SEO Test: Adding Keyword To Title...Not The Results I Expected...

How Does Adding a Keyword to Your Title Affect SEO Rankings?

Introduction to the Experiment

• The video explores the impact of adding a keyword to a website's title on its search engine ranking, questioning how much movement can be expected and over what timeframe.

• A specific website, "smart as dude in Landonberg PA," is chosen for this test, which currently ranks on page 2 without the keyword "SEO" in its title.

Current Ranking Analysis

• The current ranking of the site is number 12 due to having "Landonberg" in its domain name and "SEO" present in the content but not in the title. This setup provides some initial ranking advantage.

• The top seven results on page one are all exact match domains (EMDs) containing "Landonberg SEO," indicating strong competition for this keyword. The speaker does not expect their site to surpass these top results immediately.

Changes Made

• On May 21st, 2025, the speaker updates the website's title by adding "SEO" while keeping other elements intact: “Smartest dude in Landonberg PA, Mr. Smarty Pants of SEO 2025.” This change aims to assess its effect on rankings.

• The speaker plans to document changes over time within a single video rather than splitting it into multiple parts for clarity and continuity.

Initial Results After Title Change

• Two weeks later, on June 5th, 2025, after checking again for "Landonberg SEO," the site has dropped from rank 12 to around rank 16 or lower on page two—contrary to expectations of improvement post-title change.

• Despite adding "SEO" to the title, there was no significant upward movement; instead, it fluctuated between pages two and three shortly after indexing. This raises questions about why such an outcome occurred despite prior experiences suggesting that keywords in titles typically help rankings.

Insights and Conclusions

• The speaker reflects that many may conclude that adding keywords doesn't help based solely on this singular test; however, they emphasize that previous successful tests indicate otherwise when good content is involved.

SEO Optimization Insights

The Importance of SEO Content

• The initial test revealed that the website was not optimized for SEO, despite including "SEO" in the title. The content was deemed too thin and ineffective.

• To improve SEO performance, regular and substantial content focused on SEO topics is necessary rather than irrelevant keywords like "smartest student land of bird PA."

Article Optimization Process

• An article on effective SEO practices was created to replace the previous content, ensuring it was longer and included images for better engagement.

• Keywords such as "land in bird" were strategically placed in headings (H tags) to enhance search engine visibility, even if they weren't central to the article's main topic.

Key Takeaways on SEO Strategy

• A well-optimized article is crucial; simply adding a keyword to a title does not guarantee improved rankings. Comprehensive optimization is essential.

• Thin content without proper optimization significantly reduces chances of ranking higher on search engines.

Understanding Indexing and Authority

• Changes made to an optimized page may take longer to reflect in search results compared to simple title changes, which can show quicker results if the site has high authority.

• The indexing process for changes took about 10 days, highlighting that more authoritative sites typically see faster updates.

Future Considerations and Follow-Up

• Full site optimization may require patience as it could take until the next core update or longer for significant changes to be recognized by search engines.