Think about it. When you want to find something on the Internet, you go to one of the search giants, Google, Bing or Yahoo, and search for it. That’s what users do! If you own a website, it just makes sense to do whatever you can to get good positioning in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). This will help users looking for your business, product or service – and help you reap the rewards.
Users may not be searching for your website, specifically, but they are searching; and the words they type in to the search box are the “keywords,” or phrases, that will help direct them to your website. The page title is the most important information on a web page. You see a page title on every individual web page when it loads, located at the upper left of your open browser window in the blue strip across the top.
Every page title should contain the most relevant search terms you can list, while accurately reflecting the content on the page. There is limited space for page titles, so think of titles that are 67 characters (including spaces) or less, so the entire title can be read. For search engines, the page title is the first indication of the page content.
Try to give your page title the most important search terms used for your particular business. It is best to do some research to figure this out or get some help from a search marketing company. Avoid overusing search terms by repeating them. Titles that don’t make sense or don’t reflect the page content are seen as “spammy” and irrelevant. It won’t help with positioning. The search game is tricky, but necessary, if you want to be on Page One, and that is a worthy goal. No one can guarantee positioning, but follow the rules and you’ll see positive results over time.
How to Change Your Page Title
If you are using a content management system like WordPress, Joomla or Drupal, the page title is often set up when your page is added to the website. Think about the content on your new page and how you will name the page when you set it up.
If you know a little HTML, you can easily change a page title in a content management system or page editor like Adobe’s Contribute CS5, by going directly to the HTML. Look in the head section near the top of the code. The title has its own tags that look like this: <title>Your Title Goes Here</title>. Whatever you type between the title tags will be the title of your web page. Or call your friendly web designer!If your website is already in place and you want to increase traffic, take a good look at your page titles and whip them into shape. Ready, set, go get it done!
Blog Post Written by Spencer Powell
Spencer is the Inbound Marketing Director at TMR Direct. Spencer specializes in helping clients create and execute effective inbound marketing campaigns.