Title Tags: What Are They and How Do They Help Your SEO?
If you want to optimize your website, you’ve probably seen that there is plenty you can do. As part of the whole search engine optimization (SEO) journey, one technique is to play around with title tags. Before you give up and contact a local SEO specialist, allow us to explain.
What’s a Title Tag?
Classified as an HTML element, a title tag essentially defines the title of a single web page. When you visit search engine results pages (SERPs), the title tag is the part you click on to visit a website. As well as having importance in terms of appearance, title tags are also important for SEO, usability, and even social sharing.
Although there’s no strict character limit in order to keep the whole title visible on SERPs, we recommend staying under 60 characters. Later in the guide, we’ll explain how to choose your title and how to attract your target market with this one feature. For now, we’ll say that it should describe what the page itself will contain.
Importance of Title Tags
Every day, somebody tells you to put your attention into another area of business so us telling you to focus on title tags is probably a little frustrating. With this in mind, here are some reasons why title tags are important.
SERPs and Web Browsers
First and foremost, you want as many people as possible to click on your page on Google and other search engines, right? Well, the title tag could be the difference between failure and success. If the user is faced with three different pages, they will normally look at the titles to see which is more relevant to their needs.
As well as the search engine, the title tag will also appear at the top of the browser. When several tabs are open, your title tag is the text that will show on the tab. With the right title and keywords, people will know instantly that it’s an important tab and they won’t close it.
Social Network
Secondly, title tags can also be important if you plan to share pages on social networking websites. When you paste the link into a Twitter or Facebook post, your title tag is normally the text that appears loud and proud.
Depending on where you’re attempting to share the content, there may be an opportunity to edit your own meta tag, so keep an eye out for this. By using your own meta tags, you can specify any titles different to the main title tag. Suddenly, you’re optimizing for each individual network; those that allow for longer titles can have them.
Utilizing Title Tags — Writing a Good Title Tag
Now, we’ve reached the heart of this guide: how do you actually use title tags effectively? Let’s break it down.
General Rules
Before anything else, let’s clear up a few rules when it comes to this tool. As we noted earlier, as soon as you go over 60 characters (roughly), Google will start to cut off your title tag. For most marketers, they try to keep title tags between 50 and 60 characters. Fortunately, there are some fantastic checking tools online so you aren’t disappointed when the changes go live. We recommend Free Pixel Width Checker Tool.
Elsewhere, is ALL CAPS poor etiquette? Probably. You may not have seen too many all-caps titles while searching Google and this is because they rarely get to the first page. Depending on your personal preference, you can capitalize the first letter of each word (not including short words like a, of, the, etc.) or you can just capitalize the first word as you would in a normal sentence. In our opinion, the former looks slightly more professional.
In terms of general rules, we also believe in the following:
- Ensure that all title tags are unique (never copy title tags from one page to another)
- Never write specifically for search engines — it’s the people who click on your page that are important
- Don’t stop at one — make sure all pages have a title tag
- Choose a Keyword
Just because you’re writing for humans and not search engines, this doesn’t mean you can’t squeeze in a keyword naturally. Generally speaking, sticking with one keyword or phrase is best. If you can fit a long-tail keyword that finds the balance between traffic and competition, go for it.
As long as you actually do the keyword research and don’t just guess or ignore the process, you will see results. Over time, you can experiment with keywords and find the ones that yield the best results in your niche.
On the other hand, don’t go too crazy and try to squeeze as many keywords as you can into the title tag. With Google, you won’t be penalized for a long title; the only penalty comes when it cuts off after a certain number of characters. However, keyword cramming will lead to trouble. If you want to use five different keywords, create five different pages. This way, the user experience improves, and you’ll be rewarded with Google.
Benefits of Long-Tail Keywords — If you speak with keyword experts, they’ll tell you that ranking for one word alone can be difficult. For this reason, they recommend using long-tail keywords. Not only will you rank faster with a longer version of your keyword, they’re also much easier to incorporate into a title tag.
Another reason why we recommend going for long-tail keywords in title tags is because more and more searches are coming from voice assistant devices. Rather than speaking one or two words, users of such devices are more inclined to use phrases and ask questions.
In order to find effective long-tail keywords, head over to Keywords Explorer. After entering your primary keyword, you can click on ‘Phrase match’ and see all long-tail keywords that contain the primary one.
As we said before, experiment with your pages and take a look at what your competition is doing in terms of keywords and title tags.
2. Place Keywords Carefully
If we can stick with keywords for a little longer, we highly recommend utilizing your keyword(s) towards the beginning of the title tag. Google and Bing users seem to spend less and less time deciding which page to choose before either clicking or changing their search. By having the keyword in the beginning of the title, users see that it’s relevant and that your page could hold the answer to their question.
3. Draft First
Let’s take the pressure off, nobody’s asking you to think of a title tag on the spot and commit to it. Instead, take some time to think of a draft. Consider the following:
- Short and sweet never fails
- Remember the keywords
- Make sure it accurately describes the content inside (don’t frustrate people by over-selling the content)
- Put your brand at the end of the title (especially if you’ve built a reputation)
- Write a title that appeals to and resonates with the audience
4. Focus on Your USP
What’s unique about your business? What is it that you project to your audience as the reason why they should choose you over every other business in your niche? Once you know this, focus in on it in your title tags.
When you create content, make sure you describe not only what the content offers but how it offers it. What do we mean? Well, is it a deep guide, a list, a brief introduction, or even brand-new tips? This way, those who see your title tag will know exactly what to expect. They won’t hope for a short introduction and get hit with a 10,000-word essay.
As we noted earlier, add your brand name. As you start to build an audience and a reputation, people will click on the link simply because they enjoyed something else from you previously.
Google Isn’t Updating?
You’ve utilized our tips and you’ve worked hard on creating a winning title tag, so why isn’t Google using it? Unfortunately, there’s no way to force Google to use what you’ve provided. However, there are some things you can do to tempt them. If you’re experiencing this problem, there are four likely reasons:
- The title doesn’t match up with the query
- You’ve packed too many keywords into the title
- They’ve decided to use alternative title data instead (meta tags, for example, with Twitter and Facebook)
- Google used the DMOZ (Open Directory Project) to pull a title
Get Started Today
With this, you should have everything you need to get started with your own title tags. See, there’s no need to panic and call your SEO expert. As long as you stick to our advice and make sure that every page has a unique title tag, you’ll soon be up and running.
Over time, pay attention to your ranking and see how different pages rank as you test keywords. Soon enough, you’ll be an expert yourself and people will be coming to you for advice!
Bonus! Marketing Tools:
2. Bilbi AI: Daily Marketing Campaign Insights
