Google not using my page title - help!

[khend]

Hi BHW!

Can anyone advise why google has decided to stop using my page title? It seems like its now using ODP title, I have set up NOODP but wondered if anyone knew a better solution as this isn't really working.

Also, how badly will not having a main keyword in the title affect my ranking? Can I get by without it?

Really appreciate any points you can give,

Cheers

 

[SEOWhizz]

Google may change the snippet of a website page in the search results if the title is: short, shared across large parts of your site or keyword stuffed.

To help prevent this:

• Ensure each of your web pages has unique/different titles.
• The title should not be too short or too long.
• The title should be related to the content, useful and descriptive.

More info:
http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/023139.html

G00gle Employee, John Mueller:
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=7283c00e181e8a90&hl=en
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=679eb9f272a5a3bf&hl=en

In general, when we run across titles that appear to be sub-optimal, we may choose to rewrite them in the search results. This could happen when the titles are particularly short, shared across large parts of your site or appear to be mostly a collection of keywords. One thing you can do to help prevent this is to make sure that your titles and descriptions are relevant, unique and compelling, without being "stuffed" with too much boilerplate text across your site.