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
apartment cleaning near Highland Park ..As a graphic designer, you are sitting on a gold... Read More
Argh, where's the contact button?! Believe it or not, some... Read More
When it comes to marketing your website, you should really... Read More
Every action has a beginning phase where you launch your... Read More
1. Use .gifs rather than .jpgs. GIFs are smaller in... Read More
There are plenty of Drupal Modules that you can install... Read More
A long, long time ago? In a galaxy far, far... Read More
Designing a website is hard job, and requires you to... Read More
Sin #5Poor Spelling And GrammarWe all make mistakes when we... Read More
Studies done by Jakob Nielson the man touted as the,... Read More
Your web site should be-visitor friendly to navigatesearch engine friendly... Read More
We can't emphasize enough the importance of including keyword-rich content... Read More
A "template" is simply a design format which you can... Read More
7. Create high quality content - make clear points with... Read More
You have identified that to have an internet prescence would... Read More
Now that you have decided that it is time to... Read More
Let's face it. Buying products and services from the Internet... Read More
Using CGI scripts to add automation to your web site... Read More
Web sites that feature products ? especially furniture or other... Read More
Everything you say and do says something about you. This... Read More
Seeing is believing.One trick to increase your visibility as well... Read More
Remember your vision for your company and the brand or... Read More
Do you remember playing with the jack-in-the-box toy as a... Read More
Square buttons, round buttons, flashy buttons ? will they match... Read More
In today's age of fast food and high-speed Internet, a... Read More
cleaning lady near Arlington Heights ..There are literally thousands of different options, styles and formats... Read More
This is a very perfunctory look at the website code... Read More
Did you know that many folks make "buying decisions" when... Read More
First impressions are extremely important if you hope to do... Read More
Web Design is a very subjective process. Your idea of... Read More
Good websites stand out from the masses of boring, hard... Read More
Reading on the web is different than reading in all... Read More
Drop Capitals are frequently used in many newspapers, books and... Read More
Countdown to Armageddon - at least you'd think so judging... Read More
Here are 10 dynamic website advertising tactics to super-charge your... Read More
You know that I'm always extolling the virtues of an... Read More
The following list of websites is the best compilation of... Read More
Your web site should be-visitor friendly to navigatesearch engine friendly... Read More
Any kid, and their grandmother too, can make a webpage.... Read More
So your web site's online and you've got high rankings... Read More
As a web designer, I have a personal interest in... Read More
If you've a website but not making a lot of... Read More
Ever browse across a website that took ten million years... Read More
If you own a web site or if you are... Read More
This article gives free tips on how to find a... Read More
A "404 Error" happens when the web server you are... Read More
These days, it seems that everyone has a website. Unfortunately,... Read More
Websites, there are literally billions of them out there in... Read More
If you are reading this, I assume you either have... Read More
Unarguably, the most important part of your website is content.... Read More
Web Design |