Sunday, November 4, 2007

The Importance of HTML Title Tag in SEO?

The Title tag of a page describes the contents of a particular web page in one sentence and it appears in search engines' results pages. It's also the first thing a search engine's crawler sees on a web page. Since the title will be seen by both readers and search engines, it's particularly very important.
The title is the most important part of a web page as far as in concern of search engines. The title tag is also supported by all search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN, and all search engines places a lot of importance on keywords that appear inside it.
The following are a few tips to make the title tag more appealing for both search engines as well as people.

Use Important keywords inside HTML title
Don't make your title with the name of your company. It is also very important to include your main targeted keywords inside title. Although you may include your company or brand name, but keywords should be your top priority.
So, instead of "Smith Brothers Incorporated," try "Accounting services from certified CPAs - Smith Brothers Inc."
Though it's beneficial to include targeted keywords, you shouldn't just make a list of all the keywords. But, try to include them in a sentence that information for your services/products. Always avoid to use common words that search engines are likely to ignore, such as “Internet,” “web,” “best,”, “and” etc.

The length of Ttile
Most of the search engines allow up to 100 characters with space, but the number of characters displays in search pages is different for different search engines. Mostly search engines displays 64-80 characters in SERP’s. So try to limit your title to about 80 characters. Don't use all CAPS in your title. Search engines hate it and it's difficult for users to read.
Keeping length in mind, review your keywords and try to come up with a title that entices the reader to learn more about your site. Don't overuse marketing language such as "We're the best." It will only clutter your HTML title with stop words without adding much relevance.

The Golden Rule
Create pages for your users, not for search engines. Always make a descriptive and convincing HTML title that appeals to your targeted audience. You can then make your page title search-engine-friendly by ensuring that your keywords appear inside your title.