Importance of Title Tags?

I've noticed that my main competitor has as the title for every page.

Code:

<title> Keyword @hisdomainname.com </title>

I looked at my source code and I have no title tags. Should I?

Also, what is the relevance of "Forum name" and "Homepage Name" in the Vbulletin Options area? What should they optimally be?

Thanks.

Title tag is important , default vBulletin templates have title tag. You should immediately update and add your title tags back. By the way this is not seo optimized format to define a title tag.

Code:

<title> Keyword @hisdomainname.com </title>

You should use

Code:

<title> Keyword</title>

How do I add my title tags back? I don't remember ever intentionally removing them.

You can compare your templates with original version and add the missing title values or you can revert your showthread and forumdisplay templates.

Thanks for your help Mert.

Which templates would contain the title tags?

In my FORUMHOME template inside the HEAD tag, I have:

Code:

$headinclude
    <title><phrase 1="$vboptions[bbtitle]">$vbphrase[x_powered_by_vbulletin]</phrase></title>

Showthread and Forumdisplay templates

Neither my Showthread nor Forumdisplay templates have been altered from the default VBulletin style.

The only templates I have altered are:

• phpinclude_start
• footer
• FORUMHOME
• forumhome_forumbit_level1_post
• forumhome_forumbit_level2_post
• header
• memberlist
• navbar
• navbar_link
• postbit_attachment
• postbit_legacy
• postbit_quickedit
• showthread_quickreply
• threadbit

Would any of those templates affect whether or not a TITLE tag appears on my pages?

I just noticed that the title tag is appearing, only it is way down. Would the area in the head tag where it appears affect it's effectiveness? I've highlighted it in red in the code below. AT the very bottom.

It is similar within all vBulletin forums. You should move your CSS to filesystem