Does changing the title tag cause a drop in rankings?

[wayccon]

I changed my title tag and it's mostly the same with a slight tweak. After changing it 4 days ago, I saw an immediate drop in rankings (30+ spots) and have yet to see it recover. Is this type of drop normal and should I wait it out a bit longer?

 

[Dolan]

Depends on what you remove. If you removed the keyword then yes it will cause a drop in rankings. Without showing a before and after it's hard to say. I'd wait a few more days before making any changes.

 

[Nichewit]

It heavily depends on what you changed. Generally speaking though, sometimes your rankings will just bounce around a bit after making changes and eventually settle down.

Here's an example of a page where I changed the year in the title (from 2020 to 2021). It went down initially but eventually went up a position. Sometimes you just have to wait it out.

 

[myfault]

Same as with the theme, I changed, it went down for few days then rises up again.

 

[wayccon]

It heavily depends on what you changed. Generally speaking though, sometimes your rankings will just bounce around a bit after making changes and eventually settle down.

Here's an example of a page where I changed the year in the title (from 2020 to 2021). It went down initially but eventually went up a position. Sometimes you just have to wait it out.
View attachment 164942

I didn't remove anything just added a few words. I have yet to see a bounce up like in your graph cause it's just been straight down. I'll monitor the rankings and change it back if I don't see any improvements within a couple days. Thank you for this example.

 

[fb3003]

I changed my title tag and it's mostly the same with a slight tweak. After changing it 4 days ago, I saw an immediate drop in rankings (30+ spots) and have yet to see it recover. Is this type of drop normal and should I wait it out a bit longer?

without giving away your keyword, can you provide a before and after text of your title tag?

yes, changes in title tag does impact ranking. you giving a before and after view, will help us better to provide insight on what might have gone wrong.

waiting a bit longer would not help in this case. it is not like getting a backlink and waiting it out for ranking to improve.

also, did you resubmit your site in google search console after title tag change? if so, how many times in what time period? doing it too many times in a short time period does have a negative impact on ranking.

 

[Dark Sky]

The title tag is incredibly weighted. Same with the URL.

Changing it can cause drastic drops/rises in rankings.

Rule of thumb, wait 1 month, if rankings don't recover, revert it or change it again.

Just a little bit of advice, in SEO we monitor rankings in weeks, not days. Because the algorithm needs to re-evaluate after a change, and this does not happen straight away as they need weeks worth of data to provide a stable rank.

Imagine it like this: In googles eyes it thinks "Oh wow, I thought we figured out what this page is about, but now the title has changed, wtf has happened. Maybe this page is about something else instead, let's re-evaluate it all before we start showing it to users for the search query we were originally showing it too"

You might not think a small change like this would have such a drastic effect, but the title tag is literally the description of the entire article. Changing a few words can really turn it's angle.

 

[wayccon]

without giving away your keyword, can you provide a before and after text of your title tag?

yes, changes in title tag does impact ranking. you giving a before and after view, will help us better to provide insight on what might have gone wrong.

waiting a bit longer would not help in this case. it is not like getting a backlink and waiting it out for ranking to improve.

also, did you resubmit your site in google search console after title tag change? if so, how many times in what time period? doing it too many times in a short time period does have a negative impact on ranking.

I added a related keyword. It used to be "Company name | Main keyword " but I changed it to "main keyword | new keyword | company name". Is this bad practice?

 

[onlinemarketer12]

Of course it can have impact depending on what content in the tag you are removing.

 

[MisterXYZ]

It is just ranking dance.

Better wait for sometime to see final result.

 

[GSERP]

Yes. It will affect you ranking if your change the keyword which already ranked in better position. Check the keyword position of the past data and the one which you change recently and take action accordingly. However I Suggest you to wait for few weeks to settle down.

 

[Praisethekarma]

It depends on what you change. If the change is completely different and causes issues regarding the previous ranking, so yes. If the change is for the better and is logica, you might experience loss of position for a while but recover both new and previous position after.

 

[fifibrindacier]

My opinion is that changing the title tag can cause a drop in rankings if it is not done properly. The title tag should be short, include keywords, and have a call to action.


Changing the title tag may result in new content being indexed by Google, which can cause a temporary drop in rankings

 

[Jinxer]

Agreed, the title changes can be critical - in some cases I had to replace it completely, so it has taken several months to get ranked with new keywords.

Though, if you say you jus added some keywords, it should be just a temporary drop. Just make sure you haven't exceeded the recommended title length.

 

[rafark]

It heavily depends on what you changed. Generally speaking though, sometimes your rankings will just bounce around a bit after making changes and eventually settle down.

Here's an example of a page where I changed the year in the title (from 2020 to 2021). It went down initially but eventually went up a position. Sometimes you just have to wait it out.
View attachment 164942

Basically this. Do not make any (panic) changes until things have settled down.

 

[kralseko40]

Depends on the title. Ranking drops if you're changing an important title tag

 

[GenesisOne]

Would you change the tittle tags on a rebuilt site from a dropped domain?
Same applies.

 

[sanjeev.surprisecart]

Yes if you are removing the Main targeting text then definitely it will drop the ranking if you are removing supportive and taglines that will effect

 

[paddyboy91]

It will definitely affect your ranking, even a small change can fluctuate ranking, but don't worry it will be alright soon, as the google update has rolled out, indexing new thing is harder than before.