One of the most important considerations when optimizing your website for search engines are page titles. These titles are what usually show up as the main heading in search results and are also found on the top of the user’s web browser. The title usually includes the website’s name and a short blurb about the page’s content.
The execution of a great title can be systematic if you know the proper guidelines.
The major concept to understand is every page in your website should have a unique title. If not and you carry the same title across all pages, the search engines may severely penalize your site’s page rank. The other concept is to include one or two keywords that you would like to emphasize for that page’s search engine ranking.
With that said, the anatomy of a well-structured page title goes like this:
1. A brief and accurate summary of what the user should expect in that unique page.
2. The summary should include one or two keywords that are optimum for the intended search page rank.
3. After the unique page information you may then include your website or business name.
4. An optional addition could be something such as your business’ location or your site’s offerings.
When writing your page titles, keep in mind that search engines only display 65 characters in the results page. While you shouldn’t make it a habit to go beyond this limit, it is not the end of the world, as the rest of the title will be displayed as follows:
This is why you want to have the most relevant information to your page’s content listed first in the title. The above search result is an excellent example of a well thought out heading tailored for a very possible and common search.
Now that you know what a proper title should consist of, here is a list of four mistakes to avoid:
1. Loading your title with excessive keywords, which confuses searchers and may actually hinder page ranks.
2. Leaving page titles blank or worse yet keeping default titles such as “Untitled Page 1.”
3. Using titles that carry little to no relevance to the page’s content.
4. Failing to use unique page titles throughout the site or duplicating the title on similar pages.
Keep these tips in mind when writing your titles and you may see a significantly increased flow of visitors to your site through organic search results.
