June 17, 2008

Branding vs SEO - My Blog Title Experiment

In SEO | 15 comments | permalink

When choosing your blog title, is it better to go with a title that brands you or your message? Or is it better to ensure that you have your main keywords in the title, regardless of branding or whether it sounds good?

This is what I aim to find out, and I have created an experiment to compare the two extremes.

Regular readers will have noticed that the blog title at the top of my homepage has once again changed.

It currently reads: ‘Buzz Marketing | Buzz Marketing Tips | Online Buzz Marketing Guru - Dean Hunt‘

But previously it has been everything from:

* Business, Life In Madrid & Humour - by Dean Hunt
* Making Success Fun - by Dean Hunt
* Online Attention Seeking - by Dean Hunt
* Buzz Marketing - by Dean Hunt

And numerous others.

The tagline of “because everyone is entitled to my opinion” has pretty much been a constant, as it makes me laugh.

So why the recent change?

Truth be told, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has never been a major factor for this blog, I very rarely do link trades, and I have never bought links or paid reviews… I wanted to get my traffic from the quality and creativity of my content.

However, I have always wondered what my traffic could be like if I adopted a more search engine friendly blog title. After all, many of my backlinks use my blog title, so surely it would be beneficial to have my main keywords in it?!?

So for the remainder of June, I am going to remain with the title of ‘Buzz Marketing | Buzz Marketing Tips | Online Buzz Marketing Guru - Dean Hunt‘ and I will aim to publish the results.

Dean

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15 COMMENTS

15 comments for this post.

  1. Comment from Jamie Huskisson on June 17th, 2008 :

    From SeoMoz which may help:
    http://www.seomoz.org/blog/tactical-seo-how-many-termsphrases-should-i-target-on-a-single-page

  2. Comment from Dean Hunt on June 17th, 2008 :

    Thanks Jay,

    But don’t worry, I already know the rules of how best to do it… I used to work in the SEO industry… but as this is an experiment, I need to push the extremes, hence how my previous title had ZERO keywords in it, and the current one is stuffed full of the little buggers.

    Dean

  3. Comment from Craig Dewe on June 18th, 2008 :

    Pfft, you’re only ranked 7th for “buzz marketing” and it’s been a whole day…

    Get it together man!

  4. Comment from Ryan on June 18th, 2008 :

    I think the word “marketing” is used 3 times in title, so not sure if this will help or hurt..

  5. Comment from Dean Hunt on June 18th, 2008 :

    Up 3 places in 24 hours, plus have gained top spot for all my secondary terms. :-)

  6. Comment from Shamir on June 18th, 2008 :

    Sounds all good Dean.

    Would be good to know if it’s had a positive affect on revenue though ;-)

    Shamir

  7. Comment from Dean Hunt on June 18th, 2008 :

    Shamir, What revenue?

    This is net’s only non-profit marketing blog… you won’t see a single ad on here.

    I am keen to see if it brings more traffic though, otherwise I will go back to the branded title.

  8. Comment from Lisa O on June 18th, 2008 :

    Hey Dean,

    A bit of topic - ps… never written to you - but LOVE everything….

    Can we vote for graphic designs????

    Really like the one already submitted, but frankly, its not you, there is no ‘cheekiness’.

    warmly,

    Lisa O

  9. Comment from Dean Hunt on June 18th, 2008 :

    Oh, and I am 4th for ‘Marketing Guru’, 1 spot behind Seth Godin ;-)

  10. Comment from Dean Hunt on June 18th, 2008 :

    Lisa, thanks for the kind words.

    Yes, I am going to be putting up a thread later today, as the feedback of you guys and gals will be essential.

    I agree with your feedback, I like the design, but it is perhaps a little too safe for my likings.

    Dean

  11. Comment from Lisa O on June 18th, 2008 :

    Absolutely I want to see bunnies with “go go gadget” attachments of chainsaws and the like ;-)

  12. Comment from Dean Hunt on June 18th, 2008 :

    Lisa,

    More info here: http://deanhunt.com/help-me-choose-my-killer-bunny/

    But for info, this is just going to have ONE bunny in it, and it will be still images, so that limits us slightly on what we can do.

    I like your thinking though.

    Dean

  13. Comment from Paul Perry on June 18th, 2008 :

    Hi Dean
    I am always looking for way to get free traffic?
    I’ve started to write Articles with fare results,
    but its a lot of work.I will be interested to see
    your results for this.And the bunny looks GREAT!
    Thanks Paul
    http://www.PerrysClickbox.com

    P.S. I just started a blog my 1st, I hope you don’t
    mind but I have put a link back to yours.
    http://paulperrysblog.blogspot.com

  14. Comment from Scott Soloff on June 18th, 2008 :

    Hey Dean,

    I’m curious too.

    My thinking is that branding should win out of SEO.

    At least I hope so. SEO is too finicky for my taste.

    I look forward to your results and conclusions.

    As always, best,

    Scott

  15. Comment from Shamir on June 19th, 2008 :

    Dean, oh ;-)

    In that case perhaps monitor the level of interest with you ‘Buzz Marketing Services’, ‘Sell Your Website’ and ‘Subscriber Optins’(blog optin form).

    Shamir

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