Should my store name go at the start of the page title or at the end after a separator?
On product and category pages, put the product first and the store name last after a separator such as |. The searcher is looking for the product, and if the title is wider than the space available, the end is what gets cut, so it had better be the name and not the product. On the home page, leading with the store name is natural, because that is what people arriving there looked for.
Two orders, same length
We wrote the title both ways in the Search snippet preview:
- Cambodian Oud Oil | Oud Store: 29 characters.
- Oud Store | Cambodian Oud Oil: also 29 characters.
The count is identical and the approximate width almost the same, since the words are the same. The only difference is which words are at risk. In the first order, if space runs short, Oud Store disappears. In the second, Oil and then Cambodian go, which are exactly what sets your product apart. The Arabic pair behaves the same way, at 38 characters each.
Why what shows first matters
Searchers skim results from the start. If they searched for Cambodian oud oil and see Cambodian Oud Oil at the front of your title, they know at once the page is for them. If they see a store name they do not know, they have to read further to understand. This does not lift your ranking, since title length and order are not ranking factors in themselves, but it does affect how clear your result is to the person reading it.
When the name comes first
- The home page: people who land there are usually looking for you, so the name is the product here.
- About or Contact pages: the name is part of the meaning.
- When your store name is very well known in your niche and people search for it along with the product. That is something you learn from your own reports, not a general rule.
Try it yourself
- Enter the title in the first order along with the description and page URL.
- Look at the width status next to the title: within roughly 580 px, or wider?
- Reverse the order and compare. If both are within, order is a matter of clarity. If both are wider, order decides what disappears.
- Pick a separator and keep it across your store, whether | or a hyphen, so your results look consistent.
Remember that the preview is an illustration in a neutral design, and that the search engine may rewrite the whole title or add the site name its own way. If you draft product titles in a document first, the Word and character counter gives a title's word and character count when you paste it in, but the approximate width and the effect of word order only show in the preview.
Common questions
Should I drop the store name from the title altogether?
Not necessarily. At the end it tells searchers who is selling, and it does no harm if it gets cut.
Which separator is best?
No proven difference. Pick one and use it on every page.