Site Title & Tagline, Change order on homepage Title Tag
-
Question: Can the order (or sequence, as displayed on the Homepage Title Tag) of the Site Title and Tagline be reversed?
The current order (Homepage only) is Site Title | Tagline.
General background info about Title Tags (if needed):
http://moz.com/learn/seo/title-tagI run the risk of sounding like one of those pedantic SEO guys – which I admit sometimes I am :-) – but I think this topic is important and might help a lot of us.
I provide Internet marketing services for mostly “local” businesses. It is imperative that I include location-specific keywords in the title tag as follows.
Format:
Product/Service | Location | Brand/Business Name
Example:
Chinese Restaurant | Atlanta, GA | Ding How Chinese Buffet
__Here is a real-life example:
The Title Tag is:
Catering Services | Prattville AL | Uncle Mick’s Cajun
Please note this is NOT the Homepage. I crafted this Title Tag by defining the Site Title (under “General Settings”) as “Prattville AL | Uncle Mick’s Cajun”.
WordPress automatically created the Title Tag by prepending the Page Title (or page name), in this case “Catering Services”, with the Site Title.
This works perfectly on every page/post EXCEPT the homepage!
Homepage real-life example:
Title Tag:
Prattville AL | Uncle Mick’s Cajun | Restaurant, Caterer
I defined the Tagline (under “General Settings”) as “Restaurant, Caterer”. WordPress automatically creates the Title Tag using the following format:
Site Title | Tagline
And here is my problem, I would prefer the Homepage Title Tag be published using following format:
Tagline | Site Title
Or, using my example from above:
Restaurant, Caterer | Prattville AL | Uncle Mick’s Cajun
This may seem like a small issue, but this can make a HUGE difference for “local” SEO, especially considering it’s the homepage.
The Title Tag is also displayed on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP), and my “preferred” version improves CTR. It is also used for Social Sharing.
Sorry for the long explanation…
I find WordPress.com works just as well for ranking purposes as a self-hosted WordPress install, but this is one of those little tweaks that potentially makes a big difference – especially for Local SEO.
If anyone has a CSS fix or other hack, any help is much appreciated!
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
-
No, you cannot, not with WordPress.com. WordPress is considered SEO friendly and amazing without tweaking with the HTML title tag.
I don’t know how to say this kindly, but such efforts do little or nothing to change your ranking. I’ve two decades in this business, and this is the least you can do. Focus on content, content, content, content, and using nouns not pronouns, and matching titles with content, use headings in your content, and use the words you wish to be found with. That’s the million dollar answer to all these SEO games people play. You’ve spend a ton of energy researching and explaining something that has little or no true bearing on your site’s impact on search engines. It’s a tiny thing. Use your energies in a wiser pursuit and keep the beautiful content flowing and let the search engines do their work.
-
Hi Lorelle,
Thank you for taking the time to respond. You are right, you don’t know how to “say this kindly”. I doubt you could have been any more condescending.
“No, you cannot” would have been a sufficient answer. You wasted YOUR time with the extra words.
I must take issue with much of what you said. I will try to be gentler. :-)
1) ANY website software can be SEO-friendly, but you need to know how to make use of it. WordPress is simply a platform (and a good one) that makes it easier to create a website that the search engines understand (“SEO-friendly” is really a meaningless, overused term). I could create all of my web pages with MS Word and upload them via FTP to a self-hosted site. Properly formatted and structured, they will rank just as well in the search engines – although they’d look pretty ugly.
2) I asked the question because I know from years of experience with “local” search that Title Tags can have a major impact. I have taken existing websites and done nothing more than tweak the title tags in order to get them to outrank competitors. (Remember, I am speaking of “local” search, if you had any experience with this you would know what I speak of.)
3) Two decades experience? Impressive! The first opportunity I had to access the Internet was 1994. Can I claim “two decades” as well?
4) Thank you for the SEO 101 crash-course.
5) You are correct about keeping the content flowing, but if you think that is all it takes to rank “locally”, then brace yourself. The restaurant website I referenced is the top ranked business in a town of approx 100 restaurants.
It requires:
– A website structure that makes sense to Google
– Good content just as you described above (we are still adding old content after migrating to WordPress.com)
– Building websites that are fully Responsive. Not simply adapting it with the “mobile theme” option. You should try it. ;-)
– Consideration for usability, navigation and user experience
– Appearance of Title Tag, URL, meta description on the SERPs for increased CTR (hence, part of the reason for my question)
– Claiming, verifying and customizing Local Business Listings
– An active social media page (Facebook)
– Online reputation management (we helped generate over 500 user reviews across Yelp, Google+, TripAdviser, Urbanspoon and others, and we personally respond to as many as possible.)
– Online Press Releases
– Email Marketing Campaigns
– and more…You can write all the content you want, but if you don’t do the other things I mentioned then you won’t do well on the “local” stage.
Simply perform a Google search for “restaurants in prattville al” and you’ll see the business blankets page 1 in the results. If you were local to this area, you could simply search for “cajun” and see this result:
http://gyazo.com/92c4e5fcbcdd612f67fdc094ed15ebce
Lastly, I didn’t waste my time… all of this will be the topic of my next blog post on MY website. Thanks for the material! I’ll be happy to publish your response.
Sorry WordPress.com support forum – please delete this rant if you see fit. Hopefully, someone else will reply and make an effort to be helpful without the condescension.
I don’t mind being disagreed with, I actually enjoy healthy debate. But please, bring some real-life experience to the table.
-
Are you paid by the word?
It’s difficult for me to believe you are a competent practitioner of SEO when you clearly don’t even know how to Google to find out who Lorelle is. She is, and has been for a decade, one of the pre-eminent experts in WordPress.
-
I DID Google her and read a lot about her BEFORE I replied. Being a WordPress “expert” does not make one an Internet marketing expert.
WordPress is just one small sliver of what I do as an online marketer. I have to be a project manager, SEO, website designer, programmer (I struggle with code), graphic designer, SMM specialist, content developer, usability specialist, and the list goes on.
I have excelled at this business because business owners come to me AFTER they have a failed marketing relationship with a previous provider. There are too many IT consultants, website designers, software “experts”, graphic designers, writers, etc. that think they are qualified to provide online marketing services.
If you doubt my skills, I’m in Montgomery, AL. You choose the keywords for your search. I’m easy to find, and I’m competing with all the other SEO/online marketers.
I respect Lorelle’s WordPress experience and expertise.
Teaching and sharing knowledge with others is an honorable profession and very hard work (I know from my previous career). I would recommend Lorelle to anyone that needs help with WordPress, blogging, writing, and many other areas. She is an intelligent, qualified individual.
I’m didn’t mean to knock her credentials, she’s got them, no doubt!
But I think her response was rude and dismissive. I come to this forum for answers and many have been VERY helpful, including you, RainCoaster.
I hope you’re right about being paid by the word, my fingers are tired! :-)
-
Hi Vernon,
Sorry but that content can’t be customized like you’ve requested here on WordPress.com On a self-hosted WordPress site these adjustments can be made:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/wp_title
I’ll report to our developers that you’d like this customization available on WordPress.com, but with elements like these WordPress.com will typically keep the default behavior found in WordPress core.
Best,
-Alex G.
-
@alexjgustafson, thank you so much for your succinct and apt response to Vernon’s query. Perfect!
- The topic ‘Site Title & Tagline, Change order on homepage Title Tag’ is closed to new replies.
WordPress.com Forums 