How to Make a Title Tag that Search Engines Will Love

Making the following changes to your title tag can help improve ranking and increase targeted traffic to your website:

Include keyword phrases in your title tag:

Think of a title tag as the name above a shop. Imagine you are walking down a busy street with shops on either side of you. However every shop window is boarded up and all that is visible is its name. You mean to purchase a new Hi-Fi system and need to locate a suitable store. You look at all the names but are getting confused as to which one is for you. All of a sudden you see a store with 'Hi-Fi and Electrical' in its name. You enter and purchase your spanking new Hi-Fi system, but it is a bit expensive. And little did you know but the store next door also sold Hi-Fi systems but for a lot cheaper. However its name did not indicate this. In fact its name sounded more like a jewellery shop than an electrical store.

A search engine is rather like the shopper in the above example. It sees the title on each web page and determines whether this would be a good result to return based on its text. If you search for 'Hi-Fi' it is highly likely that some of the results returned will have 'Hi-Fi' in their title.

To be found using the search engines you should optimize your website for a set of keyword phrases. These keyword phrases should be included in your title tag. Suppose I was a website selling Hi-Fi systems, then I would like my website to appear in search engine results when searching with the phrase 'Hi-Fi systems'. If I include 'Hi-Fi systems' in my title tag I will increase the chances that the search engines will find the page and my ranking will be higher. Of course you are not limited to adding only one keyword phrase to your title, I would recommend two perhaps three but be careful not to make it too long. Also remember make it easy to understand and descriptive for a human.

Order these keyword phrases effectively:

Placing a keyword phrase at the start of the title tag allows it to be seen better by the search engines. Look at the following examples:

* ABCDEF Electrical - Hi-Fi Systems
* Hi-Fi Systems - ABCDEF Electrical

Both of these two examples are acceptable to human eyes but in the eyes of the search engines the second is see as more relevant if 'Hi-Fi Systems' is searched for because it appears at the start of the title. Generally it is best to place company name or the name of website to the end of your title tag.

Make your title enticing to the eye:

Although this point does not make a lot of difference to the search engines it can help to get people to click on your link in search results.

Which is easier on the eye?

1. XYZ COMPUTER HARDWARE
2. XYZ CoMpUtEr HaRdWaRe
3. XYZ Computer Hardware

I imagine that most people would say that (3) is the most pleasing. (1) and (2) are harder to read because of improper captilization. In (1) you see that using all capitals detracts the importance of any words you actually want to draw attention to and also some search engines may penalise this practice. (2) is simply a nightmare to read.

Try to keep title tags as unique as possible:

As each page on your site should be unique so should your title tags. Not only do unique title tags make the site more descriptive and navigable to a person they help search engines answer queries more accurately and allow more penetration of your site's pages in their databases.

Common title tags mistakes:

* Do not leave your title tag blank, ever!

* Do not use 'Untitled' or default text in your title tag. If you are using a web page editing application it may place some default text in the title tag. Make sure you always check your title to make sure this doesn't happen.

* Do not write title tags that are not relevant to the content on the page. Search engines compare text in the title tag against actual textual content on your page to rate relevancy. If the two are not related this will decrease your ranking. Also it is annoying to a person who visits your page when the title tag they saw going into your page does not relate to the content on the page. This will ensure that this person leaves your site and maybe never comes back.

* Do not stuff your title tag with repeating keyword phrases. This may be looked upon by search engines as spamming and they may penalise your ranking.

Summary:

Ignoring title tags is definitely a mistake if you aim to achieve high rankings. Although it takes a lot more than the title tag to propel you to the top of the search engines it can be very effective in making a search engine more secure that your site's content is more relevant than a competitor's.

Frank Kilkelly is a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Expert and Webmaster at http://www.seo-ireland.com/, a complete search engine optimization resource. The highlight of the site is an SEO forum http://www.seo-ireland.com/forum/ for discussion of the latest techniques and tips to improve the ranking of your web site.

---

All About Google

If you read The Search Engine Showdown,... Read More

Search Engines from a Webmaster Perspective

By now, virtually every webmaster has heard or read that... Read More

SEO Tips for Google

Getting a high ranking on Google is a big achievement.... Read More

Have You Heard Of Website Optimization

Have you heard of website optimization ? If you are... Read More

PageRank for Websites: Is There More to the Web?

Google's PageRank has been around for years, and in the... Read More

How to Avoid the Google Duplicate Content Filter?

More and more webmasters are building websites with publicly available... Read More

Google Rankings ? Achieving a Top 10 Position in Google ? Part 1

Achieving a top ranking position in Google is every webmasters... Read More

Pay Per Click Versus ?Organic? Search Engine Listings - The Pros and Cons and Best Uses for Each

What's the difference?For those who aren't quite clear what the... Read More

Link Popularity: Improve Your Search Engine Rankings

What is link popularity?Link Popularity is simply the total number... Read More

Link Swapping - How to Win the Website Marketing Game in 3 Easy Steps

If you are a webmaster, chances are one of your... Read More

List Building vs. Search Engine Optimization

It seems the excitement about search engine optimization fades in... Read More

Creating A Search Engine Copywriting Plan

Search engine copywriting has become an extremely important part of... Read More

Google Is Taking Descriptions From Alexa!

In a recent study looking at the "descriptions" of website... Read More

9 Steps to Getting Better Search Engine Rankings

You finally have a website and you are ready to... Read More

How I Suddenly Stumbled Onto No.1 In Google and Yahoo Without Search Engine Optimization - So What?

Sometimes, the search engines act really strange. And this story... Read More

The Purpose of PageRank?

I am sure the first thought provoking question that popped... Read More

Attack Smaller Searches To Get The Big Ones!

Searching online can not only be fun, but you sometimes... Read More

How To Get Your Web Site Banned ? or Search Engine Promotion, How Not to do it!

Search engines constantly strive to advance their technology and algorithms... Read More

Which SEO Company/Firm to Choose for SEO Services?

In the last 2-3 years many new companies have mushroomed,... Read More

Why SEO (as we know it) is Doomed to Failure and How You Can Avoid the Trap

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become one of the biggest... Read More

Search Engine Saturation Tool ? A Must Have SEO Tool

Search Engines have become the soul of the Internet. They... Read More

Content Is King

Over the past few years, there have been many debates... Read More

Ten Steps To A Well Optimized Website - Step 3: Site Structure

Welcome to part three in this search engine positioning series.... Read More

Search Engine Optimization - Enhancing Web Site Visibility

I've had several prospects and clients say to me "I... Read More

Google Traffic Report Card-Does Your Website Pass? Part 1

This is part 1 of a 7 part series that... Read More

Increase Page Rank with Search Engine Optimization

Utilizing effective search engine optimization techniques will improve the page... Read More

Tread Towards A Successful ?Internet Research?

Internet is a terrific resource containing billions of web pages... Read More

SEO, the Simplified Version

Lets get things straight. SEO is a very competitive market.... Read More

Get Personal With Google

Anyone who's been on the net any time at all... Read More

Search Engine Optimization --- An Overview

Search engine optimization is one of most popular online marketing... Read More

The Latest Craze: Local Search, 7 Steps to Being #1 in Your Local Market

Anyone would agree that it is much easier to be... Read More

Search Engine Optimization Lies & Misconceptions

In a perfect world, everyone would be honest.In a perfect... Read More

How To Start An Internet Business ? Meta Tags and Keyword Density

Okay, you have a domain name, layout and content. Now... Read More