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SEO Tutorial - the HTML Title Tag and SEO
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The <Title> Tag is a critical tag for search engine optimization. Many beginners are not aware of just how important and powerful this tag is to your SEO fitness. Many experts are not aware that it is the No. 1 factor influencing whether a page shows up in the SERP results, especially the TITLE tag of the home page.
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By Jason McDonald
Senior SEO Instructor - JM Internet Group.
Posted: January 18, 2010
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Title Tag: Syntax and HTML Function
First of all, what is the TITLE tag? HTML, as you probably know, is the language of the Web, and HTML is also the language of search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. The HTML syntax is very simple: it must occur inside the <Head> tag, you can have only one per page, and of course it follows the usual open (<Title>) and close (</Title>) syntax.
You may not even be aware of the TITLE tag and its basic HTML function - to "Title" each page of your website, and show up at the top of the browser. To see this basic function, go to any page on the Web, go to View Page Source (Firefox), or Page, View Source (Internet Explorer). You'll see something in your source like this:
That's the Title tag for http://www.gefenfinancial.com/, as of January 18, 2010. What does the tag do beyond just being visible in View Page Source? Well, it's first function is to control the VISIBLE tag at the very very top of the browser window. Look at your browser and at the very top you will see the TITLE of each page as you browse (You may never have never noticed this, as is the case with many web surfers!).
Here is a screen shot of that web page very top left of the page -
- Conclusion - the first function of the TITLE tag is to control the visible title of the page in the browser.
Title Tag: Advertising Function
But the title tag does more, way more, than just control the visible title for any page on your website. It controls the visible headline of your page on Google! Let's take a look at this by doing a basic search for Mortgage Broker New York. Here are the steps -
- Go to Google
- Enter the search term Mortgage Broker New York
- Look at the list of results.
- Click on a result.
- Go to View Page Source - compare the TITLE tag that you see with the TITLE tag on Google.
- You'll see that 99% of the time, this is the actual TITLE shown by Google in its summary page!
Here is a split screen show showing the Google search and the TITLE tag -
The fact that the TITLE controls your description on Google has a number of implications -
- Write your TITLE like an Ad Headline - make it exciting! Make it sexy! People are surfing Google looking for interesting content, and so you TITLE tag is an ad that needs to entice them to click through to your site. This function is much, much more important than how the TITLE appears at the top of your browse, so I always write my TITLE tags as ad headlines for each and every page on my website.
- You have only about seven words. Take a look at a typical TITLE tag in the Google results, and you will notice three little dots (...) on many of them. This is truncation. Google truncates at about 67 characters, which is about 7-9 typical words. Be pithy as well as enticing as you write your titles.
Conclusion. Your TITLE tag functions as your (FREE) ad headline on Google - make it work for your company by making each and every TITLE tag of each and every page on your website be a pithy, exciting headline that grabs the web surfer's attention on Google, and entices him or her to click thru to your website!
Title Tag: SEO Function
OK, now we've seen the two basic functions of the TITLE tag - 1) to control the Title visible at the top of the brower and 2) to control the visible Headline / Title Summary on Google search results. The third - but invisible - function of the tag is probably the most important:
- The TITLE tag has a huge impact on the Google rank of a page on Google. Include your target keywords in your TITLE tag and you have made a huge contribution to getting to the top of Google.
How do verify this fact? Here are some steps -
- Do a Google search. We'll do the search for Mortgage Broker New York.
- Look at the pages listed in the Google results.
- Now that we know that the TITLE tag controls the HEADLINE displayed on the Google results, note how many times the search query is bolded in each result returned.
- As you do searches you will notice, again and again, that the top results almost always have the search query terms in their TITLE tags. The better the match - having all the words, having the words in the exact word order, the more likely they are to appear at the top.
There are, of course, factors at work on whether you show up on Google, but one of the most important is this equation in the Google algorithm:
- If the TITLE tag matches the SEARCH QUERY, then boost the rank of this page.
In addition, a match of the TITLE tag of the HOME PAGE has perhaps the biggest boost of all. Bottom line: embed your keywords in your TITLE tags across your website (especially your home page), and watch your Google rank soar! Remember - however, you have only about seven words - so make each word work for you.
Happy SEO Fitness!
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