How to write an effective Title tags

[Sathish]

Note: Updates to this article: How to make a title tag that search engines will like

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
• Order keyword phrases effectively within the title tag
• Make the title tag appealing to the eye
• Try to keep title tags as unique as possible
• Avoid the list of common title tag mistakes


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.



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.



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?

XYZ COMPUTER HARDWARE
XYZ CoMpUtEr HaRdWaRe
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.



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.



• Make a distinctive, unique title for each page on your web site. The title should summarize the unique content of each page. Don’t just make the title of each page the same as your home page. In our example, the home page title could be “Animated Banners For Webmasters.”

• Don’t just use Home Page, Page1, Page 2, and so on for your web page titles. The about page title could be “About Amazing Banners: Your Animated Banner Source.

• Consider the content of a particular web page and select keyword phrases that pertain to the content of that page. Find keywords or phrases that would be used by someone searching for your web page. Choose one to three of the most relevant keyword phrases and use these in the title, beginning with the most relevant keyword phrase.

• Don’t include your company name in the title unless it is a commonly recognized name or the page is about your company. Use the limited real estate in a title for relevant keywords. You could include your company name in the description of your web page.

• Make sure the title does not exceed 66 characters. Google will not display more than 66 characters of a title in the search results page.

• Don’t use more than 7-10 words in your title.

• If an important keyword has both singular or plural versions, use both in your title if possible. See the about page example above.


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.

Regards
Sathish