Do branded title tags help your SEO? Here’s what the data says  

What’s a title tag, why does it matter, and how should you structure it? These are the type of questions we love to answer for apartment marketers.

Today, we’re focusing on this one: How should you structure your title tags for each page? Specifically, should you include your brand name? Or take it out and use the space for something else? (We’ve seen this asked a fair share.)

This can be hard to test on your own, so we did it for you! And we’ve got some data to share.

Let’s get into the basics then discuss the verdict on branded title tags (versus non-branded) for SEO.  

Understanding title tags

Not sure how title tags work? Fortunately, it’s fairly simple:

It’s the copy (title) you tell Google to display for your webpage when it appears in search results. You might recognize it as the clickable portion of a given search result.

There is one tricky part: Google may or may not show what you provide. They often do display your preferred title tag, but they may choose to display other information at their discretion. 

For instance, if they think other details might fit the search query better, they could revise your title. Or, if your title tag doesn’t really align with the content of your page, they might override it. They can also shorten it if it’s too long (some marketers structure their title tags to avoid this).

Learn more about how title tags work.

Now, what makes title tags so important? Again, fairly simple:

Google uses title tags (among other things) to understand the content of a page, then rank that page accordingly. Without a strong, optimized title tag, your page may not rank highly and reach your target audience. Plus, it’s what helps the user decide whether to click or not.

What’s best: branded or non-branded?

Should you include your brand name in title tags? If you’ve been in marketing for some time, you know many people think yes. It’s thought to improve SEO and drive better brand recognition.  

The problem is, title tags have limited space, leading other marketers to question the value of including brand names.

This begs the big question: Is there flexibility to leave it out and use the space to optimize for user engagement?

We wanted to find out, and we had a theory about the results, too:

We suspected if we removed the brand name — and used the extra characters for engagement optimization — it might be a good thing. It could improve the site’s click through rate, which would send positive user-engagement signals to Google.

How we tested it

We selected 237 test properties and 237 control properties from the ‘same area’ (either same state, same city or same state, comparable size city). These were all conventional multifamily properties.  

The testing involved the brand name removal from 5 pages: homepage, amenities, floor plans, photo gallery and map/directions. We then revamped the title tag structure with a more engaging template, keeping the main keyword intact. This new structure complied with Google’s best practices (adhering to the recommended limit of 60 characters/597 pixels).

After 3 months, we analyzed click through rate data for all the properties.

We also selected 50 properties from small cities (population <10,000) and big cities (population >100,000) so we could compare results.

What we found

Google is open to non-branded title tags, for the most part. For nearly 57% of the test properties (134 to be exact), it displayed the non-branded title tags, at least for the homepage. And for 114 of those 134, it showed the non-branded result for all 5 pages.

For the other 43% of test properties, Google showed the branded title tags — again, at least for the homepage — despite us asking it not to.   

What about click through rates, you ask? The non-branded title tags yielded slightly higher CTRs (1.8% increase). Clicks, impressions and average position also rose slightly.

So, removing brand names was less impactful than we thought, but it doesn’t hurt, either.

One more finding: The difference was more significant when comparing small vs. big cities.

For communities in small cities, the branded title tags outperformed the non-branded results. For big cities, the non-branded title tags performed better in terms of clicks and CTRs, but their average position in SERPs decreased by roughly 10%.

The takeaway

We recommend sticking to your usual strategy for title tags (in most cases). It turns out rewriting for user engagement doesn’t make a huge difference in terms of performance.

That said, if you have a community with a long name — taking up valuable space in your title tag — know that it’s ok to remove it. The data says it doesn’t really hurt your SEO.

If anything, Google is less likely to shorten your title tag or rewrite it completely … that’s a win!

We’re here to chat  

Even though this study didn’t reveal dramatic surprises, we’re glad we did it. It’s a question that needed an answer (and now we all have one).

As a multifamily marketing agency, this is the stuff we’re always thinking about, and we have the time to test what works and what doesn’t. It’s a big benefit of working with a team like ours.  

Be sure to reach out if you’d like to talk through your SEO strategy. We’re also happy to answer questions about the title tag data, anytime!

Happy reading

If this post sparked your interest, check out these related articles:

Multifamily SEO: Your questions, answered!

Branded vs. non-branded search: Which drives the most traffic to apartment websites?