As a new update, Google is now showing the generic name for the website instead of title tags for mobile search results. This can be seen as an example below:
On desktop:
On mobile:
It should be noted that this feature does not work for subdomains, only homepages at domain level. As well as this, non-branded searches for keywords will still appear showing the title tags.
If you search for the brand name and keyword this will also still show the title tags.
Why is Google doing this?
Google are using the site name to make identifying the website in the SERP easier for the user and increase the click-through rate. Google’s official announcement advised, “At this time, Search is introducing web site names on cell search outcomes to make it simpler to establish the web site that’s related to every outcome…”
How does Google know the Company name?
The document released by Google states that it is using on-page, off-page and meta information data along with structured information to find out what business name is. This includes:
– WebSite structured information
– Title tag
– H1s and H2s
– Open Graph Protocol meta information, particularly the og:site_name
So who will gain from this update?
There are many websites who will gain from this title tag update, for example:
– Titles that are unfulfilled.
– Titles that are outdated.
– Titles that are incorrect
Conclusion
There seems to be both positive and negative implications for this new Google update. Essentially however, it does seem to make sense to just show the business name on the homepage when the business for brand name searches but the absense of the title tag could potentially influence these types of searches.
