Afraid to change Homepage Title

I have been meaning to do this for quite a while now, but I know some people who've had changed their homepage titles only to lose ranking for their keywords, & I really don't want something like that to happen to me so I've just stuck with my title for the longest time, sticking to the keywords I've used in the past.

But now, I wanna update my title & use a different set of keywords.
Before, I targeted less popular keywords just so I'd have better chance at ranking well for them coz then I won't have to worry about competing with bigger sites, & I do now rank well for them. Yet, I'm no longer satisfied as it focuses on a very small demographic & I'd like to broaden up since my site offers more than just those.
All my back links are using the keywords I used on my title in the past as anchor text. & Do not have backlinks linking to me with the new keyword I wanna use.

Is it going to affect my site completely on SEs if I changed my homepage title to a different set of keywords?

My site is not related to hotels, but here's an example of what I mean:

Example past title: Texas Hotels
Which, I'd like to change to: USA Hotels (USA Hotels being the more popular of the two, with more searches)

What should I expect from SEs if I made changes like this?
Thanks for helping.

 

The short answer is yes. However, it is easy enough to go back to the old one if the tweaks do not accomplish what you want (in my experience, reverting to the prior title will recover previous positions).

Remember, the title on your home page only applies to that page. Each page stands on its own. So, it woun't affect your "site" - it will affect your home page's rankings.

I tend to tweak titles rather than going for wholesale changes. Small changes over time can get you to where you are going without totally disrupting current rankings.

 

Thanks, that's very helpful & exactly the information I was looking for. Thanks for sharing your experience, now I have an idea of what to expect from SEs should I make the changes.
& You just gave me a good idea. Instead of doing a major switch, I guess I can make minor changes and eventually have it switched completely over in time.
I guess I'll do: Texas, USA Hotels first before completely ditching the "Texas"?

Thanks again!

 

hmm, i never knew that it would be dangerous to change our home page title. i do it every time I check my site statistic and found out that the visitor coming to my site is searching for different topics but enter my sites because my sites has similar keywords n title

 

Yes changing your title will alter the SERP, but i do prefer changing it one by one basis.
Do not change it all at once, so that you will not be amaze how quickly you drop in SE