Is it ok to change the page title?

[ctodd72]

Hi,

After reading more about SEO I would like to create a different title for some of my pages. Will this impact my site's ranking for the worse? I am still very confused about what gets penalized and what doesn't.

Thanks in advance for your help.
Christina

[seo5]

hi..
if u mean to say that you want to have different titles for ur pages then it is good actually it is advisable that each of the page of a site has a different title as it helps the site gain some points to come up in serps...it wont affect ur site badly rather ll be good..
so go for it

[caveman]

Hey Christina, welcome to WebmasterWorld!

Generally speaking if you comb through your site and change some page titles to make them reflective of the page contents, and if you are thoughtful in terms of exact kw's used, it is likely to help. Quite possibly, help a lot, depending upon the state they are in now.

And as noted above one important consideration is to be sure you avoid duplicate titles across multiple pages. Each page should have a title that reflects its unique content, differentiated from all other pages. In this way you maximize your chances that all valuable pages will rank.

[ctodd72]

Thank you both for your answers! And thank you for the friendly welcome!

I offer a list of resources for people in my industry.

Here is how the title of each page in my list of resources currently reads:

Name of My Website: Widgets and Gizmos (The page contains several links to widget and gizmo websites.)
Name of My Website: Gadget Institutions
And so on...

Here is how I would like for it to look:
Resources for Doctors: Widgets and Gizmos
Resources for Doctors: Gadget Institutions
And so on...

After learning a little about SEO I now realize it is not important to have the name of my website because no one will be looking for this in a search. However, someone would be looking for "Resources for Doctors." The site is new and these pages are only indexed in MSN. I wasn't sure if it would do something to my ranking. (Meaning for the worse because I would have changed the title after they were already indexed.)

Sorry, I'm new at this and am trying to get a better understanding of how this works!

Christina

[edited by: caveman at 6:19 pm (utc) on Sep. 8, 2006]
[edit reason] Widgetized; no specifics please. ;-) [/edit]

[caveman]

Try these:

Buliding the Perfect Page - Title Element [webmasterworld.com]

Using the Title Tag [webmasterworld.com]

[ctodd72]

THANK YOU! :)

[caveman]

You're welcome. ;-)