Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Essentials of SEO. Beginning with The Title Tag











Last time we discussed Responsive Web Design, and how having a site that is optimized for RWD maximizes your impact, reaching every online device.

There are also other minor tweaks you can make which can have a direct impact on your site and ultimately how people find you in browsers.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)


There are many Search Engine Optimization tips, and we won’t get into all of them right now.

But, it’s important to note that focusing on one tactic won’t catapult you to the first page of a Google search, but taking the time to implement each optimization will add value to your site and can positively affect its search engine ranking.

Let’s begin with Page Titles. Do you have them? Are they optimized?The title tag is the first and most important element on any given web page. A page title or title tag:

  • defines a title in the browser toolbar
  • provides a title for the page when it is added to favorites
  • displays a title for the page in search-engine results






The first tip is simply to remember to give each page a title. Because search engines use your title tags to display in their search results, not having one makes it hard to find and index your pages.


This is also an example of a Title Tag:



Secondly, use keywords that are relevant. Don’t overload but create great titles that give your web pages meaning and accurately describes the page’s content to the user. Use terms that people are searching on for your industry. 

As a rule, a page title should be generally no longer than 70 characters in length. Anything over that number will not appear on Google SERPS (search engine results page), and too many characters may dilute your keyword string-inadvertently leaving valuable keywords at the end of the tag. Position the most relevant and valuable keywords in the beginning of the tag. There is a direct correlation between the position of the keyword in the title tag and how important it is in the Search.

Also remember that you don’t need to include your business/site name in every title. Including these terms (unless it’s a search term that will likely be used like “iPhone”) is unnecessary.

And finally, do not repeat page titles throughout your site. This makes it difficult to determine which page is which when displayed in search engine results. It can also cause your pages to compete against each other in searches.

While devising and optimizing title tags can be a simple task, it is often overlooked by the SEO newcomer as an important part of a complex SEO process.

Not sure about how to go about optimizing your site for SEO? We’ll also be addressing SEO tactics in blogs to come. Or feel free to contact us, anytime.

Until next time,

The Brockett Creative Team