Should I include brand name in product titles

The following article is for those not using a marketplace like Amazon or Etsy where the "rules" may differ. I’m not a marketplace expert nor do I play one on TV.

The simple answer is to include the brand name in your product title if there is a search volume for [brand] [product].

Look at the queries in Google Search Console to determine if most queries include your brand name or not. If most queries include your brand name, include it in the product title.

Let's use a popular brand as an example.

After a three-day power outage, I needed a battery pack in the event that we were without power again.

I didn’t want just any old battery pack. I wanted the Anker brand, so I searched for “Anker portable battery packs”.

I was easily able to find the Anker products in search results. Is that because they include the brand name in their product title? I doubt it.

Anker is a well-established brand and is well-respected as a top product for portable battery packs.

I could have searched for "portable battery packs" and Anker still would have shown up. However since I wanted a specific brand due to their reputation, it was included in my query.

As a user, the risk of not including the brand name in my search query only meant that it would have taken me longer to find the brand I wanted.

From a user experience perspective

Product titles need to be clear and concise, explaining what the product is. This is not the time or place to keyword stuff.

The longer the product title, the harder it could be to understand. Product titles could include specifics such as size, color, gender, and material for example.

Anker, along with most tech-based companies, uses technical specs in their title such as 12,000mAh for the battery capacity. It’s relevant to the product and provides a distinction between other products. So this makes sense.

Long product titles also impact the usability and look of your Shopify site. This can cause a weird wrapping of product titles where the rows of collections vary in size leading to a less aesthetically pleasing page.

It could also make it harder for customers to easily understand the flow of the collection page. Potentially leading to friction we would rather avoid.

From an SEO perspective

Many themes / SEO apps append the brand name before or after the title for search results on all pages. So the brand name still shows in search results even if you didn't include the brand in your product title.

If you had your brand name included in the product title, it would look something like “BRAND PRODUCT – BRAND” which wouldn't look right. So you may need to remove the store name from your code.

You may hear recommendations that your product titles should be somewhere around 50-60 characters. Shopify limits your SEO title to 70 characters and that doesn't include if your theme appends the brand name. If your title is exceptionally long, it will likely get cut off by Google in search results anyway.

Anker does include their brand name in the product name today, but that wasn't always the case. In the past, they opted not to use the product name in their product and appended the brand to the search result.

This is an old screenshot from a few years ago. Notice how in the past Anker did not include the brand in their product name and instead opted to append their brand name.

This is a screenshot from today and Anker now chose to include the brand name in the title.

Google doesn’t show the brand in a meaningful way on Google Search… at the moment. Google Search currently shows the URL, title, and meta description. If you qualify and are awarded Rich Results, you’ll also see review ratings, number of reviews, prices, shipping, returns, and availability.

That's one reason many opt to include the brand name in the product title or appending it in search results. 

Google Image however does show the brand in Rich Results. It’s only a matter of time before Google decides to include the brand name in Search Results.

If adding the brand name to the product titles doesn't make sense for your store, you can add it elsewhere on the page. That way the brand name is still in your content and can be picked up by search engines.

In Shopify, you can set the “vendor” of products which translates to the brand name. Depending on the theme, you can then show the brand or vendor on the product page.

The recommendation is…

Adding the brand name to the product title or somewhere on the page is an easy decision when your store sells products from many brands. But if it’s your brand, showing the brand name on your product page may be redundant.

Anker has a brand that is often in search queries because there are a lot of copycats or cheapo brands. It makes sense for them to use Anker in their product titles though it's not required.

For those where the brand isn't as important, I err on the side of keeping the brand name out of your product titles. Instead, make sure your brand/vendor name is set up properly in Shopify. This also allows apps like JSON-LD for SEO to use the data in a more meaningful way.

There isn’t a right or wrong answer here. At one point Anker didn't include the brand name in their product titles, now they do. That's why testing is so important. If you're so inclined, try adding or removing your brand name from the product title to see how it impacts your traffic and conversion rates.