Why do people have their domain name in their page title?

[maxine]

Only me again :)

Is it a good idea to have your website url in your index page title?

Have noticed quite a lot of sites doing this and wondered why?

:)

[serendipitybusiness]

Only if you want to be found for your URL

[Ali-v-8]

have your company name mentioned aint a bad thing.
but url bit of a waste of time.

[sirearl]

well if your site can't be found when people type in your URL.

You got big problems.:)

may be of use to brand companies like gocompare.? but really not to be recommended for your average site ,waste of keyword space.

Earl

[Timmy]

it can be easily in mind by your customer.

[re8976]

helps for tough keywords in competitive markets

for example

type "Best Dongles" in google

the site with domain bestdongles dot co dot uk has been rising steadily and has just dropped a well known high pagerank site (top10broadband).

limits your keywords, however in some markets, url title and search term matching seems to benefit

[fisicx]

helps for tough keywords in competitive markets
Only if your company name includes those keywords.

[Toni Anicic]

Not much of a SEO benefit (it might even hurt you) so branding is the only reason.

[awebapart.com]

Why do people have their domain name in their page title?

Have noticed quite a lot of sites doing this and wondered why?
For the sites you have noticed, are the domains actually in the underlying HTML title tag, or is it just a case of there being no title tag at all, and web browsers like IE displaying the url in the window title bar instead?

Those companies that go out of their way to include their domain name in their title tags mainly do it for design/branding purposes, e.g. lastminute.com

[UKD]

I would say most people who do this, have just left the default from their website providers, and have not understood how SEO works, or simply do not care.

There are many that do not care, even when explained to, and then wonder why 6 months down the line, why they have become another statistic in redundant websites :|

[maxine]

For the sites you have noticed, are the domains actually in the underlying HTML title tag, or is it just a case of there being no title tag at all, and web browsers like IE displaying the url in the window title bar instead?

Those companies that go out of their way to include their domain name in their title tags mainly do it for design/branding purposes, e.g. lastminute.com

No, the ones I have noticed are normal SME type businesses... variety of industry and they have the whole http://www.... in the actual title of the page, sometimes only noticeable by hovering over the page.

Just wondered what the benefit of that was :)

[crossdaz]

No, the ones I have noticed are normal SME type businesses... variety of industry and they have the whole http://www.... in the actual title of the page, sometimes only noticeable by hovering over the page.

Just wondered what the benefit of that was :)

you mean the heading or logo links to the homepage - not that it is actually written in text form?

This is quite standard and the advantage depends on the the way your site is set up. It's a usability issue rather than an seo techinique and is usually a good idea.
Ideally it should link to the root of the site '/' or, in simple terms - the main web address.

[paretowasright]

Not much of a SEO benefit (it might even hurt you) so branding is the only reason.

Give an example of where it has harmed Toni as I have only ever seen seo benefit from this method not detraction?

[sirearl]

Give an example of where it has harmed Toni as I have only ever seen seo benefit from this method not detraction?

Would you like to explain the benefits you have seen.?

Earl

[Toni Anicic]

Give an example of where it has harmed Toni as I have only ever seen seo benefit from this method not detraction?

More words you stick in to your title, each of them becomes less and less important in ranking. This means that you really don't need to put your domain name in the title tag since you wish your page title to be the most competitive and targeted keyword you have...

Why am I even explaining this? It's pure logic -.-

[fisicx]

More words you stick in to your title, each of them becomes less and less important in ranking.
Not quite. The value of the words reduce in value as the number increases but adding 50 words to your title doesn't make the first word and less valuable.

The first word is the most important and the 100th word is almost but not entirely irrelvant.

Agree though that putting your company name/domain name in the page title is just daft unless you are concentrating on branding (which in itself is a self defeating exercise).

[Toni Anicic]

fisicx,

I totally agree that first word of title is the most important one, but I do believe that adding more words to title tag will degrade the ranking factor of every word in title, including the first word.

[sirearl]

fisicx,

I totally agree that first word of title is the most important one, but I do believe that adding more words to title tag will degrade the ranking factor of every word in title, including the first word.

Agreed a little more on the subject here:

http://seo.yu-hu.com/Length_of_title_text.html

Earl

[fisicx]

Agreed a little more on the subject here:

http://seo.yu-hu.com/Length_of_title_text.html

Earl
How is that article related to Toni's claim? In any case there is no evidence of testing, it's just a nonsensical piece of puff.

