Google Indexing Wrong Title
-
Hey guys ! I have a wordpress website and also yoast seo plugin . I've set up a meta title which is : TV Online | Assistir Filmes| Notícias | Futebol |GogsTV . (I checked on some free tools to see , and they also show up this) but .... google is showing this : GogsTV: TV Online | Assistir Filmes| Notícias | Futebol . Seems they are trying to show my brand name first instead of my main keyword .
I'm not sure why it doesnt indexes as i want ... Does anybody know how can i fix this . Thanks
-
Google states on their support page:
_If we’ve detected that a particular result has [...] issues with its title, we may try to generate an improved title from anchors, on-page text, or other sources. However, sometimes even pages with well-formulated, concise, descriptive titles will end up with different titles in our search results to better indicate their relevance to the query. _
There’s a simple reason for this: the title tag as specified by a webmaster is limited to being static, fixed regardless of the query. Once we know the user’s query, we can often find alternative text from a page that better explains why that result is relevant. Using this alternative text as a title helps the user, and it also can help your site. Users are scanning for their query terms or other signs of relevance in the results, and a title that is tailored for the query can increase the chances that they will click through.
What to do? Here's the answer:
- make your title mean something as a sentence or a phrase. List of keywords is not descriptive of what is on the page. Therefore Google will not use that. There are exceptions for e-commerce or product sites but that is the rule.
- If you want to highlight a certain keyword — simply place that at the start of the said phrase in the title.
- try to think as an user searching for your page when composing the above mentioned phrase. What do they desire?
For more, please see my previous answer at http://moz.com/community/q/title-tag-issue-2
-
Hi there!
This is a common occurrence for WordPress websites and specifically for home page title tags. Google will often show different variations of titles or completely new titles based on the searchers intent. It makes sense if someone is searching your brand name but it can become frustrating when you want valuable keywords towards the beginning of the title tag instead of your brand name.
Some people argue that this doesn't affect rankings, as in Google is still indexing your proper title tag but is just choosing to display it differently. I personally think the opposite. I've gotten this problem fixed before and have seen better ranking results.
With that said, I would try different variations of your current title to see if Google will accept them. Something like: "TV Online | Assistir Filmes | Notícias | Futebol - GogsTV" or you could work the brand name into the title like "GogsTV Online | Assistir Filmes | Notícias | Futebol."
Hope this helps!
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
-
Downsides on shortening article title?
Hi there, I'm new to Moz: great tool so far! I just tried the page optimization feature and see that (for instance for this article) page titles are often too long. Now it's tempting to just shorten the title straight away, but I have a memory of someone once telling me changing the title will change the URL. And changing the URL is something not appreciated by Google. Could someone please explain if and why this is/isn't the case? And if there are any downsides/things to consider before changing the article's title? Thank you in advance!
On-Page Optimization | | RaoulWB1 -
Is the meta title written only for google (try to stuff in as many keywords as possible) or is there a user experience aspect as well?
Is the meta title written only for google (try to stuff in as many keywords as possible) or is there a user experience aspect as well?
On-Page Optimization | | whiteonlySEO0 -
Keywords on Title Tag and Meta Description?
I have question regarding the use of keywords on title tag and meta description. I will take my website as example... Title Tag: Web Design Company & Digital Marketing Agency in Jakarta Meta Description: Coriate is a full-service website design & Internet marketing firm in Indonesia. We offer the best web solutions and SEO service in the industry. My questions: Is it good? Because I followed Blue Fountain Media. They don't use same keyword on title tag and meta description. You can see on title tag I use "web design" while on meta description I use "website design". Or should I use "web design" on meta description too? Blue Fountain Media doesn't use their company name on title tag. But when I search "Blue Fountain Media" on Google, it only showed their company name. How? Their title tag was "Website Design Company & Digital Marketing Agency in NYC | BFM". Is it necessary to use H1? Because as you can see on my company website Coriate there's no H1.
On-Page Optimization | | Japracool0 -
Title Tags
Say you have a client that specializes in Driveways and you have multiple keywords within one locations. So for instance the keywords are Driveway company, Driveway installers, driveway repairs etc.. How would you set it up? San Diego Driveway Company, San Diego Driveway Installers, San Diego Driveway repairs or San Diego Driveway Company, Driveway Installers, Driveway repairs
On-Page Optimization | | benjaminmarcinc0 -
Website Changes Updated in Google...
How long does it take for Google to recognize SEO changes that I have made to my website?
On-Page Optimization | | AubbiefromAubenRealty0 -
Google Index Report
Hi, I have just checked my google webmaster tools account and viewed the index status of my website and it produced the attached graph, which show quite a big spike in indexing during July and August 2012. Does this look normal or does it reveal anything peculiar? We did have a new website launched in June 2012 and I re-submitted the sites URL's to google as part of the re-launch and so I am unsure if this may account for the spike. Any advice appreciated. Thanks indexing.png
On-Page Optimization | | UnderMe0 -
Am I cannabalizing my title tags or is there a better way?
I've read some info about title tags and meta, and I'm getting a little confused. If there is a previous discussion that I've missed, please redirect me. thank you. So I have a locksmith and one of his pages is on Auto Locksmith. For every car, I have a page. i.e Acura, Audi, BMW etc. Here is my title tag: Acura Car Keys| Ignition Switch Repair| Key Duplication BMW Car Keys| Ignition Switch Repair| Key Duplication Same for the rest of the different car models on the site. I previously asked a question on here about "What is Cannibalization", and after reading the answer, as well as a full article about it, I think I may be potentially cannibalizing my site with these title tags, though my SEO Moz has not indicated that I am. Should my title tags be instead... Acura car keys| Acura Ignition Switch Repair| Acura Key Duplication for each vehicle page? Additionally, all the Meta Descriptions on each vehicle page read the same as well. Is this correct? We duplicate Acura car keys, repair ignition switches, extract broken keys, replace remotes, reprogram transponder keys and provide emergency locksmith srvc. Lastly, this is for a city, yet I have not placed the city modifier in my tags nor content. Somehow it knows what city I'm in because some of my pages are ranking on Page 1, however other pages are ranking like #188, #257...So I'm just confused. Thanks for any help you can provide. Jaye
On-Page Optimization | | jayestovall0 -
Title and Heading Tags
Firstly I would like to comment on how helpful this site is. I haven't posted much before but have been reading tonnes of answers for many months now and have been finding it really useful. I used the SEOmoz scanner and the main problem highlighted was duplicate content so I started to add 'customer product reviews' I had received and unique 'further information' to each page (hopefully this was the right thing to do to solve duplicate content! : ) ) Then I looked at heading and title tags. Currently I set title tags for each product page to be "Brand Name- Product Name" but after doing some research we are thinking of putting Keyword Description of Product | Product Name | Brand Name (around 60 characters long). So is this the advised thing to do and create unique titles that are relevant to each specific product page for over 200 pages we have? In addition, any advice on setting optimum tags would be great. We keep reading varying tips online. I gather ideally h1 needs to be a shorter keyword rich version of the title tag? Many Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | jannkuzel0