Why has Google started to re-write my page titles?
-
Since earlier this week I've noticed that Google has started to re-write several of our page titles and I'm not entirely sure why - does anyone have any info?
We are a UK business and currently have top spot for the keyword 'toilet cubicles' - however, our index.html page title has changed as follows:
FROM: Toilet Cubicles | WC Panel Systems for Washrooms | Cubicle Centre
TO: Cubicle Centre: Toilet Cubicles | WC Panel Systems for Washrooms
Is this Google favouring a more brand-led approach to search? Be interesting to hear everyone's thoughts...
Cheers,
Craig.
-
Ha, excellent Robert. I have to agree there are far more interesting topics than toilet cubicles but good to hear the site was informative! Thanks for your response above, very sensible point. If we drop a few in the rankings you have given me something to consider here. All the best. Craig.
-
Brian,
I wrote a response to this, hit post reply and then got an error message from moz. This will be shorter.
Where are you seeing the reports of this or is it something with sites you control? The reason I ask, is I would love to see any examples to see if there might be a change occurring.
My guess is that the issue with Craig and Cubicle Centre is that the whole page is around Cubicle Centre and the targeted keywords are the Toilet Cubicles and WC Panel systems. With everything being Cubicle Center, those terms are being moved by Google's algo. All important on site SEO is around Cubicle Center.
It would be interesting though if there is a change afoot. If you could let me know for any you see I would like to look at them.
Thanks,
Robert
-
Craig, I have to add that I now know more about toilet cubicles than ever before! Wow. I did not need that info;)
As to an additional interesting component, when I did non personalized search in US, you are ranked 2nd and on Google.co.uk you are first for toilet cubicles even though Google has affected it. Not too shabby.
Best
-
Craig
I just looked at this and the title tag is what you have for FROM and when you look at the SERPs, you have the title moved as you say in TO.
This has nothing to do with Google and branding, etc. Here is a good quote from WMT:
Google's generation of page titles and descriptions (or "snippets") is completely automated and takes into account both the content of a page as well as references to it that appear on the web. The goal of the snippet and title is to best represent and describe each result and explain how it relates to the user's query.
I suggest reading the whole page; I am trying to be brief.
Now, when you look at the content, etc. on your page (I use view source as it is easier to get there) you see that as a home page for Cubicle Centre you talk much more about cubicles than about toilets. Google's algorithm is inferring that you are a cubicle centre first. If you look at the others on your site not all have changed, just a few. But, on this page it makes total sense that the algo would change it. Your alt text, most of your links, etc. are around Cubicles and Cubicle Center. Not around Toilet cubicles. Your content is around cubicles and cubicle center as well.
I think the meta description is just generic enough that t has not been touched and is verbatim. I see more often where a meta description is changed than seeing titles change, but it really makes sense here. What you may want to do is reconsider what you are ranking the home page for (Typically your business like you have here.) The problem is you are actually trying to rank for three terms here: Toilet Cubicles, WC Panel Systems for Washrooms, and then your brand. That is diluting the other two because you are strong with the brand.
Hope this helps,
Robert
-
Craig
I just looked at this and the title tag is what you have for FROM and when you look at the SERPs, you have the title moved as you say in TO.
This has nothing to do with Google and branding, etc. Here is a good quote from WMT:
Google's generation of page titles and descriptions (or "snippets") is completely automated and takes into account both the content of a page as well as references to it that appear on the web. The goal of the snippet and title is to best represent and describe each result and explain how it relates to the user's query.
I suggest reading the whole page; I am trying to be brief.
Now, when you look at the content, etc. on your page (I use view source as it is easier to get there) you see that as a home page for Cubicle Centre you talk much more about cubicles than about toilets. Google's algorithm is inferring that you are a cubicle centre first. If you look at the others on your site not all have changed, just a few. But, on this page it makes total sense that the algo would change it. Your alt text, most of your links, etc. are around Cubicles and Cubicle Center. Not around Toilet cubicles. Your content is around cubicles and cubicle center as well.
I think the meta description is just generic enough that t has not been touched and is verbatim. I see more often where a meta description is changed than seeing titles change, but it really makes sense here. What you may want to do is reconsider what you are ranking the home page for (Typically your business like you have here.) The problem is you are actually trying to rank for three terms here: Toilet Cubicles, WC Panel Systems for Washrooms, and then your brand. That is diluting the other two because you are strong with the brand.
