Can anyone explain these changes to our Titles in the SERPS?
-
Hi there,
We've been doing well in the SERPS over the past few weeks. Our previous meta title was displayed as:
"Hunter Original Tall - Buy Original Tall Online Here"
However, recently we've seen the title in the SERP switch over to:
"Hunter Original Tall - Cloggs.co.uk"
This has occurred on several of our product pages which display a particular style of a certain brand. So for example:
"Ugg Bailey Button - Cloggs.co.uk"
Has anyone else experienced these changes or can explain why this may have happened?
There is not change to the source code and our Titles have proven to have good click through rates in the past. Any ideas mozzers? -
Barry at Search Engine Roundtable has written about Google choosing their own page titles for your site, and I've seen reports of it here as well, so you're certainly not alone. Here's what Barry has written:
http://www.seroundtable.com/google-title-selection-12989.html
-
I'm glad to hear it's happening else where, it doesn't appear to be negatively affecting the SERPs which is a good thing, but I'd really like to know what's causing it.
I've had a look in Webmaster tools and can see no indication there, thought there maybe something in the 'html suggestions' section.
-
Ive been seeing the same thing on and off, so its not just you. But I have no idea why it is happening.
-
Right that's what threw me off as well, and that's why I ruled out the possibility that it was pulling the site titles from the ODP. Here is Google's explanation of how they choose Title/Description snippets. I suppose they could just be pulling it from the content of the website and writing their own, but I've never really encountered that happening without it being related to an external link source. Strange. Hopefully another SEOmozzer can provide better insight.
-
Thanks for the reposne Anthony!
I'll look into it. But would that mean that there is a site somewhere linking to multiple pages on our site with links strong enough to overpower the Title ? it's possible just seems unlikely to be doing across so many different pages.
-
I can't be sure without digging into your site a bit, but Google has been known to use the anchor text of strong links to your website in place of your title tag, on some occasions. This is discussed in this YOUmoz post, Distilled Stole My Page Title.
Could this be the cause?
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
-
What does it exactly means when Google brings the "brand name" to the beggining of the page title in search results when it was actually given at the end?
We see many times...page titles starts with "brand name: page for etc" where actually "brand name" has been given at the end and keywords at beginning. Why does Google make this change? I noticed this happens when similar title tags are used by multiple websites for high difficulty keywords. Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz0 -
Anyone seeing big drops in Bing this month?
Seems like our Google rankings are improving on most sites, but BING took a big hit this month for many of the sites we working on. I have never seen them drop like this before. Anyone else seeing the same thing? I am wondering if it is because we are building a lot of brand links vs. keyword links and Bing still wants to see the keyword links. What have you seen?
Algorithm Updates | | netviper0 -
Anyone notice a 25% + drop in Google Traffic since the 23/24 August 2013?
Hi Guys, My site has seen a 25% drop in Google Traffic since Saturday the 24th August 2013. I see it being mentioned here: http://www.seroundtable.com/google-update-17268.html but not anywhere else really. I want to find out if there is anyone else that has been hit and what it is we have been hit by. Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | joblife0 -
Strange SERP behaviour
We were ranking 2nd while Google was showing only natural listings. Earlier this year, the same SERP started showing only three natural listings, followed by some business listings. We were included within the business listings, but were 3rd, so 6th overall. After a few tweaks we managed to become the 1st business listing, so 4th overall. Early last week, the SERP changed again. The business listings were removed and replaced with natural listings. Rather than return to the old rankings, though, the order of the sites was exactly the same as it was with the business listings being there. It felt almost like a bug. So we remained 4th. On Friday, the business listings returned! But the rankings are way different. The three natural listings at the top are the same as before. Then there are 7 business listings, and then more natural listings after that. We are the fifth natural listing of the second group, so have been hit rather badly. Can anyone shed any light on what's going on here? We made a major change to our site 10 days ago, but it seems there's too much going on for it to be that. If it helps, the search term is a two word name for what we do, followed by the name of our city - and we're in the UK. Coincidentally, someone from Google called earlier this week to confirm an address change I'd be trying to correct in Google Places.
Algorithm Updates | | Special0 -
7 Pack Google Serps?
What is the best way to get into the 7 pack of google serps? I have a site that ranked well before this changed but not was pushed back to page 2. I have Unique content and I currently have provided my info to all the standard local sites, like Yelp, Manta, Local.com and others. I already have a Google Local page and I also have links from local sites. What else can be done?
Algorithm Updates | | bronxpad0 -
Google SERP UI in December
For retailers (or commercial queries), it seems like PPC ads, product ads and google shopping links were allocated more pixel real estate in December than in previous years, and the amount of pixel real estate allocated to organic listings declined further. I was wondering if anyone had any knowledge on when these changes were rolled out.
Algorithm Updates | | enoch0 -
What do you think of Google SERP encryption?
Really interesting post by Search Engine Land about this "issue" for tracking conversion, especially for long tail keyword research. I suppose this change will be also applied on all google search pages (.ca, .fr etc.). I Really don't think Webmaster tools is a serious compensation in Analytics for this.
Algorithm Updates | | Olivier_Lambert0 -
Anyone hurt by the 11+ million co.cc domain dump by Google?
Referencing this article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/07/06/google_cans_11m_dot_co_dot_cc_sites/ Curious what the ramifications of this to SEO (improve rankings over spammy results, etc) and to hear thoughts on this.
Algorithm Updates | | EricPacifico0