SEO Titles and Keyword Density
-
Hey guys,
I'm doing some on page SEO for a few clients and I've always wondered about this question. I have read tons of articles on the perfect <title>tag, but they don't often mention this.</p> <p>So my titles, like most others follow this format:</p> <p>Keyword 1 | Keyword 2 - Company</p> <p>So say for example I am trying to rank for 'life insurance' and 'life insurance quote' for 'axa sunlife'.</p> <p>It's my assumption that the title should be:</p> <p>Life Insurance Quote - Axa Sunlife</p> <p>rather than:</p> <p>Life Insurance | Life Insurance Quote - Axa Sunlife</p> <p>Am I right in thinking that putting it twice has no added value, and could in fact have an adverse effect?</p> <p>Thanks,</p> <p>Lewis.</p> <p> </p></title>
-
if you included the plural and singular versions of a keyword in title tag would that be considered a keyword repeat ?
-
Maybe you can read this tutorial : http://www.seomoz.org/learn-seo/title-tag
An advice don't repeat the keywords in the title
-
Hi Lewis,
I've done a couple of tests (nothing scientific - just trying things out and looking for trends) on this in the last few months and have found the following:
- Using the same keyword more than once doesn't seem to have any impact on keyword rankings
- The first keyword in the title element seems to be given priority, assuming that it's matched up with other on page elements (ie. Broad usage throughout the page, alt tags, etc)
The best title tag will most likely have your keyword first, followed by some kind of call to action, and then your site name at the end. This works on a few levels - namely that you're improving your rankings, click throughs and also brand awareness.
Kieran's definitely correct in saying that it should be tied in with the meta description, although I'd disagree that there's no benefit to having the brand at the end of the tag - particularly if you're working with a client who's looking to build, or reinforce, their name.
Remember that it isn't all about getting to the top. By including your call to action you're potentially helping with conversion rate optimisation and by including the brand you're helping build trust over the long term... which is incredibly hard to measure but will surely add hidden benefit and gives you another string to your bow!
As far as keyword density goes, the old ways of looking at it are completely outdated. If you aim to use your keyword 3-4 times in a reasonable sized page whilst also employing the ~ operator on Google to find, and use, related terms you'll be fine.
Hope that's helpful - would be really interested to hear how you get on
Matt
-
Thanks Gianluca
I agree 100% I was thinking of the actual site Title tag when typing this so answering it from that context. Yes Keyword(s) + Hook
-
You are right and not at the same time. Right telling that a redundant use of the keywords is not generating benefits (instead, it can look simply spammy)... not, because the title you are suggesting in not "exciting".
Remember that Titles are the first line of a Search Snippet. Therefore it should have to be crafted wisely:
- In order to focus Search Engines on your page's main keyword;
- In order to push the searchers into clicking your result and no other.
I usually suggest to think to Title as they where the Page Tagline. This also make easier its use into the same content of the page itself, as the HTML Title usually is converted to the H1 Title by many CMS.
Therefore, in your case, a Title could be:
Life Insurance? Ask now a life insurance quote to Axa Sunlife
And the Meta Description would renforce the Title call to action, maybe citing the main competitive advantage of the Axa Sunlife life insurance.
Ciao and I hope this helps
-
In my opinion putting it in twice is not a good idea. I assume that you have done the appropriate keyword research in this area and that the keywords are appropriate. I personally don't even think there is value in adding the AXA Sunlife as AXA is meaningless to the Search engines. It does help when the title is displayed to give some people idea.
I think your title should be along the lines of Main Target Keyword in Body of the Page x 1 to 3 then stop. I would not use multiples. If you have multiple keywords you want to target create an additional page for the keywords.
So
Life Insurance Quotes
Life Insurance Premiums
Life Insurance Special Offers
the Title is of course only the beginning. Get some nice meta description under it as well to if your link with this Title does show then it makes sense. this may be the place to mention AXA or the company so people get some good company name visuals
-
For sure the title tag is one of the most important elements in SEO. Make use of the maximum length of 70 characters. As this title is displayed in SERPs, make sure to integrate a call to action. The mention of the company name is usualy not so important, as long as you are not a brand in the eyes of Google.
