Change page titles affect rank?

Does changing page titles and descriptions affect rank?

[MrBlack]

Hi all,

I want to change the page titles and descriptions on my website to better reflect the page contents.

I am a bit wary about doing this as I appear to have come through the recent changes in Google's algorithm unscathed (if not a bit better off as some of my spammy competitors have dropped back to page 40+).

If I do go ahead, will it/should it affect my current rankings?

Cheers

[warth0g]

I have seen major improvements by changing the title tag for pages - maybe you should try one or two pages at a time and see how google reacts. Slow change seems to be the safest

[fwordboy]

Yes changing your titles can have a big effect.

make sure you get your keywords and company are prominently represented but don't go overkill. If your goal is to better represent your content then I doubt you can go wrong.

Remember in google when a user searches for 'spoons' every instance of the word 'spoons' in your title, description and url will appear bold and that's not to be sniffed at.

[netmeg]

I removed ONE WORD from a page title last week, and jumped from #44 that day to #3 today. Your mileage may vary.

[stinkfoot]

There was also a few threads not so long back about penalties for "gaming google" eg changing headings / title ect and keeping content the same.

Be carful out there guys