Should I include brand name in product titles

By Ilana Davis

The following article is for those who are not using a marketplace like Amazon. I’m not an Amazon expert nor do I play one on TV.

Let me start by saying that I have mixed feelings about brand names in the product title.

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

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.

Answers are never that simple.

Here’s why I’m conflicted.

Last summer 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 battery packs”.

Searching for Anker battery packs worked for me even though they don’t use their name in the product title. Obviously, this “research” was not done at scale so keep that in mind.

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.

This 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 is redundant.

From a user experience perspective

I take issue with adding more to product titles in general. Product titles need to be clear, with simple words that explain what the product is. 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's product title for the PowerCore+ 26800 PD 45W Portable Charger

Anker, along with most tech-based companies, uses technical specs in their title such as 45W. This is in reference to the port that uses 45 watts of power. It’s relevant to the product and provides distinction between other products. So this makes sense.

Long product titles also impact the usability and layout of your Shopify site. This can cause a weird wrapping of product titles where the rows of collections vary in size. Not a huge deal. Shifting this layout could 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 after the title on all pages as Anker does. So the brand name still shows in search results. If you had your brand name included in the product title, it would look something like “BRAND PRODUCT – BRAND”.

Speaking of search results, Google doesn’t display the brand in a meaningful way on Google Search… at the moment. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this change in the future.

Google Search result for Anker

Google Search currently shows the url, title, meta description and if you’re lucky to be awarded Rich Results, you’ll also see review ratings, reviews, price, and availability.

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.

The recommendation is…

Anker has a brand that is often in search queries because there are a lot of copycats or cheapo brands. It would make sense for them to use Anker in their product titles if they wanted to. They don’t, but they could.

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 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. Test it out. If you currently have your brand name included in the product title, remove it. Wait a few months to see how your traffic and conversion rates change.

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