For the keyword density: take a look at your competitors. Stuffing is dangerous!
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
-
How Do SSL Certificates Affect On SEO?
Does really a SSL certificate affect on SEO? How? Why? According to my hosting provider (ganje.host), "https" improves SEO! As I know, It decreases speed. So how does it improve SEO when my speed is slower than before?
On-Page Optimization | | MirzaeeMustafa0 -
Website Titles in Google
I currently have a Wordpress platform website and previously I noticed that when I optimized my pages, if I indicated what I wanted my page names to be (through an application like SEO Yoast) that most times, the keyword would show up exactly how I had it typed in. Recently I have noticed that the title of my website is showing in my page titles too. So for example: Before: Shoe Stores Windsor - XYZ Company Now: XYZ Company | Shoe Stores Windsor - XYZ Company In SEO practices, I know it's most often best to have the keyword you would like as close to the front of your title tag, but now this recent search adds my website title first. Plus this also seems to be making my titles longer. I know Google ultimately has the 'final say' in a page title and I have ensured that I have the "rewrite titles/descriptions option" check in Wordpress to allow me to overwrite titles, but I am hoping someone can possibly provide me with a tip or trick to avoid this in search rankings. I think it's important to have the name of my site entered through Wordpress so that any pages that I have no optimized default to the page name and site name, but the ones I have optimized seem to be showing differently all of a sudden. Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | MainstreamMktg0 -
Using keywords in my URL: Doing a redirect to /keyword
My website in "On Page Grade" received an A.Anyway, I only have 1 thing to optimize:_"Use Keywords in your URL__Using your targeted keywords in the URL string adds relevancy to your page for search engine rankings, assists potential visitors identify the topic of your page from the URL, and provides SEO value when used as the anchor text of referring links."_My website is ranking in top10 for a super high competitive keyword and all my others competitors have the keyword on their domain, but not for my URL.Since I can't change my domain for fixing this suggestion, I would like to know what do you think about doing a 301 redirect from / to mydomainname.com/keyword/So the index of my website would be the /keyword.I don't know if this can make a damage to my SERP for the big change ir it would be a great choice.
On-Page Optimization | | estebanseo0 -
Selecting keywords
Hi there, my question is: If I select and optimize in the page a keyword like "english courses in Boston" if someone type in Google only english courses, would my site be shown up in first places in the SERPs (if I had done a good onpage and offpage optimization)? or someone who has optimize the page with the keyword "english courses" would be in a preference place? Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | juanmiguelcr0 -
Keywords per Page
Iv'e looked through the QA here and there are a lot of different conflicting opinions on what is a generally a good idea. For Example Florist Clearwater Clearwater Florist Florist in Clearwater Florist in Clearwater FL Clearwater FL Florist Clearwater Florida Florist Florist in Clearwater Florida Florist near Clearwater FL etc.... So for something like this example....should I have one page represent all of these keyword iterations or split them among different pages?
On-Page Optimization | | BenGMKT0 -
Seo category or specific seo page?
To rank in google.bg for key phrase like "seo optimization for web" which do you thing is better: To make most of the backlinks with anchor text "seo optimization for web" to point to a link that is a category with many seo articles or to point to a single page from this category?
On-Page Optimization | | vladokan0 -
Quick question about bold italics keywords in today's SEO world
Hello guyz do you think that , **or **tags still help you in ranking better for some keyword or this method has become obsolete?****
On-Page Optimization | | ksbnok0 -
Different Title and Meta Title Tag
Do the search engines rank based on the meta title tag or the title tag? What if you have a different meta title tag from the title tag? Edited: I have edited to clarify my issue. Having a different meta title tag from the title tag. Thank you for those who have answered the question so far.
On-Page Optimization | | rching0