SEO for Google

Title tag is used to briefly describe content of the web page. Title is not displayed directly on the website but it is visible in search results and in the browser bar.

Code example:

Title tag myths and SEO

There are few myths circulating on the web regarding the way title should be formatted:

• Keywords should be placed at the beginning
• Title should be short as more weight will be given to keywords
• Name of the company should not be placed in the title or at least should not be the placed at the beginning of it

Are those true or not? Continue reading the article to find the answer to this question and many other issues concerning optimization of title META tag.

Title tag test pages

For the purpose of the research the following test pages were created:

• Short title.
• Keywords surrounded by other words, main phrase slitted.
• Keywords moved to the end of the title, other words included at the beginning.
• Keywords moved to the begining of the title, other words at the end.
• Empty title, keywords included in the conent of the web page, at the top of it.

And here are their corresponding title tags:

• kaller moner
• Mzandwo kaller maghdar moner
• Kaller moner mzandwo maghdar ottewo
• Mzandwo maghdar kaller moner
• no title

Test results

The most important thing that was observed during analysis of the search results was the fact that unquestionably title is one of the most important factors influencing search engine optimization. More precisely speaking all pages which had title tags where at the top of the result list. That is why if you want to optimize certain page from your website for a particular keyword you must include it in the title tag. Now let’s have a look at the order our test pages appeared in the search results.

• Mzandwo maghdar kaller moner
• Kaller moner mzandwo maghdar ottewo
• kaller moner
• Mzandwo kaller maghdar moner
• no title

Screen shot from the search results. 2nd page results.
The results clearly debunk the myths mentioned earlier. Keywords are not given more importance if the title is shorter. Moreover, short title is not even a good idea since Google algorithm ranked “kaller moner” title on the 3rd place. It means Google want us to be more precise on our titles and sets certain amount of characters good title should include. Let’s take the Philips LCD TV web page. The title can be:

• EH-3556i0 //serial number of the particular TV set
• Philips EH-3556i0 //brand name + serial number
• Philips EH-3556i0 LCD TV set //brand name + serial number + product type

It is easy to notice which title gives more information and this is why Google gives more importance to web pages with such formatted titles. However, we need to remember that too long titles will also loose “points” in Google ranking algorithm. The best length of the title is from 4 words to 65 characters (about 8 words), if longer title will be only partially visible in the search results.

Test also proves that the position of the keyword in the title is not important at all. Titles are not given more weight if keywords are placed at the beginning.

When you look again at the test results you will be able to see that if the keyword we are otimizing for is consisting of two words it is not advisable to separate them in the title. Google algorithm distinguishes the order keywords appear in the title, description or the content of the website.

The last test page proves again the importance of title tag. The difference between it and the first 3 test pages was about 20 positions in the search results.

Google guide for formatting title tags

Many Web Developers do not use this guide for their websites which is a big shame since the Google itself gives us hints how to format title tags properly. The following guide also confirms the conclusions drawn from my tests.

Your title tags contain important information that Google uses when indexing your site. Descriptive information will give us good information about the content of your site. In addition, text contained in your title tag can appear in search results pages, and useful, descriptive text is more likely to be clicked on by users.

Title tags
First of all, make sure your title tags are descriptive and accurate, and that each page has a descriptive title tag. Consider the title tag a place to showcase the most important topic for each page. However, be careful not to add too many keywords, as this could be considered keyword stuffing.

Not so good:

<title>Home</title>

Better:

<title>Webmaster Central home page</title>

Best:

<title>Webmaster Central home page | Search engine
tips and tools for webmasters</title>

To be avoided (may cause your site to be perceived as spam):

<title>Webmaster Central seo optimization search engine search
engine google websearch google searchresults improve search results
seo optimize search searching serps</title>

Source: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=70928&ctx=sibling

Conclusion from the tests and Google guide

• Title tag is extremely important when it comes to SEO.
• Place your keyword that you optimize your web page for in the title.
• Follow Google guide for writing your titles.
• If you want to safely stuff keywords in the title remember about the proper keywords density so that your web page would not be treated as a spam. You might want to partition you keyword if it consists of more than one word.
• Do not make your title to short or too long. Try to write from 4 words up to 65 characters so that your title consist your keywords and is descriptive at the same time.

References and recommended reading

Keyword Performance LLC (2007), Optimizing the Title Tag for Search Engine Optimization, [Online] Available:

http://www.keywordperformance.com/title_tag.cfm [1 March 2008]

Frank Kilkelly, How to write an effective Title tag, Frakilk, [Online] Available:

http://www.geocities.com/frakilk/seo-title-tag.html [1 March 2008]

Shaun Anderson (2007), Google; “You can put 50 words in your title tag, we will read it”, [Online] Available:

http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/seo-blog/index.php/google-you-can-put-50-words-in-your-title-tag-well-read-it/ [1 March 2008]

Omar Kattan (2008), Using Link Title Tag for SEO, Search in a nutshell, [Online] Available:

http://omarkattan.com/2008/01/20/using-link-title-tag-for-seo/ [1 March 2008]

Google (2007), Make sure that your TITLE tags and ALT attributes are descriptive and accurate, Webmaster Help Center, [Online] Available:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=70928&ctx=sibling [1 March 2008]

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 1st, 2008 at 4:09 pm and is filed under Title tag. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.