Search Marketing Blog
SEO Best Practices - Title Tags
HTML title tags are arguable the most important on-page elements pertaining to effective search engine optimization (SEO). Not only do title tags have a significant impact on search engine rankings; they also have a substantial influence upon click-through rates (CTRs).
Here is a short list of best practices to keep in mind when creating your HTML title tags:
1. Keep It Short
Most search engines display up to 60 characters, including spaces. Google recently bumped this number to 70 characters in some cases. If your title tags are too long, the search engines will append the excess characters. They will then replace these excess characters with “…”, which will result in incomplete title tags.
2. Use Target Keywords
I cannot stress enough how important your title tags are to the ranking algorithms. It is paramount that you include your primary keyword(s) in each title tag. However, do not attempt to over populate your title tags with a large number of keywords (i.e., more than 5). It is much more effective to concentrate on 2 or 3 of your most important terms.
3. Incorporate Your Brand
It is extremely important to include your brand name or company name at the beginning (or end) of each title tag. Not only does this provide a consistent look to each page of your site, it also increases brand awareness within the search engine results pages (SERPs). I prefer to incorporate brand at the beginning of the title tag for aesthetic reasons.
4. Create Unique Titles
Each page of your site should have its own unique title tag. Incorporate the primary keywords for each page, and do not use the same title tag on multiple pages. Search engines analyze each page of your Web site individually. Therefore, you should optimize each page according to its content.
5. Do Not Copy Competitive Title Tags
Think that copying the title tag of a highly ranked site will get you a top 10 position? Think again. Search engines have become extremely sophisticated, and can detect this unscrupulous practice. Do it . . . and you run the risk of being penalized.
By following the best practices contained in this post, you will dramatically improve your site’s ability to achieve prominently positioned search listings throughout the most important Natural engines and directories.
