Writing Effective Title Tags

With the constant Google updates and merging of Yahoo and Bing and algorithm changes and new best practice rules and more competition and new ways to utilize social networking and all the other obstacles of performing quality SEO, it is easy to forget about the basics.

Two of the most basic SEO practices that can go a very long way in helping your site gain in Search Engine Rankings and add validity, are the Title Tags and Meta Descriptions.  While these are some of the first pieces of SEO you are likely to learn about, it seems as though sometimes they are overlooked on an importance scale.  Let’s take a second to have a quick refresher on the best practices, or at least what we view as best, on writing effective Title Tags.

Once you have completed your keyword research and decided what direction to go in to make your web-site the most profitable and highest ranking site in the Universe, it is time to start writing some Title Tags.

The first thing to remember when writing effective Title Tags is that every page on your site needs to have a unique Title Tag.  This is actually outlined very clearly in Google Webmaster Central.

This is a simple rule to follow, but I’ve seen many instances where someone either did not know this rule, or got lazy and used the same Titles on a few different pages.

The next guideline that you’ll want to follow would be Character Length.  How many characters should you use in your Tags?  Well the answer to that often comes down to individual preference.  It is generally suggested that Title Tags should be around 65 characters (with spaces) in length and this is right around what Google will display.  Often Google will only display about 66 characters and everything after that is cut off and the tag will end with (…).  There are times that more characters are displayed depending on the search query and how relevant Google feels the site and the Tags are and I’m sure hundreds of other factors that they won’t tell us.  So for now, try keeping them around 65 characters and make sure you get your target keywords in at the first, middle and end as long as they don’t come off as spammy.

This brings me to my second Title Tag rule.  Don’t write spammy Titles with nothing but back to back keywords with no discernable meaning.  If your company is a location based business, make sure you incorporate the city you are targeting along with the keyword phrase.  Use modifiers such as ‘Luxury’ or ‘Boutique’ if they describe your business well and try to fit keyword phrases right next to each other.  For example, if you’re a Lawn Mowing Service in Dallas, Texas, then you will want those words to be next to each other.  Dallas Texas Lawn Mowing Service is better than Lawn Mowing Service Located in Dallas, Texas. Both of these examples could be used within Title Tags of course, but the first one would probably be a little stronger and you would want it on a more powerful page than the second.

A third rule for effective Title Tags is to incorporate your brand or business name in every one.  This will add validity to your site and signals to the searcher that this site is the official site of your business.  Some SEO’s or at least Title Tag writers don’t seem to abide by this suggestion and opt instead for keyword heavy Titles.  I contend that searchers love brand names and if you happen to have one that searches will recognize, then having it in the Title Tag is very important.  If you don’t feel that your brand name is very strong, don’t just leave it out, it will build over time.  At any rate, consumers love brands and are therefore more likely to click on Titles that contain brand names.

Lastly, I suggest using the “Pipe” character | to divide up keyword phrases.  This helps the searcher recognize where the phrase break is and therefore won’t see your tags as weird run on sentences.  This is not a rule by any means and many talented SEO’s use commas or hyphens instead, but the pipes look nicer in my opinion.  Here’s an example of how these characters can break up a phrase and your company name, Dallas Texas Lawn Service | Gus Johnson Mowers Inc.

Now go out and write those unique Title Tags that will have your web-site traffic sky rocketing and your rankings dominating.  You’ll also need to write Meta Descriptions, do quite a bit of linking, get involved in Social Media, continue to update the on-page content, incorporate alt tags and anchor text, and a host of other SEO tasks, but those are for other Standing Dog blog posts.