000. We have also done other queries for other sub-sections of our website, and the results also truncate at 50 pages. Has anyone run into this problem? Any suggestions are appreciated! Best, Alex
Technical SEO | | mpchobbydb0 -
Duplicate Title Tags on Word Press
I am having duplicate title tag. The screenshot is attached. Screaming Frog http://i.imgur.com/jsh0aF8.png I can provide my site if necessary. Appreciate any help to fix it. jsh0aF8.png jsh0aF8.png
Technical SEO | | Chris-tx0 -
Suddenly disappear from google SERP : Pls Help
I am facing too much problems with my all sites and i am afraid with google SERP result. I was penalize by google in previous yea and again Today too. i have a website name is removalinmelbourne.com.au i was happy with my seo because it was coming on the first page and 2nd page with most of the keywords like removalists melbourne, removals melbourne, movers in melbourne, removalists in melbourne and today i was shocked with my result this not showing anywhere on google . Please someone help me . How can i get back .
Technical SEO | | Tufail0 -
Optimum title and description meta tag length
Hi all, I have read that a title tag and description tag length of 69 and 156 characters respectively, should be used as this is all that Google will show in the search results, but that search engine robots will read longer titles and descriptions and additional characters will have an effect on ranking algorithms. However, is there any SEO benefit in making title and description tags longer to include more keywords to aid ranking, even though the latter part won't be visible in the results. I have read elsewhere on this forum that there may be concerns with regards to keyword dilution, but what about keyword reinforcement, i.e. by a repetition of the main keyword at the end of the title/description (I mean in a readable manner here, not 'stuffed')? Thanks in advance, Gareth
Technical SEO | | gdavies090319770 -
How to achieve product extensions in organic serps
I have noticed some interesting changes in how google are returning searches for specific branded products. In this case 'tom ford glasses' position 12 result has three product extensions (see image) This is similar to the product extensions which occasionally occur on adwords. Have you seen this happen and if so any ideas how it all works? TR3nz
Technical SEO | | seanmccauley0