Making the most of the 68 characters that Google displays in its search results (other search engines display about the same) can be a difficult task.These are the three things I believe a good tile tag should achieve:

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’

Tags: google, optimisation, search