It is a well known fact that the Title tag (as in <title></title> tags in the head section of a page) is the most important factor that influences on page optimisation with respect to the search engines.

The title tag is significant in two ways in that the search engines look at it closely to get a good idea of what the page is about. The title tag gets listed in the search engine results pages (SERPs) on which users click to go to the specific page in question. A meaningful title tag increases the click frequency.

Now comes the oft repeated question – Should the keyword take prominence at the start of the title tag or should the brand name appear at the start of the title?

If you are establsihing a new business and have a brand name that is not famous, you would be well advised to put the keyword phrase for which the page is optimised and the brand name can be at the end of the title tag.

As an example, if you manufacture blue widgets in Auckland and your company brand is ABW NZ, since your potential customers are looking for blue widgets in Auckland area, you would be well off with a title tag like
Auckland Blue Widgets – ABW NZ Ltd

Assuming your company has been around for years and you are very well known brand name in the blue widgets industry in Auckland, you have the opportunity to leverage your branding power by starting the title tag with your brand name as in
ABW NZ Ltd – Auckland Blue Widgets

From the Search Engine Optimisation(SEO) perspective, it is vital to have your keyword phrase (Auckland Blue Widgets in this case) at the start of the title.

If you are baised towards branding, then you can conduct an indepth keyword research to see if people are actually searching for your brand name (ABW Ltd in this case).  If that is the case, then you can put your brand name at the start of the title.

True, it is a trade off at times but you have to be careful in determining the factors surrounding your specific case before you make a final decision.

At Netconcepts, our Auckland organic seo professionals ensure the right decision is made in every case after carefully considering and evaluating all possible factors to satisfy both the search engine bots and the human users.