Some days ago I noticed something strange. The title of my main site is not
the same as that which the SERP's show. I am not listed in DMOZ, in case
that's a factor.

For some reason, my first name is appended to the <title>. For example if you
google 'site schestowitz' (or any phrase for that matter), the title will
show my name rather than the title. Odd... that does not even align with
anchor text. Could it be manually edited or part of a new algorithm?

By chance do you have Personalized search turned on at Google, or
perhaps Google is picking up a portion of the page like a copyright
notice with your name in it or maybe Google is pulling part of your
meta description? Google seems to randomly use our Meta Description for
some pages.

Allen Harkleroad
Author of "No Fluff Just the Stuff SEO" Book
www.nofluffseobook.com

My SEO Blog www.dotref.com

Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> Some days ago I noticed something strange. The title of my main site is not
> the same as that which the SERP's show. I am not listed in DMOZ, in case
> that's a factor.
>
> For some reason, my first name is appended to the <title>. For example if you
> google 'site schestowitz' (or any phrase for that matter), the title will
> show my name rather than the title. Odd... that does not even align with
> anchor text. Could it be manually edited or part of a new algorithm?

__/ [ AllenHarkleroad ] on Monday 28 August 2006 13:41 \__

> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>> Some days ago I noticed something strange. The title of my main site is
>> not the same as that which the SERP's show. I am not listed in DMOZ, in
>> case that's a factor.
>>
>> For some reason, my first name is appended to the <title>. For example if
>> you google 'site schestowitz' (or any phrase for that matter), the title
>> will show my name rather than the title. Odd... that does not even align
>> with anchor text. Could it be manually edited or part of a new algorithm?
>
> By chance do you have Personalized search turned on at Google, or
> perhaps Google is picking up a portion of the page like a copyright
> notice with your name in it or maybe Google is pulling part of your
> meta description? Google seems to randomly use our Meta Description for
> some pages.
>
> Allen Harkleroad
> Author of "No Fluff Just the Stuff SEO" Book
> www.nofluffseobook.com
>
> My SEO Blog www.dotref.com

Hi Allen,

I have thought about all these factors, but the change comes after about 2
years when the title remained unchanged and immutable. It makes this an
unusual observation. It is the first time that I see a <title> substituted
by something else and I haven't got personalised search enabled. It's not
the SERP that's assigned to a page, but rather its title/heading
(description is still extracted from the page or the meta description).

It is possible that Google picks up portions of the page, but how would it be
able to determine which one/s? And since when has it been doing this? Anchor
text is fairly arbitrary (although I rank well for "roy" somehow), so I
began wondering if Google is beginning to /learn/ from content, much in the
same way that Googlism was intended to speculate based on Google Search
(back in 2003 when I last checked it). I am aware that Google has plans of
using richer information in one form or another, so could this be the start
of a change wherein your SERP's are determined by semantics, rather than
what the author embeds in the page? This could combat deceitful content and
SPAM. I am trying to find other examples of this...

Roy Schestowitz wrote:

> __/ [ AllenHarkleroad ] on Monday 28 August 2006 13:41 \__
>
>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:

>>> For some reason, my first name is appended to the <title>. For example if
>>> you google 'site schestowitz' (or any phrase for that matter), the title
>>> will show my name rather than the title. Odd... that does not even align
>>> with anchor text. Could it be manually edited or part of a new algorithm?

> It is possible that Google picks up portions of the page, but how would it be
> able to determine which one/s? And since when has it been doing this? Anchor
> text is fairly arbitrary (although I rank well for "roy" somehow), so I
> began wondering if Google is beginning to /learn/ from content, much in the
> same way that Googlism was intended to speculate based on Google Search
> (back in 2003 when I last checked it). I am aware that Google has plans of
> using richer information in one form or another, so could this be the start
> of a change wherein your SERP's are determined by semantics, rather than
> what the author embeds in the page? This could combat deceitful content and
> SPAM. I am trying to find other examples of this...

Maybe it got a good hint from here?
<meta name="PUBLISHER" content="Roy Schestowitz">
<meta name="AUTHOR" content="Roy Schestowitz">
<meta name="COPYRIGHT" content="Roy Schestowitz">

At the same time though, the SERP title is not Roy Schestowitz, but
rather Schestowitz, Roy. Doing a search for that, I find the Matlab
central. Could that have anything to do with it?

--
Els http://locusmeus.com/
accessible web design: http://locusoptimus.com/

Now playing: Spider Murphy Gang - Skandal Im Sperrbezirk

On Mon, 28 Aug 2006 15:04:26 +0100, Roy Schestowitz
<newsgroups@schestowitz.com> wrote:

