8 replies to this topic

[seonewbie]

I have recently stumbled across several websites that make use of only main keyword phrases separated by dashes in their title tag. i.e. 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 This seems like it would be very effective for search engines, but less than desirable for visitors, and therefore not worth it. I was looking for opinions on this technique. I haven't seen to many websites doing it, and for the most part I have always tried to operate under what works best for the clients works best for the search engines. Any thoughts?

[Michael Martinez]

Do you know the history of the pages and sites you've found? I have a lot of old pages that redirect visitors to new locations for content. I can't keep those pages out of the search engines no matter what I do. There are too many links to the old URLs that Webmasters won't update.

So, before you decide that someone is doing something sneaky, they may just be keeping all their ducks in a row.

Sometimes, a site's content will be removed and replaced after an indeterminant period of time. I don't agree with that practice, but I have watched many of my favorite sites through the years go blank for a few days to a few months and then come back with tons of new and different content.

Sometimes a technical problem happens. It could be the search engines cached default or partial pages when the server was having problems.

There are many reasons why a page might be blank. Even a spammer really isn't going to want a page that just has keywords in the title tag. He won't make any money off of it.

[Kal]

I have recently stumbled across several websites that make use of only main keyword phrases separated by dashes in their title tag. i.e. 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 This seems like it would be very effective for search engines, but less than desirable for visitors, and therefore not worth it.

Hi seonewbie

Finding the right balance between a SE friendly Title and a readable Title is tricky. I've had many arguments with marketing depts that insist on ONLY using the company name in their page title (on every page!) but that is a waste because search engines place considerable relevancy weight on the content of the Title attribute. Many years ago, I used to use a series of keywords in the title and leave it at that, but it really doesn't help make the site usable, particularly if visitors bookmark the page and search their bookmarks based on page titles.

These days, I recommend using a grammatically correct, readable sentence in your title attribute. This should include one or two target keywords based on the page content if possible, preferably with keywords towards the start of the tag. If there is room, I also recommend including your company/site name in your main page's Title for branding purposes. As you correctly pointed out, your visitors are too important!

[Alan Perkins]

The title tag is overloaded. Not only does it have to work in SERPs, it also has to work on the page, in history lists and bookmarks. Finding the right balance can be tricky.

I sometimes use dashes in title tags - but then I use them in lots of other places. too! I try to ensure I'm being idiomatically correct. Just separating a few keywords with dashes may give better rankings but it doesn't encourage clickthroughs.

[iadvancemedia]

Hello seonewbie

I am a newbie like you. I also have noticed some of the sites doing this.

if you see templatemonster.com category pages they do it like 1 | 2 | 3 and all the three keywords have a common word 'template'.

I love whatever templatemonster do.

Sometime I try to make a phrase which have more than 2 desired keywords. Instead of giving company name I add location in the last. I found this helps.

[amabaie]

Yay. My spammy title tag got me #1 ranking at Google and Yahoo. Hip-hip-horay!



Wait a minute...



How come everybody is clicking on the #2 result with the non-spammy title tag. No fair!

[Randy]

Very well said David!

[Jill]

This seems like it would be very effective for search engines, but less than desirable for visitors, and therefore not worth it.

What makes you think it's less than desirable for visitors?

If I'm doing a search, and I see in the results a title that has the exact phrase I searched for in the title, with a well-written description that shows because the Webmaster knew how to create Meta descriptions that get shown, then you betcha I'd click on it.

And people do -- all the time. What could be more relevant?

Jill

[Michael Martinez]

I have recently stumbled across several websites that make use of only main keyword phrases separated by dashes in their title tag. i.e. 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

Do you know the history of the pages and sites you've found? I have a lot of old pages that redirect visitors to new locations for content. I can't keep those pages out of the search engines no matter what I do. There are too many links to the old URLs that Webmasters won't update.

You know, there are times when I cannot sleep, and then I browse forums. And it looked to me like your message was saying something completely different, which was why I wrote what I wrote.