In any case, if you believe that long page titles degrade the ranking factor why have you not adopted this policy on your own site:

<title>VW PARTS UK VW CAR PARTS GOLF PARTS 100% CHEAPER VOLKSWAGEN VAN SPARES BMW VW SPARES VOLKSWAGEN SPARE PARTS SALVAGE AUDI SKODA SEAT CHEAP PART DEALER POLO LUPO </title>

In theory if you agree with the article you link to, your page title should be: <title>VW PARTS UK</title>

[Toni Anicic]

How is that article related to Toni's claim? In any case there is no evidence of testing, it's just a nonsensical piece of puff.

In any case, if you believe that long page titles degrade the ranking factor why have you not adopted this on your own site:
<title>VW PARTS UK VW CAR PARTS GOLF PARTS 100% CHEAPER VOLKSWAGEN VAN SPARES BMW VW SPARES VOLKSWAGEN SPARE PARTS SALVAGE AUDI SKODA SEAT CHEAP PART DEALER POLO LUPO </title>


My guess is he knows he can't outrank competitors at this point so he's going for the long-tail.

[sirearl]

My guess is he knows he can't outrank competitors at this point so he's going for the long-tail.

Guess again Toni.:)

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=volkswagen+parts&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

Earl

[Toni Anicic]

Guess again Toni.:)

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=volkswagen+parts&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

Earl

Very nice!

[sirearl]

How is that article related to Toni's claim? In any case there is no evidence of testing, it's just a nonsensical piece of puff.

In any case, if you believe that long page titles degrade the ranking factor why have you not adopted this policy on your own site:

<title>VW PARTS UK VW CAR PARTS GOLF PARTS 100% CHEAPER VOLKSWAGEN VAN SPARES BMW VW SPARES VOLKSWAGEN SPARE PARTS SALVAGE AUDI SKODA SEAT CHEAP PART DEALER POLO LUPO </title>

In theory if you agree with the article you link to, your page title should be: <title>VW PARTS UK</title>

Because I don't need to.:p

Earl

[paretowasright]

Give an example of where it has harmed Toni as I have only ever seen seo benefit from this method not detraction?


Toni, Sirearl,

Really sorry thought you were talking about keywords in the domain which I thought was the original thread but now realised its title tags etc.
I have been working too hard and brain not functioning properly ;( ...some may argue it never does ;)

[malcolmcoles]

Not quite. The value of the words reduce in value as the number increases but adding 50 words to your title doesn't make the first word and less valuable.

The first word is the most important and the 100th word is almost but not entirely irrelvant.

Have you ever tested this? I asked a couple of people recently, and no one seemed able to definitively say that adding extra words to the end of the title had no effect on the ones at the front. Maybe I just asked the wrong people ;)

[fisicx]

Have you ever tested this? I asked a couple of people recently, and no one seemed able to definitively say that adding extra words to the end of the title had no effect on the ones at the front. Maybe I just asked the wrong people ;)
Yes, had a page that ranked #1 and added a load of words to the end of the title. Half of them wern't even on the page and some were made up. Ranking didn't change and the made up words were indexed and apperaed in the SERPs.

However it's not quite as simple as the length of the page title. It's the semanitcs, the relevance to the on page content, the use of synonyms, relvance to the search parpameters and so on.

I still perefer to keep to 66 characters (so you don't see and ellipsis in the snippet) and write proper english.

[webpromoterservice]

Its mostly for branding purposes,but most do not obviously know why the web designer put there

[sirearl]

Yes, had a page that ranked #1 and added a load of words to the end of the title. Half of them wern't even on the page and some were made up. Ranking didn't change and the made up words were indexed and apperaed in the SERPs.

However it's not quite as simple as the length of the page title. It's the semanitcs, the relevance to the on page content, the use of synonyms, relvance to the search parpameters and so on.

I still perefer to keep to 66 characters (so you don't see and ellipsis in the snippet) and write proper english.


So many factors contribute to your Ranking,hence why a really strong site can get away with using very long titles to gain the maximum benefit from having multiple keywords in its title.

but in a straight fight all other factors being equal,The short title will win.

Earl