Why Google Replaces Your Page Titles

[snakeair]

If you have some time, check out this short blog post before commenting.

We all know classic titles in the search results like “New Page 1″, “Untitled Document” or simply just “Home”, these are titles for which Google could decide to replace with a more descriptive title. In a blog post Webmaster Trends Analyst Pierre Far explains the reasons why Google might replace the original title of a page in the search results with an own generated title.

Normally titles have to be unique and need to describe what the content of a page is about in 70 characters max. But even if a single title is written the right way it’s not always the best one for all search queries. That’s why in some cases Google uses algorithms to decide if a title is good enough or if it’s better to replace it with a alternative title that’s more relevant to the query.

Google says their own tests have....

Continued at: http://www.stateofsearch.com/why-goo...r-page-titles/

Any feedback on this?

[Dirky47]

I agree that's why as SEOs we need to be careful in creating our Meta titles. We must follow what the Search engines recommends to do with.

[Vanille]

Both search engines and people look at the titles to see what the web page is about. So, if the titles are created in a way that is confusing or unhelpful then, they need to be corrected. Since titles can provide important benefits like increased rankings and traffic, it's worthwhile to spend some time on optimizing them properly.

[ScriptMan]

I never use meta_title but I do spend some time thing about the page title which with the way I have written the script is the same as the article title. I am not going to sit here and count them but I think most times Google agrees with me. I am more interested in what people think so I gear my titles to the people who will be looking for the subject.

[Brave7]

I tried create a similar thread a few days ago but it was removed without knowing why.

When Google want to change automated rules of the page titles it will modify your SEO goals.

It is important to understand this concept of changing the author messages. Do you find logical that Google change the title of the author books? I don't think so.

Now if no titles exist at the fisrt place, yes Google can create it, but not when it is already created by the webmasters or authors.

Google wants unique page titles which will obviously generated long tail titles that are no more recognized by Google and will rank from nowhere.

My philosophy is to provide quality work for my audience and it doesn't matter if the page titles exist already on internet if it match our contents, because our audience will have a lot of information available and located on our site, not scattered around the internet.

[cgwebsites]

I don't like the idea of Google being able to alter the content of my websites. I mean, in many cases they may be replacing "Homepage" with something more descriptive, but they might also be erasing a better title. Google search has enough power as it is, I don't want them changing my pages without my permission and without my knowledge.

[ScriptMan]

Originally Posted by cgwebsites

I don't like the idea of Google being able to alter the content of my websites. I mean, in many cases they may be replacing "Homepage" with something more descriptive, but they might also be erasing a better title. Google search has enough power as it is, I don't want them changing my pages without my permission and without my knowledge.

I don't think they give a squat what you think. They may be willing to delist you altogether if you don't like what they are doing. Just email and ask them.

Their site, they make the rules. Your site you make the rules.

[andrew1]

That true Google used to replace title only when title is not appropriate or not as per site and due to this user are not able to get their desired search results.

As its very much true that many webmaster don't take this seriously and that is why we seen many untitled documents and for this reason Google needs to replace it.

Anyway thanks a lot for this.

[Brave7]

Originally Posted by andrew1

That true Google used to replace title only when title is not appropriate.

How do you define that the title is not appropriate?

[azeem.tamboli]

That is simple logic if you know that you are submitted your website or blog in ODP(open Directory Project) and used different title at that time. So Google consider that title instead of your current title.

[cgwebsites]

Originally Posted by ScriptMan

I don't think they give a squat what you think. They may be willing to delist you altogether if you don't like what they are doing. Just email and ask them.

Their site, they make the rules. Your site you make the rules.

I'm sure they don't care. But the conversation was about the fact that they do it. Just trying to keep the discussion going.

If you go to all the trouble, like you said, of trying to gear your titles to the subject of your content and what your viewers would be searching for, why would you want them changed? You don't mind?

[ScriptMan]

Originally Posted by cgwebsites

If you go to all the trouble, like you said, of trying to gear your titles to the subject of your content and what your viewers would be searching for, why would you want them changed? You don't mind?

I really don't.

I just have a different attitude. The page will be indexed based on the content, not the title. The title might be 10 words on a page and the content is usually close to 500. Though I spent some time thinking about it, I may not have picked the most descriptive title for the page. It isn't always possible to be descriptive and have something catchy at the same time.

At any rate, it is the content that I spent the time writing that I want to be viewed. The best way for that to happen is for the page to be indexed. Like it or not, if your pages are not in a SE, they are not going to be read by very many people.

With no insult intended to you or others, my ego is big enough to take a few licks now and then and survive intact.