I notice some sites have keywords that stretch across the entire top of the page using many different words and phrases. Is there a correct amount of keywords to use in your title? After so many words does Google devalue your title?

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Kevin O'Brien
Outer Banks Property Management | Outer Banks | Outer Banks Beach Blog
"It's always a great day in paradise"

There's no definitive answer to that question. I believe overloading your title with too many keywords may be a red flag if combined with other negative quality signals, but as with any negative quality signal, by itself it will not directly harm rankings.

I focus on at least two things when writing TITLEs:

1) Main keywords positioned at the start of TITLE
2) The Title reads well.

For example, check out the three results for [real estate]

REALTOR.com - Real Estate Listings & Homes For Sale
Real Estate on Yahoo! Real Estate Homes for Sale, MLS listings & more!
Real Estate | Homes for Sale | Houses for Sale | MLS Listings ...

IMO Yahoo's TITLE is the best out of the three. Realtor's TITLE reads well but doesn't open with the main keyword. And the third listing doesn't read well.

I would stay away from placing the URL in the title. It will not hurt you any, but the information is redundent. In addition, that space could be used for additional keywords.

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Neal M
Jackson MO Real Estate, Cape Girardeau Missouri Real Estate, Missouri Real Estate
HouseViewOnline™ is southeast Missouri’s leading site for touring real estate online. See 100’s of properties from Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Perryville & Sikeston Missouri. Properties are displayed in photos taken by our professional photographer. We are proud to work with Realtors and real estate agents through out SE Missouri.

I have been wondering about this. It is hard to track but I think I have seen some improvement since I added more keywords to my page titles. They aren't stuffed but they also don't make the best reading either.

Cherokee County real estate | Cherokee County Homes for sale and MLS

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Rob Muller
ReMax Town & Country
Canton, GA 30114
770-363-4528
Cherokee County GA Realestate | East Cobb GA Real Estate | West Cobb GA Real Estate Specializing in Cherokee County GA, Canton GA, East Cobb, West Cobb, Acworth, Kennesaw Real Estate Markets.

May i add my link to information dedicated to Real estate?

http://getbestofrealestatenow.atwebpages.com

I have definitely noticed some improvements from having the targeted keyword(s) appear in the title at least once. I don't know if having multiple instances makes much difference though.

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Portland Real Estate | Portland MLS | Portland General Contractor
Milan Cole, Broker
Oregon First
(503) 953-3416

From what I understand you should keep your title to a max of 70 characters. Use your H1 to support the title. Spacing and sequence are important.

I notice some meta descriptions have up to 170 characters and am trying to figure out how much of that is necessarily redundant. My feeling from seeing searches, that is an area you also want to support the premise of the sites content so the SE finds support of what your title tags say. When you look at the searches that come up for a term, look at what is highlighted in the title and the meta description.

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Santa Cruz Real Estate|Capitola Real Estate| Aptos Real Estate Santa Cruz is a vibrant community, located on the north end of Monterey Bay, and is home to artisans, beach goers, hi tech types, and college students. There is plenty of natural beauty from the ocean side coastal towns to the little mountain communities. Let my 30 years of local knowledge and 20 years of real estate help you find the right home or property in Santa Cruz.

META descriptions don't effect ranking. The highlighting is done post-result sorting, for the searchers benefit only.

META descriptions do influence SERP CTR. Poor META descriptions can mean a surfer will skip over your listing in the SERPs.

I currently only have a 4 word title that is 24 characters. From what it sounds like I should probably change the title to include another keyword or two.

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Kevin O'Brien
Outer Banks Property Management | Outer Banks | Outer Banks Beach Blog
"It's always a great day in paradise"

I have 6 words in the title and then two words for the company name. I think I'll change it though. perhaps more keywords.

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Real estate in Nice France
French Riviera villa for sale
French Riviera Real Estate