Basic SEO Title Question

[jdwanchalk]

Alright, if my title says XXX Review | XXX Information | My Site Name

is it bad? Is the repetition of the poker room's name bad or is it ok because I divide it and end it differently? Basically, am I any better off with just having XXX Review | My Site Name than I am as it currently stands...

[Hazo]

What are you trying to rank for? What terms will make you the most money? How competitive are the terms? What is their search volume?

Title tags are widely regarded as the most important on page SEO factor.

Do a Google search and take a look at what the top ranking sites are doing.

[Harry Zack]

Yes. Having your site name just dilutes the power of the first two keywords you want to rank for. The sitename.com is unncessary as well.

[jdwanchalk]

What are you trying to rank for? What terms will make you the most money? How competitive are the terms? What is their search volume?

Title tags are widely regarded as the most important on page SEO factor.

Do a Google search and take a look at what the top ranking sites are doing.

Did this and it seems all the sites that rank well do what I am currently doing. Either it "isn't bad" or it is in fact the optimal strategy.

Yes. Having your site name just dilutes the power of the first two keywords you want to rank for. The sitename.com is unncessary as well.

All SEO articles I have read highly advocate adding your site's name to all titles.

[NickM]

If this is for a general poker room review, I would use something like the following:

XXXXPoker Review - XXXX Poker "Secondary term" For XXXXPoker.com

Assuming it is "word" + "poker" domain name, Including all 3 variations is important in my opinion. Figure out what secondary term is valuable and less competitive. Honestly, ranking for "XXXXXXPoker Review" is generally pretty tough, unless you really want to go for it. There are some big sites devoting a lot of resources for those review keywords.

You also want to use the "palindrome approach" where you use word combinations that can be searched for both ways. Like in the above example, the first 3 (or 4 technically) words are "XXXXPoker Review - XXXX Poker"

This way you target people who search for your main term in different ways:

"XXXXPoker Review"
"Review of XXXXPoker"

I also believe that repetition of your main keyword targets in a logical manner can help your ranking for said keywords and phrases.

And definitely don't use your domain name.

Disclaimer: All of this is just from personal experience and should not be treated as fact. I have no hard evidence to supprot any of this.

[jdwanchalk]

If this is for a general poker room review, I would use something like the following:

XXXXPoker Review - XXXX Poker "Secondary term" For XXXXPoker.com

Assuming it is "word" + "poker" domain name, Including all 3 variations is important in my opinion. Figure out what secondary term is valuable and less competitive. Honestly, ranking for "XXXXXXPoker Review" is generally pretty tough, unless you really want to go for it. There are some big sites devoting a lot of resources for those review keywords.

You also want to use the "palindrome approach" where you use word combinations that can be searched for both ways. Like in the above example, the first 3 (or 4 technically) words are "XXXXPoker Review - XXXX Poker"

This way you target people who search for your main term in different ways:

"XXXXPoker Review"
"Review of XXXXPoker"

I also believe that repetition of your main keyword targets in a logical manner can help your ranking for said keywords and phrases.

And definitely don't use your domain name.

Disclaimer: All of this is just from personal experience and should not be treated as fact. I have no hard evidence to supprot any of this.

I ended up electing to remove the domain name after a little research on what other sites were doing. I have two solid parts to each title now, both including the poker site's name (and not my domain).

Thanks for all the help.

[Ridge]

All SEO articles I have read highly advocate adding your site's name to all titles.

You are reading the wrong articles

[Michael Martinez]

I think it's okay to use the site's name in the article title if you want to assist with branding the site. There are basically four options:

• Site name - Article title
• Article title - Site name
• Article title
• Site name

Most people would never pick option four (site name only in the title) but I've seen it done successfully. I would only do this for a major brand that has a lot of visibility and inbound links.

Option 1 is what I do with my personal sites. I just like it that way. It hurts nothing.

Option 2 is what many people in the SEO community prefer if they have to live with the site name in the article title. It at least helps identify the originating site for the article.

In my opinion, it really doesn't matter all that much if you're looking at other factors for your optimization. It really comes down to how important the site brand is to you. And sometimes to the template you choose.

[jdwanchalk]

You are reading the wrong articles

Yea, I did indeed end up removing the site title from all pages.

[jdwanchalk]

I think it's okay to use the site's name in the article title if you want to assist with branding the site. There are basically four options:

• Site name - Article title
• Article title - Site name
• Article title
• Site name

Most people would never pick option four (site name only in the title) but I've seen it done successfully. I would only do this for a major brand that has a lot of visibility and inbound links.

Option 1 is what I do with my personal sites. I just like it that way. It hurts nothing.

Option 2 is what many people in the SEO community prefer if they have to live with the site name in the article title. It at least helps identify the originating site for the article.

In my opinion, it really doesn't matter all that much if you're looking at other factors for your optimization. It really comes down to how important the site brand is to you. And sometimes to the template you choose.

The fact that my site is not well known is part of the reason I eliminated it. It is not something that will draw someone in by itself, which I think should be the aim if you include your site's name in the title.