Before
I give you a step-by-step guide to writing title tags,
let's define what they actually are and see why they are
important. When you look at a web page in your browser,
the writing in the blue strip above browser's commands
(file, edit, view, etc.) is the title tag. On your
actual html document the title tag is in the head
portion between the notation <title> and </title>
The
title tag is important because it "tells" the search
engine what the page is about, and in the case of your
main page, what your website is all about. I remember
back in my school days that we used to take standardized
examinations in which we had to read a story and then
answer the question: "What would be the best title for
this essay?" Choosing a title tag is something like
answering this kind of question. You've got to pick out
the gist of your enterprise and highlight it in a
sentence. So, take a look at your web page and get ready
to begin, following these steps:
1.
Make sure your three or four most important keywords or
keyword phrases appear in the title tag. The most
important words should appear near the beginning of the
sentence, and they can be repeated within the sentence
for added emphasis. For example if I am offering
low-cost web design, then my title tag might look like
this: <title> Web Design: Affordable, Low Cost Web
Design from the Acme Web Design Company </title>
2.
Leave your branding and sales pitch for another part of
the web page. Although it is a natural tendency to want
to put your company name at the beginning of the title
tag, you should remember that unless you are very famous
like Coca Cola, people are not searching for you. So,
put your most important keywords at the front of the
title tag, and establish your brand name with your logo
and other elements of the web page. If your company name
includes your keywords, like our hypothetical Acme Web
Design Company, then put it in the title tag, but not
necessarily at the beginning.
Similarly, the title tag is no place for your sales
pitch, so keep out flowery or extraneous adjectives,
unless they are actual terms used in searches for your
product or service.
3.
Place your geographical or niche-defining term in your
title tag.
If you
are trying for a top ten or top twenty position for a
term such as "web design," then you are really in for a
difficult struggle. However, suppose the Acme Web Design
Company is located in Columbus, Ohio. Then instead of
attempting the almost impossible task of getting the top
rankings for the term "web design," it would be far
better to get a high ranking in the geographical niche
using a title tag such "Web Design, Columbus, Ohio: Low
Cost Web Design in Columbus, Ohio by The Acme Web Design
Company".
4.
The title tag can be longer than you think.
Some
guidelines say that the title tag should be no longer
than 70 characters. It is true that only the first 70
characters will show in the top bar of the browser, but
search engine robots will read the rest of the tag and
the search engines will not penalize you for going over
the 70 character mark. Take a look at highly ranked
sites in heavily competitive categories and you will see
examples of long title tags. Write the tag according to
your need to get your important words and phrases
included in a sentence that best describes what your
product or service is about.
5.
Vary the title tags on the inner pages of your website.
Even
with a long title tag, it is not possible to highlight
all the possible terms which someone might use to find
your website. This is not a problem if you make use of
the other pages of your website. Instead of simply
having a title tag that says "services" our web design
firm could highlight "low cost, web design services..."
on that page. The "contact" page could be used to
emphasize the geographical location once again, and so
on. Many websites make the mistake of repeating the same
title tag on each of the inner pages of the site. Avoid
this and use each of your page's titles to target
important keywords and keyword phrases.
So,
take a look at your website's title tags, and see if you
can improve them. The effort that you make will be well
rewarded.
