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Web Page Optimization - 5 Tips For Your Title Tags

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It used to be that one of the top reasons web pages were ranked highly was due to their excessive use of stuffing keywords into their meta keywords tag or filling up their web page with the same word or phrase over and over; also referred to as "keyword density".

As times have changed and as they continue to change there is still one critical element to effective SEO that has remained consistent throughout all search engine time and that is your title tag.

The title tag on your page holds a great amount of weight in the search engines; however, many websites still use their title tag the wrong way. What follows are the top 5 tips for effective title tag design that you can begin using right away for your on-page SEO strategy.

And just for the record, when we refer to the title tag, we're referring to the code on your web pages that looks like this:

< title>The Important Page Title Keywords< /title>.

Tip #1: Keep your title tag under 64 characters. While each of the largest search engines; Google, Yahoo! and MSN each have their own rules when it comes to how many characters they display on their search results page, Google has the most restrictive rule of 64 characters. Anything longer than this, you run the risk of very important keywords or phrases not showing up in the search engine results page. This is important because your title tag is the hyperlink that a search visitor would click on to get to your page and if you had included some very important keywords in a text string longer than 64 characters, that title tag would get cut off in Google.

Tip #2: Keep the most important keyword for the web page front and center. What this means is that whatever main keyword or phrase you're optimizing for on your web page, make it the very first word within your title tag. For example, if you were optimizing a page for "gourmet coffee" then you'd place that word at the beginning of your title tag. < title>Gourmet Coffee Tastes Great< /title>

Tip #3: This goes without saying but always, always use a title tag for each and every one of your web pages. You'd be surprised how many people overlook this simple little thing on their web pages but just to give you an example, visit Google and type in allintitle:"Untitled Document". This will return all of those web pages that currently don't have a title which means that they're missing out on all of the potential search engine rankings they could be getting.

Tip #4: Remember that you write for a web searcher not a search engine. What this tip means is that even though you may be following the rule above by placing your main keyword at the beginning of your title tag, it must still read well for a typical web searcher. This is important because when your site does come up in the search engines results pages, the title tag for your web page is what becomes the clickable link that will take a web searcher to your web site. Additionally, the keywords that the person searched on are bolded if they're contained within your title tag; and if you've done your job correctly, they will show up bolded within that link. If you simply can't make the title to your page sound like a normal person would talk, then simply just use your keywords.

Here's an example using our "gourmet coffee" keyword. You know by now that the phrase "gourmet coffee" should show up within your title tag since that's the word you're optimizing for. However, you might mention some gourmet coffee brands on this same web page and be tempted to use them in your title tag like so:

< title>Gourmet Coffee Peets Starbucks Boca Java< /title>

This doesn't necessarily read well to the end user (the web searcher) so if you can't make it sound like a real person would speak, don't toss keywords in there just for the sake of using them. Stick to the simple keyword phrase of "gourmet coffee" like so:

< title>Gourmet Coffee< /title>

Tip #5: Keep your company name out! A very large mistake that many companies make is by placing their company name at the beginning of the title tag like so:

< title>The Coffee Company - Gourmet Coffee< /title>

First off, the main keyword phrase isn't listed near the front of the title tag which is mistake #1 and mistake #2 is that the search engines will believe that the web page they're indexing is about "The Coffee Company" first and "gourmet coffee" secondarily.

If you're looking to rank your site for your company name, this is all well and good (although not recommended). You're attempting to rank for "gourmet coffee" but instead are giving a higher importance to your company name.

If you absolutely must use your company name in your title tag, then place it at the end - like so:

< title>Gourmet Coffee - The Coffee Company< /title>

Whenever possible, keep your title tag simple and to the point. There's no need to place an excessive amount of information within the title tag. Stick to the keywords that you've chosen for that page, keep your company name out of it if your boss will let you, and you'll be thanked by the search engines by being so well-informed.

Article Source: Websites Melbourne

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