How to write a title tag
OK, 2nd attempt at this post, I tried it a week or so ago, and Wordpress completely ballsed up my <>’s and I lost the post, so, here we go again…
A question I’ve seen asked more than a few times over the last few years relates to how best to write and structure a pages/sites title tags. Often it’s looked at from the SEO point of view, and trying to make the most of the importance Search Engines give it.
There is a bit more to it that I would add, yes you want to optimise it for good ranking, but it’s also a highly visible piece of content when people do see it listed in the results pages.
Firstly, internal pages. It’s always best to ave unique title tags wherever possible across a site. Each page has a different topic, is about something slightly different. The title tags should reflect that.
A page talking about small blue widgets, on a site about widgets, isn’t going to benefit so much from a title tag along the lines of “Widget-Sales.com for all your widget needs”.
For internal pages, the title tags should be as specific about that pages content as possible. So for small blue widgets, the title tag should include small blue widgets.
This gives anyone who sees this title tag a clearer idea of what the page is about. For this same reason, you want the wording that specifically relates to an individual page first, before any mention of the website generally.
Why do it that way round? Well, it comes back to those search engine rankings you’re after.
One of the most visible places for your title tags, are in the results pages of searches. In many cases, the biggest part of your listing is made up of the title tag. So when people see a results page, the main thing they are scanning over, is a list of title tags for the different pages.
Now if you have an accurate, descriptive title tag, that gives someone a good idea as to what the page content is, you are going to be more likely to get targetted traffic from people after your content. The effect could even be as good as being a few places higher in the SERP’s. If you have good title tags, and a few people above you don’t, people may skim right over them, and find you. You’re the one that seems to be answering their question better.
At the same time, people who realise from reading your title tag that you’re not offering what they really want, aren’t going to click, and you aren’t going to have that wasted visitor, it won’t be another click through to the site, followed by instant back button click.
So, first things first, have some text relating to the specific information found on a page, as the first text in the title tag. I’m not even following my own advice on this blog, I should really have the post title first, followed by the site name and tagline (I could even do without the tagline).
For a larger site, I would set it up as page name - category name - site name, in order to get the best out of it.
If you’re on the home page, use the site name and a small amount of text describing the site generally. You don’t need to cover all bases, not everyone is going to come to the site via the home page. Your other pages should be covering various keywords, and allowing people to enter the site through them as well. People should only be finding your home page in the search engines if they are searching very generally on your topic.
Take the search [dance ejay for schools] on Google. The top listing there at present has text “Dance eJay for Schools : Music : General REM the educational …” displayed.
It’s fairly clear from that, that the page is about the search term. I can also guess that it’s music related, and I can see the company name.
If they had the company name and tagline first, the product name and category would have been chopped off at the end. Someone seeing the result would have known the web site was REM, but wouldn’t have known the page was about the search term, so may hvae skipped over it. A lost click, and a possible lost purchase.