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pageoneresults
Posts: 1001
From: Orange, CA USA
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SEO - Page Titles <title></title> - 4/30/2002 14:05:03
This is the second in a series of Search Engine Optimization Tips that focus on the core areas of optimisation.
Page Title
This area is one of the most important factors when ranking highly in the search engines. These are normally 7 words maximum in length, no fluff, straight and to the point. This is what shows up in most search engine results as a link back to your page.
Page Titles are a very important part of the overall optimization of a web site. Choosing the right Page Titles can make the difference on whether or not your site is found in the top search engine results.
After you've researched the keywords and phrases you are targeting, you now need to concentrate on the content of your web site. You should treat each page as a page unto itself. Meaning, look at it as a single page web site.
Now, what does that page convey to the user? Is it a product that you are selling? If so, do you mention the keyword or keyword phrase that people are using to find that product? Where did you mention it?
Page Titles must be relevant to the content that is on the page. I'll use the Outfront again as an example. Let's say I'm building a home page that targets FrontPage users. I might have a title like this...
<title>Microsoft FrontPage Forums - Discuss FP Web Site Design</title>
I haven't done any keyword research into this so please realize this is just an example.
What I've done is target a couple of highly targeted phrases in my title. I want to make sure that my primary phrase is at the beginning of the title.
I also want to make sure that my on page content coincides with my Page Title. If it does not, then I've just wasted my time!
Your Page Titles should be unique for each and every page of your web site. Your on page content should use the same keyword phrase that you have in your Page Title and possible variations of the phrase.
Don't just slap the phrase in there because I say it needs to be there. It does need to be there, but in a logical sense. If you've got 4 or 5 paragraphs of text on that page, I might use it 3 or 4 times throughout the copy in a way that sounds logical!
Now, you've probably noticed that my Page Title above is 8 words. In the beginning I say a maximum of 7 words. That is what I strive for, short direct and highly targeted titles. Every now and then I'll end up with 8 or 9 words which is okay as long as my primary phrase is at the beginning.
If you must use a company name in the Page Title, put it at the end separated by a dash. Maybe something like this...
<title>Microsoft FrontPage Forums - Thomas Brunt's Outfront</title>
What really helps here is if the company name uses one of the primary keyword phrases for the site. I'll give you an example of a campaign I'm working on right now for a staffing company in California. Their name is Davidson Staffing. They are fairly well known in the local community so we do see searches for the term Davidson Staffing.
Here is an example of one of their titles...
<title>Staffing and Recruiting Services in California - Davidson Staffing</title>
If you are using the same keyword twice in your title, you want to put as much distance between them as possible. In the above example for Davidson Staffing, we have the term Staffing which appears at the very beginning of the title and also at the very end.
If there is one thing that will make or break your presence online, its the Page Title.
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