The title tags of your web pages are more important than most web authors realize. Once you understand why the title is so important, you can easily write more effective title tags.
What is the title tag?
In your HTML code, the page title should be placed between the beginning and closing HEAD tags, ideally just after the beginning HEAD tag and before the first META tag.
Why is the title tag important?
The title tag is important for a variety of purposes.
- Most browsers display your page with the title at the top of the browser window.
- If someone bookmarks your page in their browser, their bookmark list will show your page using your page title. So if the title of your web page is "Home Page", as many are, your visitors' bookmark lists will contain a lot of "Home Page" listings. How will they determine which "Home Page" is yours two months from now?
- Google and other search engines present the results of a search by displaying page titles as links in the first line of each query result. Search engines doesn't like to display "Home Page" as the best they can do for a user searching for "purple people eaters," for example.
- Most search engines will order the results of a search engine query based on the relevancy of your page to the keywords used for the query. One of the factors in determining this relevancy is how closely your title matches these keywords. If your small startup company makes purple people eaters, don't give your home page the title "Unknown Business, Inc." It's not relevant to the search. Of course, many people will consider "CNN" or "Time, Inc." as relevant for the keyword "news." When you get to be as well known, you can use your name as your title.
You can see that the title of your web page is highly visible to others, and it can impact the search engine ranking of your web page. It is therefore worthwhile to spend some time carefully writing each page title.
Practial tips for writing title tags
Here are some practical tips you can use for crafting an effective web page title.
- Start by thinking hard about how your potential visitors will search for your site. What keywords or keyword phrases will they use for a search engine query? Use one or two of the most important keyword phrases for your title. In our example, the home page title could be "Purple People Eaters."
- Don't just use the same title for all your web site pages. Your About page title could be "About Unknown Business, Inc., your Source for Purple People Eaters." Your Order page title could be "How to Order Purple People Eaters."
- 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 can 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. Truncated titles irritate search engine users.
- Don't use more than 7-10 words in your title.
If you understand what the title tag is, why it is important, and follow these practical tips for writing your web page titles, your internet visibility will be improved, you will improve your search engine ranking, and you will get more visitors to your web site.
Copyright ? 2005 by Kempton Smith, All rights reserved.
Kempton Smith is a web specialist who helps internet businesses increase their site exposure and gain more visitors. He operates the Ad Buddies banner exchange network. Visit http://adbuddies.com
Airbnb cleaning service Arlington Heights ..Congratulations! You've got a brand new site and it's doing... Read More
Are you in a dilemma whether to create a mini... Read More
With an increasing number of employment portals emerging, it is... Read More
When a prospect lands on your website will he or... Read More
Your website design may be affecting your sales in ways... Read More
One of the challenges of moving a web site up... Read More
When I surf the Net, I often see web sites... Read More
If you are going to have a web presence for... Read More
Do use a consistent look and feel Your site should... Read More
The HTML editor is usually a webpage design software that... Read More
Designing your own successful web page can seem difficult and... Read More
A professionally presented business website is a powerful and essential... Read More
My site is working fine. The links work. Content is... Read More
No matter what product or service you're promoting, unless you... Read More
The icons in an application are the soul of the... Read More
To explain my point I need to first confuse the... Read More
Imagine spinning someone around so profoundly and for so long... Read More
Does your website need a re-design? Here are some questions... Read More
Sooner or later every small or medium business owner realizes... Read More
Websites, there are literally billions of them out there in... Read More
Even after you've managed to bring traffic to your site... Read More
Ever wonder how HTML color codes are put together? For... Read More
A well designed web site is great to have, but... Read More
Want to know what the worst thing to say on... Read More
One visit does not make a sale. Be sure to... Read More
reliable maid service Winnetka ..Colors are powerful, and create strong feelings. They can also... Read More
To create your own great banner, you only need five... Read More
In learning webpage design, I encountered many problems that took... Read More
We have all seen websites showcasing their testimonials either spread... Read More
This article may come as a surprise to you.Especially since... Read More
If there's one thing that I've learnt so far, it's... Read More
What are websites? Are they sales tools for vendors and... Read More
Unless you are an inventor, most likely you are selling... Read More
You may not bother with html validation or writing simple... Read More
The first step to starting any Internet business is conducting... Read More
Everybody talks about the importance of testing your sales copy... Read More
Graphics are fun, but if you put in too many... Read More
As search engine marketers, we spend an enormous amount of... Read More
Websites, there's literally billions of them out there in cyber-space.... Read More
Chris, a new consulting client, asked me to help him... Read More
When I surf the Net, I often see web sites... Read More
The great debate: how much copy you should have on... Read More
A client asked me, at what point do you change... Read More
Many websites make the mistake of being all flash and... Read More
Most NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) don't understand these important aspects of... Read More
Any design on a web application involves the effective input... Read More
So your web site's online and you've got high rankings... Read More
In the early years of the internet the actual design... Read More
Here is a quick list of components that make a... Read More
With the advent of the Internet a whole new vista... Read More
Web Design |