Title Tags - How to Make Them More Effective

The title tags of your web pages are more important than most web authors realize. Once you understand why the title is so important, you can easily write more effective title tags.

What is the title tag?

In your HTML code, the page title should be placed between the beginning and closing HEAD tags, ideally just after the beginning HEAD tag and before the first META tag.

Why is the title tag important?

The title tag is important for a variety of purposes.

- Most browsers display your page with the title at the top of the browser window.

- If someone bookmarks your page in their browser, their bookmark list will show your page using your page title. So if the title of your web page is "Home Page", as many are, your visitors' bookmark lists will contain a lot of "Home Page" listings. How will they determine which "Home Page" is yours two months from now?

- Google and other search engines present the results of a search by displaying page titles as links in the first line of each query result. Search engines doesn't like to display "Home Page" as the best they can do for a user searching for "purple people eaters," for example.

- Most search engines will order the results of a search engine query based on the relevancy of your page to the keywords used for the query. One of the factors in determining this relevancy is how closely your title matches these keywords. If your small startup company makes purple people eaters, don't give your home page the title "Unknown Business, Inc." It's not relevant to the search. Of course, many people will consider "CNN" or "Time, Inc." as relevant for the keyword "news." When you get to be as well known, you can use your name as your title.

You can see that the title of your web page is highly visible to others, and it can impact the search engine ranking of your web page. It is therefore worthwhile to spend some time carefully writing each page title.

Practial tips for writing title tags

Here are some practical tips you can use for crafting an effective web page title.

- Start by thinking hard about how your potential visitors will search for your site. What keywords or keyword phrases will they use for a search engine query? Use one or two of the most important keyword phrases for your title. In our example, the home page title could be "Purple People Eaters."

- Don't just use the same title for all your web site pages. Your About page title could be "About Unknown Business, Inc., your Source for Purple People Eaters." Your Order page title could be "How to Order Purple People Eaters."

- Don't include your company name in the title unless it is a commonly recognized name or the page is about your company. Use the limited real estate in a title for relevant keywords. You can include your company name in the description of your web page.

- Make sure the title does not exceed 66 characters. Google will not display more than 66 characters of a title in the search results page. Truncated titles irritate search engine users.

- Don't use more than 7-10 words in your title.

If you understand what the title tag is, why it is important, and follow these practical tips for writing your web page titles, your internet visibility will be improved, you will improve your search engine ranking, and you will get more visitors to your web site.

Copyright © 2005 by Kempton Smith, All rights reserved.

Kempton Smith is a web specialist who helps internet businesses increase their site exposure and gain more visitors. He operates the Ad Buddies banner exchange network. Visit http://adbuddies.com

---

Successful Flash Tips

Ever browse across a website that took ten million years... Read More

Effective Website Design For Massive Traffic

STEP 1:Do your homeworkPlan and think about your content. Think... Read More

Some Useful Common Site Ideas

In my web surfing adventures, I've found a few site... Read More

Web Site Turn Ons

When you develop a sales brochure, you have a mental... Read More

You Need RSS, Atom, and ROR/RDF Codes on Your Website--Now You Need Google Sitemap as Well!

Do you have a website? If so, you need an... Read More

14 Ways to Add Content to Your Web Site - Part 1

When I surf the Net, I often see web sites... Read More

Website Woes: Top Five Offenders

I see a lot of mistakes, but here are the... Read More

Free Web Design Advice

In this article I will give advice and tips of... Read More

7 Web Site Design Mistakes That Will Lose You Clients

In today's world, a web site is virtually mandatory for... Read More

Do You Own Your Web Site Design?

Your web site has been up for a few months... Read More

The Top Ten Checklist For Low Web Site Sales

You have good traffic, but low client sign ups and... Read More

Flash - To Use Or Not To Use?

Out there in the WWW there are thousands sites using... Read More

Website Design: Color Me Blue

Chris, a new consulting client, asked me to help him... Read More

Developing An Effective Physical Therapy Web Site

Physical therapists have unique web presence needs. An effective site... Read More

How to Create an Enjoyable Web Page Design

Novice and professional designers alike ? you may probably be... Read More

Keep Your Navigation Highly Visible

Effective navigation stands out. It's clear, obvious, and highly visible.You'll... Read More

Moving Things Around

How often, men, have you come home to find the... Read More

Do You Hate Your Website? Web Site Sales To Hit $316 Billion Over The Next 6 Years

What dollar amount does your web site contribute to this... Read More

Affordable Web Design In Birmingham

If you have a business, big or small you may... Read More

Love at First Site: Giving Your Website Visitors the right Impression

Think of the people who visit your site as blind... Read More

Branding Web Strategy Mistakes - Brand Identity Guru

1. Lack of overall strategy and clear definition of success:Most... Read More

Top Ten Absolutely Free Websites for Downloading Cool Fonts

The following list of websites is the best compilation of... Read More

Positive Design Attributes for a Successful Website

Designing a website is hard job, and requires you to... Read More

Quality Website Design At An Affordable Price

I always have people asking me if I know of... Read More

Website Advertising: 10 Dynamic Tactics To Super-Charge Your Sales

Here are 10 dynamic website advertising tactics to super-charge your... Read More

Is Your Website Color As Inviting as Your Home? Does Color Really Matter?

We've all read the countless publications about effective web site... Read More

How To Use Unsafe Web Colors With Minimum And Safety And Maximum And Profit

Do you want to use unsafe web colors without offending... Read More

Creating Personal Web Sites

This is a two-part article about creating a web site... Read More

Basic Web Design Principles

Home PageHome page should clearly indicate what the site is... Read More

Copy Editing: 10 Powerful, Mind Blowing Secrets For Writing A High-Impact Ad

No matter what product or service you're promoting, unless you... Read More

404 Error - The Page Cannot be Found

A "404 Error" happens when the web server you are... Read More

Web Site Design Mistakes ? Database Parameters In URLs

Creating a web site takes thought, planning and execution. Unfortunately,... Read More

Tapping Into The Visual Stimulus Of Your Web Site Visitors

"Oh, my eyes, my eyes! What an eye sore. Quick,... Read More