Some SEO “pros” are advising that adding exact keyword phrases to your Title Tag will get you top rank. In fact, some SEO sites will tell you that without a doubt the Title Tag is the most important tag in terms of rank. Really? Is top rank that easy? Does it all come down to a 65 character line?

Well, let’s take a look at a few random Google searches and see if the exact keyword phrase appears in the title.

Real estate refinance (Only result #9 uses this exact phrase in the title).
Online flower delivery (You won’t find this phrase until after position #5).
Medical coding courses (None of the top 10 sites use the exact phrase).

Of course there are exceptions where almost every result has the exact phrase in the title, for example real estate leads. If the Title Tag is the most important tag and adding the keyword phrase will get you top rank as some SEOs state, then why isn’t result #9 for “real estate refinance” #1? It’s the only site with the exact phrase in the title, yet it’s at the bottom. Likewise, none of the top 10 sites for “medical coding courses” use that phrase in the title.

According to my testing, you can rank #1 for Google for a phrase without including it in the title. (more…)