Clients love to see their company name in the page title when it appears with the search engine results. And I can’t blame them. The name alone may prompt someone to click.

The problem is that a search phrase may rank #5 on Google without the company name and #23 with the name. Which ranking would you prefer? I’ve seen the same client website go both ways.

We once earned a client a #3 ranking on Google for a great search phrase. But the client -- under mounting pressure from higher-ups -- urged us to put the corporate name back in. We followed their directive and couldn’t wait to observe the drop in rankings. Sure enough, the ranking fell more than 20 positions. We removed the name once more, reinserting it again a few months later with minimal impact on the now-high ranking page. Go figure.

The lesson here is that you need to get the ranking first and later fill the page title with other information. If you must use the company name within the page title tag, then hope that it will be a short name. When the Tinkering Games begin, shift your attention to the end of the page title for an appropriate position, if the business name must appear.

Marketers must test, test, test. You may even put the company name on the back burner on some pages because the keyword-rich title could be supported by other phrases like "free shipping," "save 50 percent," "special offer" and the like.

Give visitors a reason to click-- after you get that high ranking.

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