SEO of HTML title tags

Search engine optimization of HTML title tags

Last updated on December 15, 2009. Tags: HTML tags, HTML title, title tag

The HTML title is one of the earliest essential parts of a webpage. It is located in the header section of the HTML code. It is displayed on top of the browser window and appears as the link text whenever a webpage appears to search engine results.

In using HTML title tags in search engine optmization or SEO, you must take the following factors into consideration:

the subject and content of website as a whole as well as each individual webpage
the target audience of your website
the sequence of words as they appear in the HTML title

In the following paragraphs, I will explain how you should take each factor into consideration in writing an effective HTML title for SEO. The extent at which HTML title can get your webpage close to the top of search engine results depends on several external factors like inbound links and the number of competitors online. However, there is no doubt that the title tag is a powerful contributing factor on search engine optimization.

Subject and content

The HTML title must describe what your website is all about (for the index or homepage) and what each individual webpage is all about.

Most companies have standard websites made of pages like home (the home page), about us, services, and contact us, with the HTML titles for these pages as "Home - Company Name", "About Us - Company Name", "Services - Company Name", and "Contact Us - Company Name". While it makes sense for the last three pages, it does not make sense to have "Home" as HTML title.

Instead, your HTML title should be a short description of your company or your website like "Digital cameras for sale" or "Disco mobile with DJ in Makati area" since it the first page that the visitors can see when they type www.yourdomain.com. The HTML title of other pages can be further optimized. For example, you can list your services in the HTML title instead of just the word "Services", such as "Our services are service1, service2 and service3".

However, you must make your HTML title, whether in homepage or in any other pages, a short statement that makes sense instead of just an outright list to prevent it from appearing spammy.

While I never heared of any case of a website banned by a search engine for filling up the HTML title with keywords, appearing in search results with long and unorderly sequence of words gives impression that the company or the person who owns that website is unprofessional. If I am searching for something that your website offers, and I saw your title in the search results to be a bunch of random words, I would not waste my time in such unprofessional website, and I'm not the only one who think this way.

Target audience

Unless your company is very big and popular, and your website is old (3 years and more) and frequently updated, you also need to consider your target audience in writing your HTML title. If you are selling digital cameras through your website, "Digital Cameras for sale" is way better that just "Digital Cameras" because that way, you do not need to compete for search engine ranking with gadget review websites.

If you intend to sell only in your country or your city, then include your country's name in the HTML title, like "Digital Cameras for sale in the Philippines" so that you do not need to compete with those who sell digital cameras to other places.

If you have a page for specific product or services, let's say the camera brand and model Aiptek Pocket DV T300, you can have "Aiptek Pocket DV T300 for sale" as HTML title for that specific page. This way, those who are looking specifically Aiptek Pocket DV T300 can see this page in the search results.

Sequence of words

Perhaps, as a way of fighting HTML title spam without outright removing HTML title into consideration in ranking a website, search engines weigh more value to words that comes first. If your webpage's HTML title is like "Luxury residential units and office spaces in Makati CBD", search engines will associate your website more with "Luxury residential units" than with "offices spaces".

Even though there is no specific cut-off as to where "more important" ends and "less important" starts, my advice is to put the more important keywords (i.e., the keywords that you would like your website or webpage to rank higher when searched) in the beginning of HTML title. Based on my experience, the most important are the first five words.

Note that while it is better for the more important keywords to come first, you should arrange the words in the HTML title in a way that it makes sense. As I stated earlier, randomly tossed keywords look spammy and unprofessional.

Conclusion

HTML title tells the search engine what the website is all about and therefore, it is a powerful search engine optimization tool. Wasting it on short titles that pertains only to the different parts of the website (home, about us, services, etc) without telling anything what your website is all about is a waste of such a useful tool. On the other hand, turning the HTML title into a keywords list looks spammy and unprofessional, and therefore not trustworthy.

The key is to use short but coherent phrases and sentences that describe what your webpage or website is all about. Another strategy to ensure that your website will be on top of search engine is by targetting web users from specific localities or those looking for your products for specific purpose by indicating it in the HTML title.

Posted by Greten on February 8, 2009 under Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML), Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

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