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that is hilarious. i wonder how quickly you can a/b test a change on a website with regard to its pagerank.
And, yes, you can't show up in search results (most often) unless you have SEO-optimized title tags. I would recommend serving up a specific SEO-title tag, and then another, closely related article title on the page itself - at least as it comes to news pieces.
And the other hand, I'd agree that it is in companies best interest to have the title tags short enough to get their brand in there - because brand relevancy helps CTR substantially. When CTR goes up, ranking may increase since Google is looking at these things in their algo. Then you get more clicks, views and links, and it starts a downhill, positive domino effect for your website.
SEOMofo has a great tool for making sure you don't breach Google's title tag/meta description character limit in the SERPs:
It is amazingly annoying to users, but the fact remains that crudding up the title tag does actually provide tangible SEO benefits.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
An unfamiliar favicon lets me know I am not somewhere I normally would be, and to regard the site I am at more suspiciously. Without familiar favicons, I would treat every site that way before looking at the page more thoroughly. Obviously I do not rely solely on favicons, but they are a good initial way of orienting myself when looking at tabs.
In other words, the favicon is only useful for familiar sites or for knowing a page isn't from a familiar site. It's of absolutely no use in any other case, whereas a site name or a domain in the title tag will actually tell me what the site is in all cases.
That it actually quite useful when I flick back to a random browser window after being distracted... ("Ahhh, that's my timewasting window!")
Apparently the Chicago Sun-Times does on its website, as do many other sites. " :: " is a simple visual separator that makes it clear that what's intended is not just a colon. It also prevents any confusion that can arise when you use a single colon or an em-dash as the title/site separator and then use the same punctuation element within a title.
Examples:
Apple
Welcome to the Apple Store – Apple Store (U.S.)
Apple – Mac
Apple – Play music and more on iPod.
Apple – iPhone 4 – Video calls, multitasking, HD video, and more
Apple – iPad – See the web, email, and photos like never before.
Apple – iTunes – Everything you need to be entertained
Apple – Support
iPad – iPad WiFi – iPad Wifi + 3G – Apple Store (U.S.)
Apple – MacBook Air – It thinks and acts like a full-size Mac.
Apple – iPod classic – Read the iPod classic technical specifications.
Apple – iPhone 4 – Design of the display, A4 processor, and more
Apple – iTunes – What's on – Discover music, movies, and more.
Apple – Why You’ll Love a Mac – A Mac is the ultimate upgrade.
Apple – In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic for iPod and iPhone
Apple – Science – Inside the Image – Quantum Views
(Still, overall, Apple’s is better than most websites: it’s pretty clear what each of the above pages is about just from its title.)
Putting SEO keywords in the page title (a) doesn’t actually help your page’s rank in search engine indexes, and (b) makes things harder for people trying to tweet a link, bookmark your page, or scan it from a list of currently open windows and tabs in their browser. Trust the Googlebot to figure it out. I'm pretty sure point (a) is false [1], and I'm absolutely sure that the conclusion (trust the Googlebot!) is. You…
Also, using Apple as an example from the article, Apple's Title is Apple because people don't get to the Apple site by searching for "mp3 player". People go to Apple's site because they want an Apple product. Apple doesn't need to try and rank for all that other stuff; it's not what they do and they don't need it. Branding is different than ranking.