28 replies to this topic

[ttw]

For several years now I have been using

CODE

<meta name="ROBOTS" content="NOYDIR,NOODP">

and it has worked correctly.

Today I noticed that a Google search for my company name "totheweb" resulted in the SERP showing "ToTheWeb LLC" as the result for my homepage at totheweb.com but my title tag reads "Generate Sales Leads: Optimize Your Website And Get More Prospects from Search Engines!".

"ToTheWeb LLC" is shown in my Open Directory listing. I added the meta tag to stop Google from using that in the SERP. And it has been working for years. As of today it is not working.

Of course Google is still supporting the NOODP meta tag, and that tag is still present in the head of my homepage HTML file, I have not changed it.

Bing and Yahoo are giving the correct SERP for my company name.

Any ideas as to what is going on here?

Thanks.

[Jill]

I've seen them defaulting to the company name in the Title if it's not there when the search query is for the company name.

It isn't dependent upon the DMOZ/ODP title or description, but something else completely.

Another instance of Google 'knowing' what's best for the searcher I guess.

[ttw]

Any thoughts on how we can influence the results to be the way it used to be 'for years'?

[qwerty]

If what Jill has written is correct, adding your company name to the title tag would fix it. For what it's worth, I've got my company name all the way at the end of my home page's title (it gets cut off before that point on a SERP), and I haven't seen them replace the tag's contents with my ODP listing since I added the noodp.

[Michael Martinez]

I don't know is this the reason why, but you do have "ToTheWeb LLC" in your page's footer/copyright statement. That is the only user-visible text on the page that matches your domain name. An alt= text snippet seems to be ignored.

Perhaps adding "ToTheWeb" without the LLC in user-visible text above the footer or before the copyright notice will resolve the problem. I can't promise you anything -- this is just one of those times where you sort of toss stuff at the wall and see what sticks -- I mean, a little testing might be prudent.

[Jill]

If what Jill has written is correct, adding your company name to the title tag would fix it.

Exactly. I think that would solve it.

[ttw]

Thanks Michael. As a test, I am first going to add my company name at the end of the title tag text and see if that has an effect (currently my company name is not in the title tag).

If after a few weeks that has no effect I will consider adding my company name higher up in the on page text.

I'll let you know what happens!

I don't know is this the reason why, but you do have "ToTheWeb LLC" in your page's footer/copyright statement. That is the only user-visible text on the page that matches your domain name. An alt= text snippet seems to be ignored.

Perhaps adding "ToTheWeb" without the LLC in user-visible text above the footer or before the copyright notice will resolve the problem. I can't promise you anything -- this is just one of those times where you sort of toss stuff at the wall and see what sticks -- I mean, a little testing might be prudent.

[Jill]

Definitely let us know! I have a feeling you'll see results quickly. Assuming your NOODP tag is truly put in there correctly.

[ttw]

We've taken Jill's advice and added the company name to the Title tag and will check it every few days to see if there is a change.

Thanks!

[ttw]

Jill - You're amazing!!

Our normal Title tag has now been restored. Thanks for the great advice.

Rosemary

[Jill]

Great!

I don't think that was anything amazing by me, just common sense in looking at what was happening, but thank you!

[Jill]

As per the previous posts in this thread, you'll want to make sure to include the company name in your Title tag, ideally, first. It's likely that Google is only showing their company name title tag which they generated for you, just for searches on your company name, and not for keyword searches.

[dekyto]

As per the previous posts in this thread, you'll want to make sure to include the company name in your Title tag, ideally, first. It's likely that Google is only showing their company name title tag which they generated for you, just for searches on your company name, and not for keyword searches.

In reading through this post I think that I am having a similar situation.
For years we have ranked at the top for 'Christmas Wreaths' the site is www.artificialchristmaswreaths.com

The title tag has been displayed as long as I can remember:
<title>BEAUTIFUL CHRISTMAS WREATHS by Artificial Christmas Wreaths.com</title>

Within the past week Google, Yahoo!, and Bing have stopped showing the title tag and are showing:
Google : Artificial Christmas Wreaths
Yahoo!: Artificial Wreaths
Bing: Artificial Wreaths

As we are heading into our season I am a little worried that even though we have good placement the boring listings may hurt us.
Especially on Bing where they display:
"Christmas Wreaths - Gorgeous Christmas Wreaths from Christmas Forest Wreaths" directly below our listing.

Any thoughts on how to get the title to display. The company name, domain name, product(s) and keyword phrase are all the same.
Our ISP changed our site over to a new server about 6 weeks ago, I doubt it, but could that have anything to do with this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Mark

[Jill]

dekyto are you sure yours isn't the dmoz title?

[qwerty]

I don't see a DMOZ listing, but they are in the Yahoo Directory:

ArtificialChristmasWreaths.com
Features Christmas, Hanukkah, interfaith, holiday, and seasonal wreaths. Also carries ornament collections.
www.artificialchristmaswreaths.com