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The title tag is one of the most important
tags in SEO and yet there are 15,700,000 pages on Google today
with "Untitled" as their title tag. We know this by typing
intitle:Untitled in the Google search field.
Title tags help users know what your webpage
offers exactly and also provide search engines with information
about the focus of your webpage making sure it is indexed
for the terms it is representing.
What is a title tag?
Where does the title tag belong?
Where does it appear on the browser?
Tips for successful title tags
Title Tag Examples
What W3C has to say about the Title Tag
What Yahoo says about the Title Tag
Summary
What is a title tag?
W3C defines the title tag as "...the title
of a document. The TITLE element should occur in the HEAD
of the document.There may only be one title in any document.
It should identify the content of the document in a fairly
wide context."
Where does the title tag belong?
The title tag should be placed on the top
of every webpage in the head section of html.
<html>
<head>
<title>Title here </title>
</head>
Where does it appear on the browser?
The title tag appears on the top of the browser
page and also in search engine results.
Tips for successful title tags:
1] Unique: Title tags are an opportunity
to tell people and search engines what your webpage is about.
Every page must have a unique title tag describing
the content of that page. Remember that search engines index
pages and not websites as whole, so a user might land on one
of your deeper internal pages as a result of the unique title
of that page.
2] Relevant: Search engines look at
the title and the page content to decide whether to show the
page in the results for any search. Make sure that your title
tag is relevant to the content of your webpage.
3] Keywords: Keywords in title tags
can improve the traffic to the page immensely. Try to begin
your title tag with a keyword phrase and then describe the
page and at last have your branding. This is because, for
a user who is already aware of your brand will find your website
with ease but the general user who is looking for specific
products and services will miss out if you don't use keywords
for those products and services.
4] Regionalise: If the company is
a regional one, do use the location in the title.
Title Tag Examples:
There is a teddy bear shop in Cremorne, Sydney
which stocks teddy bears from all over the world.
Let's think of a title for their website.
<title>Teddy Bears</title>
This is too generic.
<title>Cremorne Teddy Bears</title>
Better. It's regionalised.
<title>Teddy Bears From Around The
World, Cremorne, Sydney, Australia</title> This
title is regionalised, focused and uses keywords.
What W3C has to say about the Title Tag:
"The title should ideally be less than
64 characters in length. That is, many applications will display
document titles in window titles, menus, etc. where there
is only limited room. Whilst there is no limit on the length
of a title (as it may be automatically generated from other
data), information providers are warned that it may be truncated
if long."
What Yahoo says about the Title Tag:
"Users are more likely to click a link
if the title matches their search. Choose terms for the title
that match the concept of your document."
Google and the Title Tag:
Google usually prints about 60 to 80 characters
of the title tag. Therefore, make sure to use your important
keyword phrase in the beginning and keep it about 8-12 words
long.
In
summary
A little attention to the title tag will
result in a big difference to your site's popularity. Considering
how small it is and the amount of time required to make it,
it is a surprise that not many websites utilize this potential
resource. So go on and put on your thinking caps. Here's to
better visibility and traffic for your website and better
search results for the users.
I leave you with some good and bad title
tags
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Bad titles
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Good titles
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<title> Your browser
must support frames to use this page</title>
<title> Computers, Computer, Computers </title>
<title> Milson, Laninge & Arthur Pty Ltd </title>
<title> www.mysiteishere.com </title>
<title> AAA - Buy here! Super quality tyres <title>
<title> MAKERS OF ALL KINDS OF WOOD CHIPS AND
RUBBER FILLERS </title>
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<title> Sign Writing
Fortworth Texas - Vinyl, Digital Signage in Texas </title>
<title> Buy Computers Online Hobart , Tasmania
Computer</title>
<title> Legal Services Australia - Solicitors
and Corporate Lawyers - MLA Pty Ltd <title>
<title>Looking for Tyres? Car Tyres USA - Quality
Tyres Pennsylvania </title>
<title> Barbie dolls Melbourne - Victoria Barbie
Shop </title>
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by Rupali Shah - 15th April 2005
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