Tag, You’re It.
Title Tag Optimization
Let’s get right to the point with a bit of friendly advice for creating effective title tags that drive traffic to your site. It may seem onerous, just like following good grammar principles when writing sales materials. But while prospective customers can overlook a typo or run-on sentence, a title tag with errors or poorly chosen terms can keep them from seeing your page entirely. Your first priority will be SEO, or search engine optimization.
Title tags are the words that fall within a hyperlink navigating to your page. They are the bait that captures search criteria and brings lookers to your site. Essential elements of any HTML page, they are essentially code requiring specificity. The order of keywords is surprisingly important, as even though searches may yield results if some of a searcher’s keyword string is entered, it’s becoming increasingly likely that they will get swallowed up in the vast Sea of Google. But if your title tags are on the mark, you’ll attract a lot more attention through simple or even complex searches.
Understand that the foundation of all keyword search optimization will center on Google. Resolve to accept the inevitability of Google’s unrelenting power over your internet presence. It won a protracted slug-fest to determine which search engine would be King of the Hill. Sounds like a monopoly—and it is, essentially—but the upside to that is a solitary platform with known variables. Consistency. No need to learn various sites’ tricks and hacks.
Google selects which text it will display in your tags. For an example of this, conduct a Google search of your choice and observe the format and syntax of the results. Considering that half of all visitors to your site arrive there through a Google search, it’s critical to get it done right.
Help is a URL away
Here’s the good news: you don’t have to go it alone and work blindly. The Google keyword tool is a fantastic resource that will help you assign a keyword map for each page of your site and instruct on how to use primary and secondary terms. They base this on relevant or similar search data and history ranked by how successful each search string has been.
Want an example? Suppose you offer customizable home décor accessories. If your title tag includes the words “custom finish buffets teak,” you may have a better shot at appearing high up in that search. But maybe not—some experts are convinced that a single keyword is your best bet. A good way to find out is to test each method for a month at a time and see if you can discern a difference in search hits.
The upshot here is understanding a concept you’ve been told time and time again. Competing for business amid the vast cyber universe requires a commitment to at least a cursory understanding of the methodology behind internet searches, and that may mean getting deeper into technological areas than you’ve been comfortable with in the past. If it’s a genuine concern, hire someone to get you started, or mine the web for self-help apps and sites that will make the process simpler. But by all means, devote time to this essential business tool if you hope to grow your business among new, unique clientele.
Have title tag tips for us? Share them in the comments.