Site Title : With or without spaces
Websites or blogs who have single word as website name or title are lucky that they do not have to bother about spaces. But for websites who have two or more words as a combo for website name have to make sure that both options are displayed in Google Search Results. Let us analyze this issue in details and address how it can be resolved. This article has been written for a self hosted site on the WordPress platform. Installed plugin for SEO is Yoast.
What is the issue of site title with spaces
A domain name for the Website called ‘The Verge’ reads http://www.theverge.com
The site title for this website is ‘The Verge’ but the domain name is without spaces.
The problem is not there for single word websites like our sister website http://soonev.com, again single word. So that single word becomes the site title and the SEO title too.
The problem cropped up when we had domain which was not figuring in the search results. The website in question is
If Google search was keyed as ‘thetimelock’ without spaces, then the website used to be visible on the top of google search results. The meta tags of the website were as follows.
So if you note in the above picture, the site title is being reflected as ‘thetimelock’ without spaces. Same was picked up by Google Crawlers.
This was done because of the following settings for the General Settings in WordPress and the General Settings in Yoast SEO plugin.
But because the site name was without spaces, Google was only picking up the single word as ‘thetimelock’.
If Google Search was being made for terms like ‘timelock’ or ‘ the time lock’ or even ‘the time lock’ this website was not featuring in search results.
The solution for site name with and without spaces
Whatever site name is given in the General Settings is picked up an honored by Google Crawlers. So within no time there was a change in Google search results. Here is what settings were changed.
Step One : Changing General Settings in WordPress
The site title has been changed to ‘The Time Lock’
Step 2 : Changing General Setting in Yoast
Yoast setting are flexible that there can be an alternate name which Google will consider. There is alternate name we have fixed is ‘thetimelock’ without spaces. Here you can even tinker with the Website Name to confuse Google. But in turn you can even cover spelling mistakes inadvertently keyed in by users. Behavior of such setting however is not known and is not predictable too.
Once these two settings are changed, here is what we meta tags search yields.
Here is what is shown in Google Search Results for various combos.
For ‘The Time Lock’ Google is very clear. It will take time for Google, but eventually it has honored the change and the confirmation that there is another well known product in the market earlier.
For Google Search results for the word ‘thetimelock’ again Google is very accurate and the website result is right on the top of the page.
Even the image results are right at the top.
Lastly for various terms like ‘time lock’ or ‘timelock’, google is coming quite close. Results will improve after some time.
With regards to spelling mistakes inadvertently keyed by visitors to Google. That point has to be studied separately.
Which type of blog name do you have. It is with or without spaces. Does it figure in Google results properly. What about the other blogging platform, Blogger by Google.
Do put in your experience in comments.
Also note the website used for the settings is as shown below.
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