simple question about keywords in <title>-tag

[Gert Leroy]

hello,

QUESTION: which of the following 2 titles will score best in Google
for the keyword-set "map of Natal" ?

TITLE1: Visit Natal Brazil - map

TITLE2: Visit Natal Brazil - map of Natal

greetz

[dharrison]

I'd say Title 2. But would aim for Map of Natal to be at the start of the title.

HTH

[dburdon]

Gert,

"of" is a stop word and has little value in organic search. However, given in takes up just 3 character spaces - with a gap - its hardly going to damage your search chances whilst at the same time making the title more user friendly.

[Ellio]

Map of Natal - Visit Natal Brazil

[SPC2]

"of" is a stopword, yes, but exact matches are important in the rankings. I.e. Google won't include "of" when compiling a results set from the index, but when they are ranking the results set, exact matches, including "of", do matter.

Your second suggestion is the best of the two, Gert. But, as the others have said, place the exact match at the start of the Title.