Title Tag Optimization

The major search engines place a great deal of importance on the title tag. Effective optimization of this tag is important for search engine rankings.

Title Tag Placement

The title should be the first tag in the Head of your html code.
*Please note that the title tag is not a meta tag!*
It should be placed directly after the opening head tag and before the meta tags.

Example (from this page):

<doc type....>
<html>
<head>
<title>IR SEO Tutorial > Title Tag Optimization - Optimizing Title Tags</title>
(meta tags here)
</head>

Optimizing Title Tags

To prove effective for optimization, each page must have it's own unique title and each should contain the main keyword phrases for that page. The contents of this tag should tell your viewer and the search engines exactly what they can expect to find on that page.

Since the contents of this tag show up 1) in your browser bar and 2) as the page title in the search engine results, it is important to keep the viewer in mind!

Title Tag Optimization Tips

Most importantly...

Write a unique title for each page of your web site.
Include your main keyword phrases for each page.
Don't repeat a keyword phrase more than twice - it can be construed as spam and it looks dumb to the viewer.
Write titles that are 4-10 words in length.
Write titles that make sense! Remember- you want searchers to click!

Additionally...

Avoid overuse of stop words such as: at, a, the, of (you know them!).
Use a maximum of 3 keyword phrases per title. If you feel compelled to use more than 3, your page is probably not focused enough.
Unless your company name is one of your keyword phrases, only use it in the title if branding is an issue.
If branding is an issue (and your company name is not one of your keyword phrases) try placing your company name at the end of the title.

Tag Optimization > Part 2: Title Tag Optimization > Part 3: Header Tag Optimization

SEO Tutorial:

1. Keyword Research 2. Web Site Copywriting 3. Tag Optimization 4. Code Validation 5. Link Building

Tag Optimization is an integral part of our Website Optimization Services.