Strong page titles are very important for your on page SEO. So here are 5 dos and don’t to keep in mind when building your new website or blogging. When search engine spiders crawl the web one of the first things they will encounter on your page is the title. As you can see in the image above, the title is usually right near the top of the page. If you want to set the tone for how your page is displayed in search engines – take care in composing your title and keep these tips in mind.
1. Page Title Relevance
Do write clear, concise and descriptive titles – Don’t get too creative that search engines and people won’t understand what you are writing about.
Well, first off it makes perfect sense that your page title should be relevant to the page content, but it bears repeated. I’ve met a few “creative – types” who title their blog posts in conceptual and, well, creative ways. Unfortunately your ability to creatively turn a phrase may impress some readers, but it won’t impress search engines.
2. Title Length
Do write page titles between 20 and 70 characters and spaces long. Don’t write that are 71 characters and spaces or longer.
It is considered best practice to keep your page title to 70 characters and spaces or less. Not too much less, however. Because as you add more words to your page title gets more specific and specificity is a very good thing! One page, one topic, one optimized title is a great way to get loads of search engine traffic.
3. Keyword Position
Do place important keywords or phrases at the beginning of your page title – Don’t bury them at the end like an after thought.
Place your keywords or phrases near the beginning of the title. For this post I could have gone with “Dos and Don’t of SEO Page Titles” but since I want to be found for “SEO Page Titles” more than “Dos and Don’t” you can see I put the important keywords first. I also included the 5 because research shows that people like numbered lists and I’m provide 5 tips in this article. Its a bit of a fad, and perhaps it is a dying one, but I think people like to know what they are getting into. We live in a fast paced world – while I could have probably written 25 tips, I think brief is good and I’m going to bet more people will take a few minutes to read 5 tips rather than committing to 25. I’ll let you know how that goes.
4. Make Page Titles Interesting and Compelling
Your page title will be the first interaction people have with your content in search engine results pages. Think about your audience and what will encourage them to click on a search result. What are their triggers? Are their emotional, social, or economic buttons you can push to compel to click through? If so, use them.
5. Duplicate Page Titles
If your site has pages with the same title, you make search engines work harder to understand which is the most relevant to that title. You are, in effect, shooting your search engine results prospects in the foot. Don’t make the search engines decide which page is relevant – make every page relevant with unique content including a one of a kind title!
So there you go – five basic tips to help you optimize your website page titles. There are still some other tips I’ll share in the future, but these will get you off to a solid start.
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About the Author
Stephen Peacock, owner of Peacock Creative Services is on a mission to optimize Fuquay-Varina business websites. If you are ready to optimize your business contact him at 919-346-3307, or reach out to him on one of the following social networks.
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