We don’t need to tell you that the titles of the products you’re selling online have to be clear and relevant... that’s pretty obvious.

We want to tell you how to optimise your product titles so they might help increase your online sales. Product titles are often overlooked but they are one of the feed attributes that can have an immediate impact on the performance of your Google ads. 

What can you have in a product title?

Did you know in Google Shopping, you can have up to 150 characters in a product title, 75 of those may only be seen when using mobile devices, but it’s really important that you use all 150 characters as these will all be indexed and used for searches. 

Things to include in your titles

What you write needs to be simple and should include specifics such as brand, colour, material, size and condition. If applicable include a model name. The more detail, the better. 

Follow the formula 

Brand + Product Type + Attributes (colour, material, size and condition).

If you have room, include search terms at the end of your title that’s pertinent information to your customer. Is it Vegan? Tell people! What sort of material is it? 

Be specific, don’t be generic. But don’t make claims or sales pitches in your title.

Think like your shoppers 

Google values the title second, the first being the image. It’s one of the 4 attributes that shoppers see on Google’s result page. The title needs to be compelling.

The title should highlight the most relevant product attributes so shoppers can easily read through and determine if the product is worth clicking on. 

You should already know how important is it to understand your customer’s behaviour, recognise the most significant factors that push consumers towards converting to a sale. Each industry is different, analyse your audience so you understand the intent of the consumers. 

What to avoid

Try to avoid spelling errors, most search engines can’t detect spelling errors and may categorise your items wrong. 

Write your titles in the language of the marketplace you’re using, for example, use English for eBay.com or Spanish for eBay.es. Using multiple languages in titles will result in your products being put in the wrong category.  

It might be tempting if you’re a stickler for grammar but try to avoid using punctuation and special characters as this is just a waste of characters. Avoid capitalization as it’s common in spam and untrustworthy adverts. Try not to use too many acronyms, your title needs to be easily understood by humans and machine, Google uses machine learning to index your products. 

It’s a no brainer, but don’t use profanity or personal contact information – This will result in your listing being banned on most marketplaces. 

Information such as price, sales price, shipping and delivery date and other time-related information is reserved for other attributes, avoid using them in titles as they will affect where you appear in searches.

For more advice on your Google Shopping strategy, or for a consultation call, please get in touch with our Google Shopping specialists.

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