Top-ranked sites usually have well-written titles. A title isn''t keyword stuffing — balance length, use question words carefully, and don''t drop brand words for traffic; the approach varies with site authority.
How much does a title matter? Your keyword ranking trails mine yet you get more visitors; build cycles are similar and your usability is better, but ranking just won''t rise — the root cause may be a poor title. Top sites share one trait: good title descriptions; junk sites usually have poor titles.
So just copy top sites'' titles? Not necessarily. Sites differ in authority, so titles differ too. For example, Ctrip''s title is "Ctrip Official Site: Hotel Booking, Flight Search, Travel, Business Travel Management.“
First, the word "official" on an ordinary site may cause demotion — it requires official verification, not something to write freely, or no one could tell the real official site.
Second, words like "hotel booking" or "travel," copied onto a low-authority site, may rank for nothing. Simply put, "set a small goal, earn a billion first" is far more convincing from Wang Jianlin than from you — that''s the art of titles.
Back to the point — is your title right? A few tips for webmasters.
A. Does title length affect ranking?
Many try to stuff all product keywords into the title, without asking: can the engine handle so many? Does it help ranking? A site has a weight quota; the more keywords, the less weight each gets, and in the end none may rank.
B. Do question words bring more visits?
Many posts love titles like "Which company is best?" Is that right? It can work! But engines treat it differently — whether your site has "authority" is worth pondering, or spiders may disdain it.
C. Brand or traffic?
Many titles are all product or traffic words, with the site name nowhere to be seen — dropping the brand word for more keywords. Is that wise? Same product, one branded, one not — the choice is obvious, and spiders think so too.