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Question: Does anyone feel there could be a ranking penalty for using such words as "Free Trial" in the Title element of a page?
I've noticed from doing some searches that when keywords are searched ays, "blue widgets", the results do not have such language:
Results:
Pete's Blue Widgets
Widget World Wonders
Not in Results:
Pete's Blue Widgets Free Trial
However if we include the keywords "Free Blue Widgets" or similar we get pages with such language.
Results:
All Free Blue Widgets
Free Widgets Now
I guess the question is will it hurt our rankings if we include the "Free Trial" keywords in our title and a given user doesn't add the word "free" to their search?
Thanks
The short answer is, no.
"Free" is a huge search term in organic search and it makes no sense for the engines to ban or penalize for a term that is so important to users when they are searching for free things (e.g., "free ____ downloads").
On a related front, when it comes to paid advertising through the engines (e.g., Adwords), there are requirements for using words like "free" ... but the requirements tend to be along the lines of avoiding false advertising, so the Adwords unit for example asks that if you use "free" in your ad, your free products/services/offers be on or in close proximity to the landing page.
