Google has been rewriting titles for a while now, leading some website owners to wonder whether you should change your meta titles to match Google’s rewrite?
John Mueller, Search Advocate for Google, was asked this on the Mastodon platform by someone whose site’s titles had been changed in Google Search, and wanted to know whether they should change their titles to match how Google had rewritten them. Most of the time, Google is removing the website name and putting this above the title in the search engine results page (SERP).
The person who asked Mueller about this went on to enquire about whether Google sees site names as redundant, and if so, whether you should remove them from the meta titles on your website.
Mueller answered the query from the Mastodon user, saying that he “would not assume that a rewritten version is better (for SEO or for users)”. Therefore he’d “recommend keeping the site name in there” as it helps Google to make sure it is pulling the correct site name through to Google Search.
Traditionally, the naming conventions of meta titles has always included adding your site name, and you should also remember that Google isn’t the only search engine that is going to be crawling your website and indexing your site within search results, so this is another reason why you should keep the site name in your meta titles. This is especially important if you have a well-known brand with a name that people will want to click through to.
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is an effective way to help get your business in front of your target audience who are searching for your business’s services and/or products, so having an optimised website is essential. If you’d like to have a chat about how we can help your business, get in touch with our friendly team at Engage Web today.
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