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
same day cleaning service Bannockburn ..Never put form over function. Why? Because it's crucial that... Read More
The HTML editor is usually a webpage design software that... Read More
While few companies can boast as we do that our... Read More
The solution lies in creating a 'Database driven website', through... Read More
In this article I will give a few tips of... Read More
Last Thursday afternoon I was working on a garage door... Read More
Know what you wantMake sure you know why you... Read More
Here's a really simple way... any novice can create a... Read More
Customers will form an opinion of your business as soon... Read More
We would all like to have the best looking website,... Read More
What Will My Site Do?This is the first of eight... Read More
There are many different website design companies, offering different facilities... Read More
You have only 10 seconds to impress your potential buyer.... Read More
Colors convey emotions and emotions heavily influence the decision-making process.... Read More
As an online Entrepreneur you require a successful website.One that... Read More
10 Ways Web Site Text Can Impact Your Reader's Buying... Read More
What dollar amount does your web site contribute to this... Read More
Once, I attempted to create a favicon (the little graphic... Read More
In the of-line marketing world it is all about trying... Read More
Chris, a new consulting client, asked me to help him... Read More
Flash is a powerful technology that can help you create... Read More
Whether you are planning on having a website built for... Read More
One product, one long web page: this kind of web... Read More
Let's face it. Buying products and services from the Internet... Read More
Designing a website is hard job, and requires you to... Read More
housekeepers near Deerfield ..What do the key words represent?Key words - these are... Read More
We can't emphasize enough the importance of including keyword-rich content... Read More
~A man [woman] is a success if he [she] gets... Read More
CSS is a new option for website designers that have... Read More
Designing your own successful web page can seem difficult and... Read More
You may not bother with html validation or writing simple... Read More
A few years ago a lot of websites utilized frame... Read More
Do you know why the majority of people use the... Read More
Just because you are a small business with an even... Read More
Internet Explorer, created by microsoft has been the most popular... Read More
The concept of web designing based on the nature and... Read More
As part of your event planning you should seriously consider... Read More
Here is a quick list of components that make a... Read More
Making your site accessible means making it available to be... Read More
If you are trying to sell a product or service... Read More
From my personal experience of around two year as home... Read More
I have written before about long sales copy on the... Read More
In this article, I will attempt to cover the basics... Read More
Countdown to Armageddon - at least you'd think so judging... Read More
Are you looking to create the perfect website? A complete... Read More
Want to know what the worst thing to say on... Read More
They may look cutting edge, but if you want a... Read More
Getting traffic to your website is not the only factor... Read More
If you're not getting a lot of traffic to your... Read More
If you've a website but not making a lot of... Read More
Web Design |