The new Google Font Directory hosts a collection of Web fonts that can be used in your pages, effectively the same service Typekit offers, in conjunction with the Google Font API.

Last year, I trialled Typekit and posted a brief summary of its strengths and weaknesses as compared to existing stop-gap font replacement technologies sIFR and Cufon. The Google Font API shares some of the cons I listed in that article, with the crucial exception that all fonts within the Font Directory are entirely free to use.

It’s nice to see Typekit co-operating in the venture, though I do wonder how they plan to differentiate their pay-for service from Google’s free one, once the directory has matured and a few bugs I experienced while testing IE8 are ironed out. The API is incredibly easy to use, and the five-minute tutorial is well worth following.

I’m sticking with Cufon for now, but it’s massively encouraging to see Google putting their considerable weight behind this technology.

Keyword targeting

It is widely acknowledged that the title tag is the most important on-page SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) factor. Getting your keywords into your title tag will make a big difference to your rankings. Also, the nearer to the start of the title tag your keywords are, the more weighting they receive. Most SEOs understand this and it’s one of the first things that will be looked at when reviewing a website. Keyword targeting is commonly overdone, it’s all too common to see pages that have title tags with long lists of comma separated keywords – we’ve all seen them!

Brand awareness and recognition

Having your brand name in the title tag will help to rank for your brand name, however this is not the only reason why your brand name should be in the title tag. When users see a familiar brand name in search results then a connection is made, should the user have positive opinions of the company they may be more likely to visit the Web page. It could be argued that the bigger the brand, the more important including the brand in title tags is.

Engage, inform and influence the user

All too often overlooked when writing title tags – mainly because rankings are not directly affected – engaging and informing your visitors can substantially increase levels of traffic. This is the tip that separates the best written title tags from the rest.

If a user reads something in your title tag that is displayed in search results, they are more likely to click on it and visit your website. Writing engaging copy within the small character limit that search engines will display of your title tag can be challenging.

The use of adjectives and superlatives can really make a difference. Adjectives can spark emotion for the user and also give your visitors more information about the Web page. Words such as ‘quality’ or ‘cheap’ can help to describe the content of the Web page and should the user be looking for a ‘quality’ or ‘cheap’ product they would be more likely to visit your web page. Using superlatives allows you to position your web page and the brand, product or service behind the web page higher than that of a competitor in the mind of the user. This is a good technique to use when you rank second for a keyword and you wish to attract clicks that the first-ranked web page would receive.

Verbs also have their place in title tags. Verbs (the ‘doing’ words) can instruct the user to do exactly that – do something, a call to action. A common verb used in title tags for e-commerce is ‘buy’, not only does this tell the user to do something, but it also informs your visitors about your site and what it allows them to do.

Talking to the user is also a great way of engaging the user as it feels more personal. Second person pronouns such as ‘you’ and ‘your’ can really make a difference.

I rarely come across a websites that manage to fully achieve all three of these objects. All too often one of these takes priority and the others are not included or not prominent enough. Even some big brands have title tags that either just contain the brand name (www.bbc.co.uk) or just have a list of keywords (e.g. www.waterstones.com).

Examples

A couple of examples of Web pages that have achived all three of these objectives:

www.seomoz.org – SEOMoz home page (although this has changed recently)

Title: SEO – Search Engine Optimization | Read SEOmoz, Rank Better
Keywords: SEO – Search Engine Optimization

‘Read SEOmoz’ – brand and and verb (read) as a good call to action
‘Rank Better’ – good use of superlative (better) telling the user that by visiting and reading the website they will rank better

www.widgetbox.com – Widgetbox home page

Title: Widgetbox > World’s best place to find and make web widgets

‘Widgetbox’ – brand
‘world’s best’ – superlative to indicate to the user widgetbox is better than the number 1 result (widgetbox ranks 2nd on google.co.uk for widgets)
‘find’ – verb as a call to action
‘widgets’ – keyword

www.apple.com/ipodclassic/
Title: Apple – iPod classic – Hold 40000 songs in your pocket.

‘Apple’ – brand
‘iPod classic’ – keywords
‘Hold 40000 songs in your pocket’ – good description of product but also connects to the user, making it personal with the second person pronoun ‘your’

Add-on-Con ’09 ads and adblockers (closing keynote)

I recently happened across the above video from Add-on-Con ’09, in which representatives from Google, Opera and Mozilla briefly debate the role of ad-blockers. They raise the point that users who deliberately install ad-blocking extensions are among the least likely to be susceptible to online advertising, and will almost certainly refuse to use a browser that doesn’t allow the blocking of advertisements, when Firefox exists as an alternative.

Without exception

The reason I block adverts is because I find a large proportion of advertising intensely irritating (I really couldn’t care less about an American mom’s secret to whiter teeth!) and I would prefer to never see an online advert even if it means missing out on any that are relevant to me. Google seem to be optimistic in their capability to deliver ads people want to see, and that users (for the most part) will not block relevant adverts. The problem is that irritating adverts will always exist. Google could serve up the most relevant, targeted adverts and I’d still block them alongside all others.

A surprisingly small percentage of Web users are believed to actively block adverts and I can’t see Firefox blocking ads by default. There are just too many vested interests in online advertising, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing if the alternative is walled gardens and premium content. It will be interesting to see what happens as more Chrome users inevitably install the ad-blocker (two examples are already in the 5 most popular). Will we start to see Google advertising within the browser itself? Hard to imagine, as it would put many users off, but there may eventually be few alternatives.

Web performance seems to have a been a hot topic for Google lately, the latest developments bringing a new release of Analytics tracking code and a public DNS service.

Asynchronous loading

The new Google Analytics script loads asynchronously, meaning it doesn’t block other scripts from downloading. Though currently in Beta, we can expect enhanced data collection and accuracy and a reduced number of tracking errors. We’ll be giving the new code a good run, but from my initial tests it certainly delivers on the speed promise. Check the instructions and give it a spin.

Google Public DNS

As part of their efforts to make your Web browsing experience faster, Google have just released a free public DNS service. Whenever you visit a website, your browser will perform one or more DNS lookups, each typically taking a fraction of a second. During the course of a day you’ll have likely made over a hundred individual lookups, which is why Google want to make this process as fast as possible.

We’re talking about saving milliseconds, so you certainly won’t notice a dramatic difference in your browsing speed though you may notice that you’re spending less time waiting for a site to begin loading. Early reports show a marked speed increase in DNS resolution for international users, which makes it certainly worth trying. It’s also extremely easy to setup (and remove if it’s not working out for you) – see Google’s instructions.

nb. it’s best to try this at home rather than at work, unless you want to incur the wrath of your IT department!