A quick question about title meta tags

[subcitizen]

Hi, thank you for looking at my post. I'm in the process of creating my title meta tags. I've noticed that if I delete the comma between keywords and keyword phrases that I could squeeze in one more keyword. Currently I have a title tag that 70 characters long. Is this bad for SEO? Do all the keywords and keyword phrases need to be separated by commas?

Again, thanks for any and all info. I really appreciate it!

Jason

[SEMSpot]

When making the page title, make it so it sounds good and not just cluttered with keyword and phrases. What is the title you want to try and use? How many keywords are you trying to target for that page?

[subcitizen]

Currently I have 9 keywords consisting of brands that I carry in my store. The way they are listed now is just like you described "cluttered with keyword and phrases". I'm glad you brought this up because I never understood this idea. Why should I clutter up my title with words that have no bearing on my company, like we, the, and, get, but, or buy, just so I could make a clear sentence? Isn't it better to maximize my utility with keywords that give me better ratings in the SERP's?

Thank you so much for your input. I appreciate your help.

Jason

[Dubbya]

While it is important to use keywords in your title tags, don't try to use all of them on a single page.

Each title should be specifically created for the page that it's on, using words that appear within the content on that page.

Danny Sullivan's rule of thumb guidelines will help you create great titles.

Search Engine Marketing Glossary - SEO & SEM Industry Dictionary

Enjoy.

[chowell]

Dubbya's post is pretty accurate.

My only addition to his comments is to make sure your Title is something that people are going to click on. When your Title appears in the search results and is crap, whether it's ranked on the 1st page or not, the user is probably not going to click on it.

[Matteo]

Overall you are correct....articles , prepositions and pounctuation do little good in the title tag. But Be Smart when approaching the title tag and know that you are optimizing for your main keyword in the title tag. The search engines will still pick up your secondary keywords on the page

Having Said that :

Shoes by Nike Reebok Avia Converse at discount prices
Is likely to be a more effective title than

Shoes Nike Reebok Avia Converse Discount Prices

The first removed alot of the grammatical English that clutters things up while still keeping a sytax close enough to conversational speech to register in the users brain

You have to optimize for the user and the search engine at the same time.

[SEMSpot]

If you have 9 keywords of different brands you carry, why not break it up into 9 different pages for those keywords so you can target each one more effectively. Trying to target all 9 at one time on the same page is kind of outrageous. Most of the time you want to target 2-3 keywords per page and not 9.

[subcitizen]

Thank you so much for your input. I truly appreciate everyone's viewpoint and experience on this matter!

Let me clarify for a second, I know I said that I target 9 keywords but I really have 5 keyword phrases and keywords that total 9 words all together.

Semspot mentioned: "Trying to target all 9 at one time on the same page is kind of outrageous."
Can you tell me why? My thoughts are that you need to really maximize your limited "real estate" (title length)

Just a little background. Since my site is relatively new, I only get, on a good day, 10 organic hits. I need to get 10 times that amount, at least. Shouldn't I be totally maximize everything I can to improve me SEO. If that means one extra keyword that could bring in one more person a day, then shouldn't I do it? As opposed to being conventional and putting in periods, commas, and small words, to create a sentence.

Chowell mentioned:"My only addition to his comments is to make sure your Title is something that people are going to click on. When your Title appears in the search results and is crap, whether it's ranked on the 1st page or not, the user is probably not going to click on it."

I totally understand this, but I wouldn't categorize my keywords as crap. Only because they contain brands that people would recognize. Not to mention the brand the person entered into the search engine. So, I really don't know if the user would see it as crap. If I was looking for a Sony Walkman and I typed that into Google, I don't think it would turn me off to see a title that says "Sony Toshiba Sankyo Goldstar Onkyo"

I'm so new to this, please let me know if this isn't reasonable. I really do appreciate everyone's help on this and this incredible forum.

Thank You So Much,
Jason

[jeffposaka]

I like " this page title - kw 1 kw 2 kw 3 - by My brand "

Make sure each page has a unique title or you will have duplicate content issues (IMO).

[incrediblehelp]

subcitizen here is some more SEO newbie help