When you are preparing pages for your website, sometimes it is easy to overlook things you can’t “see”. It’s obvious if you didn’t include written content on the page, or if the background didn’t look just right, but did you remember to include a title tag?
If you use a web page editor like Dreamweaver or Frontpage, you can’t make the change to the title tag on the design version of the page, you have to add it to the HTML code.
Of the possibly hundreds of factors that affect search engine rankings, the title tag seems to hold a powerful place. The title tag is the one thing that you control, and that your web visitor sees before they ever reach your site. Wondering how they do that? The title tag shows up in the search engine for your web page. In the image below I have taken a screen shot of some of our web pages as they appear in Google. The orange highlight is the FIRST IMPRESSION your visitor sees when they find your website in the search engines.
You want your title tag to use the right keywords for that specific page, and you really should make them as clickable as possible. Even in doing this blog post and screen shots, I can see ways to improve our clicks from the search engine into our website.
Is your title tag written so that people are “itching” to click on it? Does it stand out from the other title tags in the search? Would you click on your own title tag?
Title Tag Mistakes
I often see companies repeat the same title tag (usually their company name) on every page of the website. That doesn’t help your search rankings, typically in a search engine you’re trying to attract customers who DON’T know you, so using your company name every where doesn’t help you rank for the products and services that your potential website visitor is looking for.
Other mistakes are to leave the page untitled or name them Home or About Us. Do you really want to rank for Untitled, Home or About Us?
So how do you create a great title tag that is also SEO friendly?
First, make sure that EVERY page of your website has a unique title tag.
Each web page should be themed around one or two keyword phrases, and the title tag should reflect clearly what the page is about.
Limit the title tag to 65 characters.
Don’t stuff or over use keywords. Example. Plumbing | Plumbing Quote | Plumber Services
Use compelling keywords, along with products or services. Let’s use continue the plumber for an example. Residential Plumber – Call For Free Pluming Estimate or Need Help Repairing A Slab Leak
What about that contact page? That’s where generally recommend using the company name on the Contact page. Contact John & Sons Plumbing, Jacksonville, FL
Think about what it is your customer needs? Is there a way you can include those trigger points in your title tag?
Wondering how you can see what your title tags say? There are several different ways.
When you are on a web page you can take a peek at the top line of your browser window.
In the command bar you can choose View, Page Source or Edit, View Source to the the Title Tag and other meta tags.
And I did save the simplest way for last, In google you can type the command site: in front of your domain name in the search box. For my site, you can see in the first image I typed site:http://www.redhawkstrategies.com
Creating great title tags is the best first step you can take to get better rankings in the search engines.
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