WP SEO plugin
-
When working with WP sites I generally use Michael Torbert's All in One SEO Pack. I've encountered a few examples where when the homepage shows up on a Google search results page the title/title tag shows up as {Business Name:} | {Keyword/Description}. In the 'General Settings' of the plugin in the 'Home Title' field, I have it listed as {Keyword/Description} | {Business Name}
I'm not sure why the order is getting switched and where the ':' comes from. I'm not sure if this even has any adverse effect. If anyone has had experience with this, your input would be appreciated.
Note - I'm not seeing this issue reflected on Bing.
-
I have seen this as well, and have experience with both SEO plugins mentioned in this thread. Yoast is very good, as is All in one seo pack. Not many people are aware of the different rules of robots for a page.
The page title switching is controlled by Google, as mentioned above. The effects can be mitigated by adding a special meta tag on that page, which is ODP = no. ODP (stand for open directory project) will allow Google to switch around the titles to better suit the users search query. Another tag you should add is archive = no. Below is a complete example:
name="robots" content="index,follow,noarchive,snippet,noodp" />
This states to the search engine, index this page, follow all links, do not show archived pages, (old, cached) allow snippets and markup, and do not customize displayed titles from open directory project. Want proof?
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/google-supports-meta-noodp-tag/
"In some circumstances, Google uses descriptions from the Open Directory Project as the title and snippet for a web result; this tag lets you opt out of the ODP title and description."
I have used this on my site, and on clients sites with great success. If you add this tag, it will take a while to reindex, but give it a try and see if they display the real page title after you submit and wait a bit. This should help you out quite a bit.
-
I'm actually about to write about this lol. This happened to my site as well. Google can switch that for you. If you look at the source, it is usually what you want to be, but Google shows otherwise.
It does happen and it's pretty common. Change it to something else, something better and try to let it get indexed again. It normally shows up correctly the next time around.
-
I have also been experiencing this with a few of my clients. As Spencer said it is Google choosing to re-arrange the tag with business name first.
-
Hi Steve,
First, I would suggest looking at Yoast's SEO plugin. This offers much more in terms of customisation and function.
Do you mind listing the URL so I can take a look at the homepage? It might be Google (probably is) but just need to be sure.
-Andy
-
This is definitely Google choosing to put the business name at the beginning of the title. This is extremely common and in my experience it will only do this for homepages. This doesn't always happen though and I'm not sure exactly what makes Google decide to rearrange it.
-
Look at the source of the page and make sure the <title>content is as you want it to read. If it is, than Google is choosing to change the way it displays your title in SERPs. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do. Just make sure your title length is short enough to be displayed fully in search results.</p></title>
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
-
Is using a H1 tag in a logo image bad for SEO?
We have brand logos on certain pages that have H1 tags in them - the H1 text being the brand's name, as this is what we'd want the title of the page to be. The logos are at the top of the page instead of a written title. But is this the best option for SEO? Do search engines value H1 tags in images as highly as a standard H1 tag?Would it be better for SEO to add an alt tag to the logo and add a separate H1 tag on the page that's also the name of the brand?
On-Page Optimization | | DVLighting0 -
301 or Keep 2 Chocolate Best Sellers SEO?
Hi All, So we have two best selling organic chocolates that are very similar. http://www.santabarbarachocolate.com/bulk-organic-dark-chocolate-72-without-soy-lecithin/ and http://www.santabarbarachocolate.com/bulk-organic-dark-chocolate-72-without-soy-lecithin/ Because we are a small company it would be ideal to offer only one of these chocolates due to the cost of making it from the raw cacao. This is the question: From a SEO page rank perspective, do we get better rank by 301 redirecting one chocolate to the other thereby generating more traffic through traffic consolidation to one chocolate. Or do we get better SEO rank by having two chocolates on the site that both get clicks with different content? Basically it is a question of divided forces. Thanks for your help, Jason
On-Page Optimization | | santabarbarachocolate0 -
Moz_pagespped and seo
I am using mod_pagespeed to increase page speed.However it changed image url. before: /cars.jpg after: /cars.jpg.pagespeed.ci.dfdfdfre.webg with:mod_pagespeed This is issue for seo? How can i change it?
On-Page Optimization | | Netliste0 -
Need professional SEO help for onpage analysis and advice
Hi guys, I am not sure if here is the right place to ask for this, but we really need help with one of our projects, especially for the site analysis. We dont need link building tips etc, we just need help regarding our site structure, code etc etc. Do you have any ideas where I can find some real professionals on this topic? Thank you a lot !
On-Page Optimization | | commissionshare0 -
Are outlinks an essential element for onsite SEO?
I recently read the blog post by Steve Webb about performing a SEO Audit (http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-perform-the-worlds-greatest-seo-audit). In the article he mentions that it's important to have outlinks to high-quality websites. So my questions is if this is an essential element of onsite SEO?
On-Page Optimization | | Nick_Johansson0 -
Should I remove the Jetpack Plugin From A SIte
I dont know if anyone has any experience with the jetpack plugin, but personally I prefer yoast. My point is someones site I am looking at has both Yoast SEO plugin and also Jetpack for wordpress, should I just remove the jetpack as it seems to be a very heavy loading plugin.
On-Page Optimization | | propertyhunter0 -
Advice needed form seo point of view
We have a client whose website is http://www.indigenaskincare.com/ There are frames in the site and will they hurm seo efforts. Also, what metrics are missing so that we can give advice to the client.
On-Page Optimization | | seoug_20050 -
Appropriate SEO strategies for a website's own SERPs?
Hello all, What are good on-page SEO practices for the search result pages on our own sites? For instance, what page titles do you use? Do you include page numbers? Meta-descriptions? Headers? Keyword utilization? This is a consideration for us as we link to some popular search results on our sites. Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | DanSerpico0