HTML optimization : the Title tag (2nd part)
In our previous article “HTML optimization : the Title tag (1st part)” , we focused on precisely defining the TITLE tag. In this second part, you will learn how to calibrate the TITLE tag for an optimal SEO.
How do I write the Title tag of my web pages ?
The essentials
A different TITLE tag for each page
It is strongly recommended that each page has a different TITLE tag. This title must reflect the web page content at best. You should not repeat the same title on every pages. You would miss the opportunity to vary keywords. In theory, you should not have two pages of your website with the same TITLE tag.
An understandable title
A good SEO requires to avoid a meaningless succession of keywords for the TITLE tag. Give your users the lust for click ;-). If you look at the Google results for the keyword “mp3 player”, you will find that the TITLE tag is brought by Google in the list (circled in red).
Shape your TITLE tag with your best slogan, without beeing too catchy.
For example, <TITLE>MP3 Player – Get yours now !</TITLE>
Avoid, <TITLE>MP3 Player, small price, buy, sell, compare, best price</TITLE>.
The keywords
The TITLE tag of your web pages must include your most important keywords. In general, keywords at the beginning of the title have a better impact on your web page SEO.
For example, for the keyword “MP3 Player”, this title
<TITLE>MP3 Player – Buy yours now</TITLE>
is better than,
<TITLE>Compare and buy your MP3 Player</TITLE>
The size
The right TITLE tag size changes from a search engine to another. Still, SEO professionnals generally agree around 60 characters, which is about 10 words.
Going deeper
Applying the previous tips from above should already impact your SEO significantly. You can go further thought.
Head of the file
Insert this short portion of HTML code near the beginning of the file. Place it just after the <HEAD> opening tag and after the CHARSET META tag. This will enable the use of accented characters in the TITLE tag.
The following example shows how to set your web page charset as “ISO-8859-5” (which allows to use accented characters).
<META http-equiv=”Content-Type” content=”text/html; charset=ISO-8859-5″>Here is a comprehensive example of a well-formed TITLE element,
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META http-equiv=content-type content="text/html; charset= ISO-8859-5">
<TITLE>España, great destination for your holidays</TITLE>
... other head elements ...
</HEAD>
<BODY>
... body of the document ...
</BODY>
</HTML>The shape of the title
It is generally assumed that it is better to shape your TITLE with “sentence with keyword + website name” instead of “website name + sentence with keyword”.
For example, for the keyword “MP3 Player”, the title
<TITLE>MP3 Player – Get your portable media player – HighTechDiscount</TITLE>
is better than,
<TITLE> HighTechDiscount – MP3 Player – Get your portable media player</TITLE>
Warning
Many successive modifications of a web page TITLE tag can be penalizing for young website. It is generally assumed that the TITLE can often be changed on pages that already have traffic coming from search engines, not for the new ones. As the webmaster of a young website, be full of patience.
