best way for listing title

[uberanimal]

wondering about your title for seo purposes... what is best?

title - site name - summary

site name - title- summary

summary - title - site name

title - site name - title repeated

short title - site name - title

title - short title - site name

I have a couple seo plugins in wordpress that allow me to change this. just wondering what is best for seo?

[NateDesmond]

I have heard that "title - site name" is the best because then people will see the title first when they are browsing SERPs.

[wige]

I agree that title - summary is the best format. Including anything else, such as a summary, would make the title too long, and would probably get cut off. The only time I would vary from this is if you have a strong branded site. "Pepsi - Choose your flavor" is OK if you have the internationally recognized brand, but "Choose your flavor - StartupCola" is better for the small business whose name is not instantly recognized.

[inertia]

Is it necessary to have your company name in the title?