I have changed the browser title on my site. It 'was' a descriptive title with the main keyword as the first word. The site is currently on page 1 in the uk for this keyword. The site is about 6 years old and has a PR of 4. I changed it to the company name and then a bunch of keywords. Was this a bad move? I didn't realise until after I did it that this could screw the rankings for the main keyword. BUT the main keyword is in the browser title 3 times now, but it is part of other longer keywords, and it is no longer the first word in the title as it was before I changed it. I was going to change it back but a friend told me that if google has already indexed it then I could get de-indexed for months if I go and change it back so quickly. Dont know if thats exaggerated or not. The old title still shows in the search results, but it might just be that google hasn't updated it yet. Any advice on what to do? Really stressed over losing ranking for this main competitive keyword, would it be a risky move to change it back? Thanks
It depends on how competitive your keyword is, and how strong your competitors are. For an easy keyword you shouldn't have much trouble, even for moderate keywords even. What is more important is which is more likely to make a customer click your link.
If you have "a bunch" of keywords in your title tag I would possibly consider doing some keyword to page mapping first. An aged domain with a PR4 can easily rank its homepage for quite a few keywords though, so first decide how many and which keywords you are going to try to have the home page rank for, then create your title tags. Also listing the "keyword" multiple times does not help, if it did you would see title tags like "keyword | keyword | keyword" all the same keyword. Having different variations is a different story. But IMHO I think you should stick with your main keyword/keywords first then the company name at the end if at all (depends on how important branding is in your industry).
In my opinion, if Google won't show your entire title in their search results, it's too long. Put your company name last, as you're more likely to rank for that. Put the keywords you want to rank for (such as the product your page is based on) towards the front of the title as keywords are ranked more highly as you get closer to the beginning of the title.
I completely agree with wierdo...I think google truncates around 67 characters for the title tag and 155ish for the description (although I feel the description plays no part in ranking but a huge part in converting the click)
I would suggest put your main keywords in title first & Make sure your 3-4 most imp. keywords appear in the title tag But don't do over stuffing of keywords in your title tag. If your company name is your main keyword then no problem otherwise change the title...