If Pages Are Already Indexed On Google, Should I Avoid Rewriting Their Options

[harrogate]

Hello everyone.

My 1-yr. old site has about 150 pages indexed on Google. This being my first site, I didn't realize the titles needed to include keywords. Instead, I crafted clever, punny headlines, just as one would for a magazine. Not a keyword in site.

Fortunately, I've awoken to the fact that titles need keyworeds.

Question is: are there downsides to rewriting the titles of these pages once they've been indexed? Will I be doing more harm than good? What happens exactly to a page that Google saw yesterday with Title A that's now sporting Snazzy New Keywordy Title B? Does it merely take the place of the previous version or does it have to wait to get recognized all over again?

Thanks very much!

[Randy]

Welcome harrogate ! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hi.gif)

The engines will simply index the new title as part of the page. Then they'll re-score the page based upon this new info.

Will it have an effect on rankings? Possibly or maybe even probably. If anything it should improve things because you're working your keywords into the title tags.

If you're worried about it simply keep a backup copy of the old pages with the old titles. That way you can always change them back if need be.

[Jill]

Question is: are there downsides to rewriting the titles of these pages once they've been indexed?

Nope, no downsides. You can change them to your heart's content.

[harrogate]

Nope, no downsides. You can change them to your heart's content.

Thank you, Jill and Randy, for this fantastic forum. I'll implement asap.

[briche]

no..it wont affect your site badly.. if you think your site has off the page from SE. then change it.

[SEMSEO]

Changing your title to targeted keywords would bring more traffic. Do not be afraid to experiment. But only experiment with your own web sites. Never experiment with your client's web sites. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/searchme.gif)

[prominade]

There is no problem rewriting those pages. Go DO it. You can even change the meta tags of the pages. But don't ever change the URL.

[IdanDone]

I want to add one more thing,
You can change your website content as much as you want.
Never change the file name.
:-)

Good luck!

[1dmf]

I want to add one more thing,
You can change your website content as much as you want.
Never change the file name.

Unless you purposely want a page removed and people to get a 404 (stops peolpe being able to hotlink your content and leach your bandwidth)

or you are re-doing a page, it's url to contain keywords or simply a change in technology (i.e. ASP to PHP)

But remember to 301 redirect if you want to keep link juice and not cause 404 errors!

[kennethlouiep]

You can edit or change the content of your website as long as that you will benefit of doing that thing. You should be open to any possibilities that may arise after changing the content.

[Copywriter39]

I crafted clever, punny headlines, just as one would for a magazine. Not a keyword in site.

When incorporating your keywords, keep to the style you've been using. Many magazine headlines are written in a manner that gets a readers attention and compels them to read the copy. Don't become like many who focus on the keywords and lose track of the objective. They end up with titles that are little more than lists.

[harrogate]

Hi everyone. Just thought I'd report back, one month later, on the results of implementing the changes you recommended.

Just by changing the titles to include keywords (and a bit of link building), I watched the site shoot from obscurity to pages 1-4 on Google, MSN and Yahoo (for several important keywords). So, clearly, it worked!

[pawan]

Hello everyone.

My 1-yr. old site has about 150 pages indexed on Google. This being my first site, I didn't realize the titles needed to include keywords. Instead, I crafted clever, punny headlines, just as one would for a magazine. Not a keyword in site.

Fortunately, I've awoken to the fact that titles need keyworeds.

Question is: are there downsides to rewriting the titles of these pages once they've been indexed? Will I be doing more harm than good? What happens exactly to a page that Google saw yesterday with Title A that's now sporting Snazzy New Keywordy Title B? Does it merely take the place of the previous version or does it have to wait to get recognized all over again?

Thanks very much!

Hello,

You can put the Keywords in Title now, Google will Re-Indexed your page in within a week, Indexing is the Search engine main process for updating there database.

Thanks

[piskie]

I have heard tell recently, that "Title Tweaking" alone has been demonstrated to cause a loading type drop in rankings. I have not tested it myself, but some long in the tooth SEOs are reporting this.

This is not to be confused with page content being updated and the Title adjusted to reflect the new content, but just tweaking the Title to try and gain SERPs performance.

I don't know myself, but have refrained from doing just Title Tweaks until it is established one way or the other.

[daniel]

I have heard tell recently, that "Title Tweaking" alone has been demonstrated to cause a loading type drop in rankings. I have not tested it myself, but some long in the tooth SEOs are reporting this.

This is not to be confused with page content being updated and the Title adjusted to reflect the new content, but just tweaking the Title to try and gain SERPs performance.

I don't know myself, but have refrained from doing just Title Tweaks until it is established one way or the other.

I'd like to see evidence of that, as it doesn't make sense to me.