>__/ [ AllenHarkleroad ] on Monday 28 August 2006 13:41 \__
>
>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>> Some days ago I noticed something strange. The title of my main site is
>>> not the same as that which the SERP's show. I am not listed in DMOZ, in
>>> case that's a factor.
>>>
>>> For some reason, my first name is appended to the <title>. For example if
>>> you google 'site schestowitz' (or any phrase for that matter), the title
>>> will show my name rather than the title. Odd... that does not even align
>>> with anchor text. Could it be manually edited or part of a new algorithm?
>>
>> By chance do you have Personalized search turned on at Google, or
>> perhaps Google is picking up a portion of the page like a copyright
>> notice with your name in it or maybe Google is pulling part of your
>> meta description? Google seems to randomly use our Meta Description for
>> some pages.
>>
>> Allen Harkleroad
>> Author of "No Fluff Just the Stuff SEO" Book
>> www.nofluffseobook.com
>>
>> My SEO Blog www.dotref.com
>
>Hi Allen,
>
>I have thought about all these factors, but the change comes after about 2
>years when the title remained unchanged and immutable. It makes this an
>unusual observation. It is the first time that I see a <title> substituted
>by something else and I haven't got personalised search enabled. It's not
>the SERP that's assigned to a page, but rather its title/heading
>(description is still extracted from the page or the meta description).
>
>It is possible that Google picks up portions of the page, but how would it be
>able to determine which one/s? And since when has it been doing this? Anchor
>text is fairly arbitrary (although I rank well for "roy" somehow), so I
>began wondering if Google is beginning to /learn/ from content, much in the
>same way that Googlism was intended to speculate based on Google Search
>(back in 2003 when I last checked it). I am aware that Google has plans of
>using richer information in one form or another, so could this be the start
>of a change wherein your SERP's are determined by semantics, rather than
>what the author embeds in the page? This could combat deceitful content and
>SPAM. I am trying to find other examples of this...

If this was an experiment, wouldn't they only be using it in one small
subset of serps? Have you tried other Googles?

BB
--

http://www.crystal-liaison.com/comfo...les/index.html
http://www.crystal-liaison.com/cryst...-new-york.html
http://www.kruse.co.uk/search-engine...n-firms-uk.htm

__/ [ Big Bill ] on Monday 28 August 2006 15:54 \__

> On Mon, 28 Aug 2006 15:04:26 +0100, Roy Schestowitz
> <newsgroups@schestowitz.com> wrote:
>
>>__/ [ AllenHarkleroad ] on Monday 28 August 2006 13:41 \__
>>
>>> <Snip />
>>
>>It is possible that Google picks up portions of the page, but how would it
>>be able to determine which one/s? And since when has it been doing this?
>>Anchor text is fairly arbitrary (although I rank well for "roy" somehow),
>>so I began wondering if Google is beginning to /learn/ from content, much
>>in the same way that Googlism was intended to speculate based on Google
>>Search (back in 2003 when I last checked it). I am aware that Google has
>>plans of using richer information in one form or another, so could this be
>>the start of a change wherein your SERP's are determined by semantics,
>>rather than what the author embeds in the page? This could combat deceitful
>>content and SPAM. I am trying to find other examples of this...
>
> If this was an experiment, wouldn't they only be using it in one small
> subset of serps? Have you tried other Googles?

Yes, I have tried a few more. Particularly, I concentrated on personal Web
sites that I regularly visit, but <title> contents were obeyed and displayed
unchanged.

__/ [ Els ] on Monday 28 August 2006 15:45 \__

> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>> __/ [ AllenHarkleroad ] on Monday 28 August 2006 13:41 \__
>>
>>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>>>> For some reason, my first name is appended to the <title>. For example
>>>> if you google 'site schestowitz' (or any phrase for that matter), the
>>>> title will show my name rather than the title. Odd... that does not even
>>>> align with anchor text. Could it be manually edited or part of a new
>>>> algorithm?
>
>> It is possible that Google picks up portions of the page, but how would it
>> be able to determine which one/s? And since when has it been doing this?
>> Anchor text is fairly arbitrary (although I rank well for "roy" somehow),
>> so I began wondering if Google is beginning to /learn/ from content, much
>> in the same way that Googlism was intended to speculate based on Google
>> Search (back in 2003 when I last checked it). I am aware that Google has
>> plans of using richer information in one form or another, so could this be
>> the start of a change wherein your SERP's are determined by semantics,
>> rather than what the author embeds in the page? This could combat
>> deceitful content and SPAM. I am trying to find other examples of this...
>
> Maybe it got a good hint from here?
> <meta name="PUBLISHER" content="Roy Schestowitz">
> <meta name="AUTHOR" content="Roy Schestowitz">
> <meta name="COPYRIGHT" content="Roy Schestowitz">


An hour ago I looked at the source code and spotted that too. I suspect it's
2-3 years old, so I forgot all about it.


> At the same time though, the SERP title is not Roy Schestowitz, but
> rather Schestowitz, Roy. Doing a search for that, I find the Matlab
> central. Could that have anything to do with it?


I haven't thought about it, but it doesn't explain why the order gets
inverted, almost as though Google understands it's a name. I first noticed
that 2 days ago and the site was titled "schestowitz.com, Roy", later to
become "Schestowitz, Roy", which makes it seem like something evolves. And
Google has had strange burps of traffic (quite erratic recently) with that
site, which indicates a state of imbalance.

I ought to point out that when the content spammeres hit Google earlier this
year and elbowed innocent sites out of Google, the titles, once recuprated,
were very strange (buggy). They contained parts of the pages, which were
appended to the title. It has been fixed since, but it still seems like the
algorithms are changing. Google is secretive, but I am quite certain that I
read somewhere about changes that should combat spam.