Title tags are one of the most important on-page SEO factors. This tag is one of the best ways for search engines to identify what your pages are about. Not only is it helpful for search engines, but also it’s helpful to the end user when your page appears in search engine results. There are a few things to remember when updating your on-page SEO title tags:
- Where to put the code: Within the <head> tag, there should be <title> tags. Both of these should be in the code. There should only be one title tag per page and it should be within the head section of the code
- Keywords in title tags: Keywords should be arranged in priority order. The value of the keywords used in title tags decreases. For example, the first keyword holds the most power; the second isn’t as valuable and so on and so on. When you start an SEO campaign, it’s likely you did keyword research. Be sure to implement the popular keywords in descending order in your title tags. Note: If your brand isn’t searched for very often, remove it from the title tag. If you think it’s important to have in the title tag, move it to the end. It’s best practice to keep the brand on the homepage in the title tag, but not necessarily for subpages. Keywords tend to be more valuable in title tags for interior pages.
- Avoid using filler words: Since keywords are important for title tags, wasting the space with articles, conjunctions and prepositions isn’t helpful. These words carry little or no value and just fill valuable space. Don’t use words like “and”, “the”, “is”, “that”, “which” or others.
- Limited space: Not only should you not use articles or conjunctions in your title tags because they hold no value, but you also have limited title tag space. Best SEO practice shows that 70 characters (including spaces) is the limit for title tags. Long title tags aren’t what the search engines are looking for. Try and use your most important keywords within 70 characters.
- Be sure your title tags complement your copy: The title tags should line up with the webpages. The content is what’s most important on the webpage and the title tag should reflect that.
- Don’t go crazy: Don’t duplicate words in the title tags and don’t list a bunch of words either. These raise red flags for the search engines
Most of the points made above may seen obvious for SEO experts, but they can easily be overlooked. By following these tips, you will be sure to implement effective title tags.