Phone numbers in the meta titles

[CMTM]

Is it best practice to have phone numbers in the meta titles? Will google penalize for that? It is actually useful for the users...

[irvingw]

Since the title tag is used for rankings by Google and no one is searching by typing in the phone number, you are wasting your title tag space.

Better to put the phone number towards the beginning of the meta description. This way people can see the phone number and call it without having to click anywhere. Since you are concerned with calls as a conversion, clicking through to the site is not a prerequisite, you just want them to call and this gives the phone number up front.

https://www.google.com/#hl=en&tbo=d&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=dr+george+rappard&oq=dr+george+rappard&gs_l=hp.3..0.481.3490.0.3614.17.14.0.3.3.0.410.4024.2-7j5j1.13.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.WuQqTku0MTQ&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=f9c93688221c4a9d&bpcl=37643589&biw=1920&bih=936

See the meta for  <cite>www.drgeorgerappard.com/</cite>

[Personnel_Concept]

No Google will not penalise your site for adding phone nos.

But Its best practice to add keyword than phone no for ex:

Keyword- Phone no| Company name

[CMTM]

its a small lead gen business and yes people always call for appointments, even on our site they rarely use the form. 80% are calls - but my question is does google penalizes for that type of practice?

[Jeff_Lucas]

If your site is a directory and users are looking for the listings phone number - adding it to your page title removes the need for them to visit your site.

They can get the info they need straight from the SERP's.

Can you tell me more about your use case?