Location in page title

[Gio Greenard]

Hi all,

I have been re writing some title tags for one of our clients, as well as carrying out some competitor research.

Whilst I am fine with writing page titles and meta descriptions. I do however wonder if I am being spammy in Google's eyes as I have the location in most titles.

Whilst the product/service I mention is based in the city, looking at my excel sheet the page titles look kinda similar in format, as do the competitors. Am I over thinking?

To clarify I only use the city name once in conjunction with the state code where possible.I never reference any locations outside of my clients remit.

keyword, location, brand

keyword keyword, location and so on.....


Any feedback would be great.

 

[Marie Ysais]

Re: Location in page Title

I am working on the exact same type of project and came here for a few more ideas...
I am setting it all up very similar to yours but what I would like to do is change it up a bit after the Brand. But interested in suggestions as it does look very repetitive to me and I am working on the content to be NOT repetitive at all. very hard to do!

Now.........anyone have some good ideas?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Re: Location in page Title

Whilst I am fine with writing page titles and meta descriptions. I do however wonder if I am being spammy in Google's eyes as I have the location in most titles.

Whilst the product/service I mention is based in the city, looking at my excel sheet the page titles look kinda similar in format, as do the competitors. Am I over thinking?

To clarify I only use the city name once in conjunction with the state code where possible.I never reference any locations outside of my clients remit.

keyword, location, brand

keyword keyword, location and so on.....

I don't think Google would view it as spammy to include city.

In fact I'd go so far as to say that if you are trying to rank for "City Keyword" if it's a term that's competitive at all, you likely won't rank well UNLESS you have "City Keyword" in title tag and on all the other important SEO places on the page.

However on the flip side, Google does not like you to have the exact same title tag on every page so you do need to ensure the title uniquely represents the content of each page.

Page 1 - "City Keyword One + blah blah blah"
Page 2 - "City Keyword Two + different blah blah blah"

You can also switch it up based on the KW research you do for each phase.

Some KWs may get more searches for "Keyword City" in reverse order.
Sometimes you can use "Keyword in City St"

Or add superlatives or descriptors like best XYZ, lowest prices on YYZ, again based on your KW research.

There are lots of ways to switch it up to make each title unique.

 

[gregorysmith]

Re: Location in page Title

What you're doing should be just fine. I don't see anything spammy at all about that. Though something you should pay attention to when working with page titles is:

Title tags: One of the biggest myths in the SEO community is that Google measures title tags in character limits. This isn't true. Google measures title tags by pixels.
In order for you to make sure your title tags are SEO optimized correctly, you need to export your title tag data into an Excel doc. You then must change the font you’re using, to Arial. Make sure to use font size 12. This is exactly what Google uses.
Set the Excel column width to 520 pixels — that’s Google’s cut off limit. Anything more than the standard 520 pixels is going too be too long and anything under 350 pixels is going to be too short. Follow the directions I’ve provided you 100%
My Recommended guideline for perfectly optimized title tags:
Roughly 50 to 65 characters in length.
Use unique titles on every page.
Use the title tag keyword twice (once at the start, followed by separator, and then once again in a call to action).
If relevant, include a geo-qualifier (such as Kentucky or Morehead, Ky).

Hope this helps,
gregory smith

 

[David Deering]

Re: Location in page Title

One thing to keep in mind about writing title and description tags is that while you want to try and optimize them for Google, you also need to make sure that they are appealing to humans. Because as you already know, these tags are going to be displayed in search results, and if they are just a bunch of keywords and terms jumbled together, they won't convince people to click on the link. So the key is to strike a balance between optimizing them for Google but making them appealing to people.

 

[MiriamEllis]

Re: Location in page Title

This is such a good topic. I've been writing title tags for about a decade now, and can tell you, this is how my own work has evolved over the years:

In the old days, my titles were much more keyword focused, sometimes to the point of looking almost like a list of kw phrases separated by commas. Something like this:

Handmade Candles, Scented Candles, Beeswax Candles | Bright Candle Shop

Ridiculous, right? But lots of title tags were written like that back in the day when Google's sophistication was far less than it is now. Remember filling meta keywords tags with all kinds of fun and seeing it work???

Anyhow, as Google has moved towards a human-centric approach to all page elements, the care one must put into crafting title tags has also developed, and I actually like this approach. So, today, if I'm writing a title tag for a local candle shop, no way would I write it like the above. I avoid repetition and focus strongly on writing something that makes a clear, positive impression on the SERP visitor.

Natural Beeswax Candles At Bright Candle Shop, San Diego, CA

That's just off the top of my head, but the difference is obvious.

I'm not above beating up Google for all of the dumb things they do, but when it comes to their increasing focus on naturalness vs. junk, I'm a fan.

 

[Travis Van Slooten]

Re: Location in page Title

I always treat the meta title and meta description like a PPC ad. To that end, I follow the same general guidelines I would when writing an ad. I make sure I use the keyword and city but I also try to make it really compelling to the reader. So my meta title and description might be something like this:

Looking For The Best Natural Beeswax Candles in San Diego, CA?
Our natural beeswax candles are hand-made and packaged right here in San Diego, CA. We have hundreds of scents to choose from and discounts on multiple purchases. Visit us today!

Travis Van Slooten

 

[MiriamEllis]

Re: Location in page Title

Like that, Travis

 

[kellylarson]

Interesting. I wasn't sure what characters were allowable to include in a title. Question marks are okay? Cool. Thanks for the examples.

 

[Gio Greenard]

Thanks everyone for all your input!

It sounds kinda crazy, but what works for me is always asking myself "Am I describing this page properly?" and does the subject matter (generally a service/product) warrant having the city included.

It works for me anyway although I get some strange looks when I'm talking to myself.

If it's a page detailing some general industry info I tend to omit any geo info, or at least tone it down (could be a mistake on my behalf).


One of my colleagues is obsessed with having the same city keyword throughout the titles over and over again.

keyword, city, brand
keyword city brand ect.....


I prefer to change it up and maybe reference another geo locator (such as the state) from time to time, or the titles look so similar, and read terribly IMO. Miriam I definitely subscribe to the way you write your titles, so much less robotic.

I've actually finished the project I was working on. The end result was quite a mixture of page titles referencing various geo locations. At times (very few) excluding any kind of geo locator.

I'll post an update in due course

Have a great day!!! Love this forum!!

P.S Apologies from any bad grammar, rushing around!!!!!

 

[David Deering]

I like your approach, Gio. Personally, I think that titles and descriptions should be written with a balanced approach to help with rankings and appeal to people. And you're right, sometimes a city keyword is not necessary in the title tag if your target market is much broader. I do think that a person could cram all kinds of keywords into their tags, but what's the point if it looks strange and people don't click on the listing?