All in one SEO plug-in for Wordpress has this as default title format for each post: %post_title% | %blog_title% Code (markup): Which ends up looking like: The title of the post | Site.com I don't want to touch it because to me, default is usually the best option, I am always one to trust what's set up as default (unless it is not compatible with whatever I need). BUT, in this case, I don't know.. Like the forum (DP), it doesn't use that format.. It only shows the post title.. So I'm thinking, maybe it's better that way then? I know having the Site URL on the title is useless in a way, but does it help, or is it better not to have it there at all? Any insight on this?
Just stick with the post title and site name. You don't need the URI in the title tag at all. Not just for SEO purposes, but usability and accessibility reasons as well.
It depends actually what you want to show to bots and your visitors, and that's the default one. But i personally use %post_title% only, because i believe adding your site name [%blog_title%] after every post title doesn't look good, and the same keyword [ Keyword or your site name] after each post title isn't good for SEO as well.
Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking (more on what's the utter best SEO-wise, right now not really concerned about usability).. So, SEO-wise, is this what's better? What I want is to optimize each page for the content they have for search engines. (From just saying this, I'm assuming not having my site url on every post title is the way to go - so only the right keywords are there.. but perhaps I'm mistaken?)
You should be concerned about accessibility and usability. If nobody can get to or use your Web site, it won't do you any bit of good regardless of how well you rank for your keywords. It's a lot like opening your store for business but forgetting to unlock the front door, then wondering why your customers are going to the store across the street.
And yet the very definition of SEO is the practice of getting Web pages to rank as well as they can in the search engines so they can drive qualified targeted traffic to those pages and increase the conversion rates of those pages. Which is why I said to stick with the post title followed by the site name. That way you take care of the SEO, as well as the U/A at the same time.
On one of my sites that I recently built the setup is only %post_title%, without the %blog_title%. Why put the %blog_title%? It's not really necessary.
People who rely on assistive technologies need the site title to know what site they're on. Also since multiple sites can be hosted on a single domain, it helps the search engines figure out what page goes to which site. (Hello, Geocities - before they close? Or Angelfire? Or even Tripod?)