Note – This is a test, testing Title Tags in Google. Consider also Google Title Tag Best Practice and How Many Characters In A Title Tag For Google.
We recently tested “how many keywords will Google read in the title tag / element?” using our simple seo mythbuster test (number 2 in the series). And here’s the results, which are quite surprising.
First – here’s the test title tag we tried to get Google to swallow. And it did. All of it. Even though it was a bit spammy;
HoboA HoboB HoboC HoboD HoboE HoboF HoboG HoboH HoboI HoboJ HoboK HoboL HoboM HoboN HoboO HoboP HoboQ HoboR HoboS HoboT HoboU HoboV HoboW HoboX HoboY Hob10 Hob20 Hob30 Hob40 Hob50 Hob60 Hob70 Hob80 Hob90 Hob11 Hob12 Hob13 Hob14 Hob15 Hob16 Hob17 Hob18 Hob19 Hob1a Hob1b Hob1c Hob1d Hob1e Hob1f Hob1g Hob1h
Using a keyword search – hoboA Hob1h – we were surprised to see Google returned our page. We also tested it using – Hob1g Hob1h – the keywords right at the end of the title – and again our page was returned.
So that’s 51 words, and 255 characters without spaces, 305 characters with spaces, at least! It seems clear Google will read just about anything these days!
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Update: Qwerty pointed out an interesting fact about the intitle: site operator in Google.
…..results as expected. But next in the sequence returns the following, unexpected result…..
So what does this tell us? Google seems to stop at the 12th word on this page at least when returning results using the intitle: site operator. Another interesting observation. Thanks Qwerty.
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We’re obviously not sure what benefit a title tag with this many keywords in it has for your page, in terms of keyword density / dilution, and “clickability” in the search engine results pages (SERPS). 50+ words is certainly not best practice!
When creating your title tag bear in mind Google only shows you the first 70 characters (about 8 words) in SERPS and many think you need to get a well formed understandable call to action in this space.
But from this simple experiment, it’s clear Google reads much more to factor your page in the serps. A lot more.
- SEO Myth Buster #1 – Google Prefers Valid HTML & CSS?
- SEO Myth Buster #2 – How Many Words In Your Title Tag For Google?
But what about Yahoo and MSN? Well so far, neither of these engines have indexed the page, even when it was created with a title tag of 26 words. They are obviously a bit choosier than Google at the time of writing. :)
FYI – New guidelines for displaying in Google SERP snippets 2012.
Google displays as many characters as it can fit into ”a block element that’s 512px wide and doesn’t exceed 1 line of text”. So – THERE IS NO AMOUNT OF CHARACTERS any seo can lay down as exact best practice to GUARANTEE your title will display, in full in Google, at least.Ultimately – only the characters and words you use will determine if your entire page title will be seen in a Google search snippet. Google used to count 70 characters in a title – but not in 2012. If you want to ENSURE your full title tag shows in Google SERPS, stick to about 65 characters. I have seen ‘up-to’ 69 characters in 2012 – but as I said – it depends on the characters you use. Best Practice Titles for SEO.
More Reading:
- Home Page Title Is Wrong In Google Search Results
- How Many Characters In A Page Title For Google SEO?
- How Many Words In A Page Title Tag?
- Dynamic Titles In Google SERP Snippet
- How Google, Yahoo & MSN Handle Title Snippets If They Choke
- No Page Title In Google Results
- Google Will Use H1,H2,H3,H4,H5 & H6 Headers As Titles
- How Many Title Tag Characters Will Google Display in a Search Snippet
Definitely a great test. I also agree that no one can proof is putting too much keywords will do good for your site. But I think if Google indexes keywords THAT deep, then this info will not be lying somewhere in the locker.
So how do you actually benefit from this? I would never put 300 chars in my title.
I guess it’s up to everyone to see how and if they can benefit from this. The point of the test is simply to how many words (or more accurate, characters) Google will read in a title tag. A lot of people out there think it’s a set number around 10-15. This is a misconception it would appear.
Daniel, pretty simple really. The content within the title tag plays an extremely important in the SERPS. Although it is just one more factor, it’s undeniable one of the most important ones.
I understand that but if you have a title FREE WORDPRESS TEMPLATES AND PLUGINS AND WHATNOT WE ARE THE BEST BLABLA 300 CHARS and a user searches for FREE WORDPRESS TEMPLATES I don’t think your site is going to show up in top 10, because there are hundreds of websites with free wordpress templates, unless a user inputs exact phrase or am I wrong?
Just with regards to MSN and Yahoo. They take alot more into account when it comes to Keywords in Titles. With MSN and Yahoo being META search engines they’re very quick to blacklist sites with keywords in the title, description and keywords section of your page. You’ll most likely find that you’ll get indexed you’ll shoot to the top of their page rankings and then drop off pretty quickly. Recommended and proven optimal keywords in your title for these search engines is between 9 and 12. Well that’s according to Bruce Clay :) and his best practices guide.
I will be linking through tomorrow as I have another interesting related observation regarding syndicated content.
Feel free Andy :) Everybody – thanks for the comments. The sphinn traffic was excellent!
Just a tiny comment to those who say they are never using 300 characters in the title. The beauty of this test is test itself and all of us understanding more about how Google sees it. I agree that putting 300 chars in the title in real life looks strange; I would not do that as well. But this is definitely a great test and the desire to learn more is worth admiration. If it was not about desires like that we would still live in caves :)
the title tag ,what would you advise someone to do when creating this – repeat keywords with a numerical /alphabetic symbol ,going for the max or be sensible ?
I did a similar test on my blog, using old blog posts, to find out if it ranked phrases that were beyond the 66 characters or whatever the limit is, but I also recorded the starting positions of keywords that were already in the title. In every case the new keywords were ranked, but also in every caes the position of the exisitng keyword went down. So basically you can cram your title full of keywords but you’re just diluting the value of the ones that might be important.
This cuts off, #2 listing, but it still ranks for it, so it’s more than the suggested amount show, I think it is for aesthic reasons.
love this site for getting an informative view on all aspects of seo
I always consider Title Tag while doing On Page Optimization. Google display up to 10 word (max) in the SERP. So it would be nice if you keep your title tag up to 10 word.