How important is keyword density in title?

Complete title or keyword only ...

[vmaster]

If my keyword is "widget", say, then in order to achieve a better ranking, which one of the following would be better.

Product Category : Red Size 36 Widget
or
Red Size 36 Widget
or
Widget

Any opinions?

Let us assume that from a potential customer's point of view, each option would generate a click.

[Marcia]

Red Size 36 Widget is better.

The single word is generally too hard to go after, could have many other things mixed in for some searches, and is generally not as targeted as the more precise search term. Putting Product Category: first adds no relevance or attractiveness to the title, and is only pushing the phrase relevant for the page further away from the beginning of the title.

You may, however, want to add a slightly altered phrase to also include the plural, keeping the better form of the word with the exact search phrase at the beginning. Actually, I like:

Red Size 36 Widgets from Acme Widget

That gets the singular and the plural in, though some people have reported great success using nothing more than the exact search phrase in titles. It's a good idea to try it both ways with two pages that are very similar and see which works better for the particular site.

[edited by: Marcia at 8:42 am (utc) on Dec. 12, 2002]

[Beachboy]

Find a way to move the keyword to the front of the string. If you have a 2 kw phrase, such as "red widget," try to move that phrase to the front. Bear in mind that on-page optimization needs to be backed up by keyword phrase matching in inbound link anchor text if you want to be found for any competitive category.

[Marcia]

Like Red widget - size 36? That sounds good.

[rfgdxm1]

Red widget - size 36 from Acme Widgets. DO in a case like this get the plural in.