Title tags are descriptors for a document, much like the spine of a book. In a library, you will be presented with a selection of books, however it will only be the thin spine of the book that you can see. This is exactly the same as a title tag for a website.
You can see a title tag in the top left hand corner of your web browser:
(Screenshot of Title Tag from Mozilla Firefox)
Title tags vary from website to website, from page to page as the title tag describes the page. You can see lists of title tags in search engine results:
Title tags are assigned by the person who has built or manages the pages. Every page on the website should have title tags as search engines index entire websites. Lets use an analogy, imagine every page in your website is like a book in a library, each page has a spine which is the title tag. Every page on your website should have a title tag, because, if you found one of your books in the library without a title tag, you won't know what the book Is about until you remove it and read it. This is the principle of title tags, they are descriptors for each page.
So why are title tags so important for SEO?
Well, when you search in a search engine, all the results returned include title tags. These are represented as clickable links from the search engine to the page itself. A title tag must represent the page in the best possible way as search engines use this as an evaluation factor.
If you picked up a book on Shark Diving, and the spine said "Swimming With Fishes" you would have been mislead, and will probably put the book back.
This works the same way for search engines, if the title tag is misleading, or does not represent the page properly, then search engines will devalue the website for being either irrelevant or misleading, which has catastrophic consequences for the websites rankings.
Lets look into title tags further:
A search in Google for any keyword such as "Swimming with Sharks" will return results.
Here are the results:
The title tags, are the blue clickable links as seen above:
These title tags have been assigned to the document to provide a descriptor for search engines and for visitors. It is essential that you remember title tags should be aimed at visitors and not just search engines.
If you click through on the second result, you will see the title tag in the browser:
And, on the page, you will see the content is relevant to the users search query:
Search engines will gauge relevancy from the title tags, here is some interpretation for relevancy:
Title tag value = value of utilized page keywords + page content + internal anchor text to this page + external page backlinks
So, search engines have to value your title tag against other factors within your website, this is easily done by search engines such as Google.
If the pages title tag is relevant to the page content, this will be a bonus and score positive ranking points for the page. If the website links to this page using keywords found in the title tag, this will prove even more beneficial, and if other websites link to the page using keywords found in the title tag then this will prove to be the most valuable SEO contribution.
Search engines have to use multiple factors when evaluating a pages relevancy, if you make sure the following factors all connect efficiently, then you will have no problem dominating search rankings.
Your title tag should contain keywords DIRECTLY relevant to the page only!
Your title tag should avoid using BRAND names or special characters; this will only be needed on 1-2 pages on the website.
Your website should refer to this page with clickable anchor text that uses anchor text relevant to the title tag.
Diagram:
Writing a good title tag:
Writing a good title tag is easy, it simply means that you should write the title tag from the perspective of relevancy and visibility.
If your websites page talks about Cheap Vauxhall Corsas then you should use the key foundation keywords in the title tags as the primary keywords. Use the keywords in the title tags in a constructive manner, for example:
BAD TITLE TAG:
Cheap Corsas from Vauxhall Buying Cheap Vauxhall Corsas Online Cheap
WHY?
Because the title tag is stuffed with words not put into a proper constructive sentence, making no sense to the end user who will find this result in search engines.
GOOD TITLE TAG:
Cheap Vauxhall Corsas | Buy Vauxhall Corsas at Cheap Prices
WHY?
The title tag is readable, its clear, not too long and would make sense to those finding the result in natural search listings.
The title tag should not utilize the keyword too many times, and should read well to the end users. Try to keep your title tag below 100 characters in length (About 10-12 words).
Use clear and concise English, do not use abbreviations nor spelling mistakes.
Make sure you DO NOT have spelling mistakes as this indicates potential for poorly written content.
Do not use special characters such as " £ @ = + [ ] " use only " | " or " - " to separate words in a title tag.
GOLDEN RULES:
Here are some golden rules that MUST be followed to prevent other factors from affecting the value of title tags.
Do not use the same title tags on more than 1 page, using the same title tag on multiple pages will cause issues with the search engine understanding what page should be returned.
Every page should have a unique title tag.
Do not make title tags too long or too similar, keep them individual and short.
Make sure the title tag is as relevant to the page as possible
Avoid using words such as "AND IF BUT WHEN WHERE IS YES NO" in title tags, these are commonly referred to as STOP words and will take up valuable space and offer no value.
Make sure pages linking to the page with optimized title tags use anchor text relative to that title tag, so if your webpages title tag is "Cheap Vauxhall Corsas | Buy Cheap Vauxhall Corsas Online" then make sure other pages in your website link to this page using "Cheap Vauxhall Corsas".
Following the above information will give you powerful and quick results. Follow the golden rules at all times.