Hope this helps,
Robert
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
-
Reducing Amount of Text on Web Pages-Risk of Killing Ranking?
We are a commercial real estate brokerage firm in Manhattan. Our site (w w w . m e t r o - m a n h a t t a n . com) is text heavy and somewhat uninviting. Ranking is fair. Conversions awful. Our niche is very competitive. We plan on reducing the amount of text and making the site more visual. Among the planned changes: -Reduce amount of text in home page and text heavy pages. More emphasis on product (listings)
Branding | | Kingalan1
-Much larger photos for listings
-Lighter cleaner design with more open white areas
-Use of more visible fonts
-Better forms New design will be like: http://www.dernieretage-paris.com/ Theme and graphics based on Manhattan. More visuals. Better photos. Less text. But are we shooting ourselves in the foot by reducing text? Is there a risk that Google will reduce our ranking? Can we compensate for reduced text that is visible to visitors by completing meta tags more fully? Any thoughts??? Thanks,
Alan0 -
Switch to naked domain that has higher page authority
Brilliant Moz community! I just started here and find it so helpful and am confident that I can get an answer to this. Our domain is currently https://www.example.com. I have been wanting to move to https://example.com just for a cleaner URL. To my surprise, https://example.com has the same DA but a significantly higher page authority than our current https://www.example.com. Of course my immediate reaction is to 301 to the https://example.com but I wanted to get some advice and anything we should consider before doing this. My other question would be - how is this possible? I don't remember that we ever used that domain but we also had some rather bad developers a couple of years back. Thank you so much in advance!
Branding | | kris-fannin0 -
Different meta tags appearing in SERP for same landing page
Hi all, hoping someone can help. We have a landing page that ranks quite well for a number of keywords that send us a nice amount of organic traffic. We understand the importance of Meta tags, as Google will be the users first interaction with our site we want to stand out and be noticed and also show we provide information on their search query. The problem is this, while we have optimised the title and description tags for the landing page, this is only appearing on specific search results. If you were to search a different keyword, you would still get the same landing page, but the title tag and description would not pull through, it decides to pull through the page name and first few lines of text instead. Is there anything we can do to sort this issue?
Branding | | Ben_Malkin_Develo0 -
Facebook page not appearing in search results
Could anyone give a reason as to why a facebook page wouldn't be appearing in search results? - I've setup numerous facebook Pages for businesses and they usually get indexed and start appearing in the SERPs for their respective name/brand name relatively quickly, but have a Page for a business (which has even been quite active recently) and it's nowhere to be seen in Google's results (not even on a search for the complete URL). Any thoughts appreciated, thanks. Greg
Branding | | GregDixson0 -
.re or .com domain
I am thinking about changing the name of my site. The new name is available with .re domain (that spells the name) or a .com. I have registered the .re and the .com is parked and for sale so my question has 2 parts. Is it worth buying the .com or do I really not need it? How much does it matter in terms of losing traffic and other factors? If I do buy it which should I use as the primary domain? Thanks!
Branding | | yojimbo230 -
Should I create a Google + account for the brand for Rel=Author
Hi, What I meant is should I use the above mentioned account as rel=author for category pages etc? It seems to me improper to use my account (with my picture) in a category page and to show my face in the SERPS for searches like "Toshiba Laptops". On the other hand, if in the SERPS it will show our Logo it might increase CTR... Any thoughts? Thanks
Branding | | BeytzNet0 -
Google Places, Optimization when in the Suburb of a Metroplex?
A client's business just recently changed addresses. Even though they are physically less than a mile from the previous location, the city has changed. This has resulted in our Google Places results dissappearing (no surprise). What is the best practice for people searching for <product><metroplex-primary-city>to still get our Google Places result, even though we are technically in a suburb of this metroplex?</metroplex-primary-city></product> Already added the primary city name to the description. What else can I do?
Branding | | networkelites0 -
Does a +1 or Share appear in SERPs site-wide, or only for the page that is specifically shared?
Take the example Danny Sullivan posted: http://searchengineland.com/how-being-friends-on-google-leads-to-better-rankings-87376 In this case, Ford shared www.ford.com, and its friends and followers see that in the SERPs. Hoever, how does that compare with, say, sharing http://www.ford.com/cars/mustang/? Does the entire domain reap the benefit, or just that page? Would people see a "Ford shared this" beneath a search result pointing to ford.com (the home page), even if Ford had only shared this specific interior page? Or is it too soon to know for sure how this is all going to work?
Branding | | kpclaypool0