HTML title tags (< title >) are currently the most important on-page factor when optimising your webpages for search engine results. For the majority of search engines the title tag is the first point of call to summarise the theme of a webpage and to help rank that webpage accordingly within their listings. Obviously there are many other factors that generate the overall ranking but optimising your title tags right will generally provide results for your targeted search terms.
Target Individual Webpages Towards Search Terms
For search engine optimisation, it is vitally important that your website has individual webpages with content targeted towards keywords and search terms. Each of these webpages should have their own unique title tag that includes the search terms you are hoping to be found for within search engines.
How People Search
Think about how you would type in a search into a search engine. It is unlikely you would type in a phrase such as "How You Should Optimise Title Tags". There is more of a chance that you may type "How Should I Optimise Title Tags", but people tend to shorten the total words needed to type a phrase as much as possible and will be more likely to type "How to Optimise Title Tags". Search engines would pick up the all above variations but by targeting the most popularly typed phrase you are increasing your chances of ranking better for that search term. There are many keyword tools on the Internet that allow you to research which keywords are popular and how searches are being typed.
Variations of Prime Keywords
If your website is targeted towards a certain group of keywords and search terms, then use the webpage title tags to target variations of your main keywords. For example, the main titles on our website are targeted towards "Search Engine Optimisation" and "SEO". Notice how within our SEO blog articles we sometimes use variations such as "Search Engine Optimising for Long Tail Search Results" and the title of this post "How to Optimise Title Tags". By doing this you can catch more visitors for a variety of possible related search terms.
Put Search Terms First
The closer the keywords are to the beginning of the title tag the more relevant and more weight that webpage will carry towards that keyword. So for example if your webpage had a title of "red widgets & blue widget" and another website's webpage had a title of "blue widget & red widgets", if you did a search for "blue widget" then the other website more likely to rank above your website (if all other factors are equal) simply because the search term is nearer the beginning of the title tag. A lot of companies put their brand terms first and then the page title, which is good if you are a recognised brand as it builds confidence and provides familiarity to potential visitors and may help encourage click from search listings, but it can be a slight disadvantage if you are looking to rank higher than a competitor who puts brand terms at the end of the title tag or left them out completely.
Another good reason to put the search term nearer to the beginning of your title tag is that search engines use the title to provide the link to your webpage in their listings. There is limited space (68 characters in Google) for your title within the search engine listing so it is important to make it obvious what the webpage is about.
Related Articles
Organic Search Engine Marketing Myths – Part I
By: Lalita Negi | 09/10/2007 | SEO
Marketing on search engines is one of the easiest and most effective ways of brand promotion on the Internet. This article discusses some of the common myths attached with the effectiveness or functioning of the process of organic search engine marketing.
Organic Search Engine Marketing Myths – Part II
By: Lalita Negi | 11/10/2007 | Online Promotion
This article talks about the myths associated with the process of organic search engine marketing. It is imperative to monitor this process constantly so that you can identify loopholes and make alterations where need be.
Great Websites Doing Nothing
By: Gillian Meier | 29/09/2007 | Internet
Search Engine Optimisation is an essential requirement of website development. It should be considered from the start of the web design project. Without careful SEO configuration and structure, a website may not rank on Search Engine results at all.
Search Engine Optimisation – to Rank or not to Rank
By: Karl Joseph | 16/04/2008 | SEO
To have an online presence today is the only way to survive in this highly competitive world. And once a company or individual creates a website, they need to make sure it is Search Engine Optimisation(SEO) friendly. There needs to be certain key words and phrases which are inserted which will help get the listed in the major search engines and bring in more business. Internet marketing is the term used by almost everyone today. This is the method by which you market your company, products and s
Search Engine Marketing – Its All About ROI
By: Karl Joseph | 16/04/2008 | SEO
For any business to succeed, it is important to understand the Return on Investment the owner is getting. It is basically the profit or turnover being made by them at the end of the day vis a vie the amount invested in the same. This rule applies to every aspect of our life. When we go to college to study, we look for high marks which will assure us a good job. While talking about web portals, they too keep close watch on what their ROI is when investing and creating the website. This is because
Google IS The Main Game In Town
By: Charles Ryder | 21/02/2006 | SEO
Some site owners think that just because they rank well in Yahoo and MSN, they don't need to invest in SEO services for Google. Here's why this is dangerous and costly thinking, if you are looking to the search engines for traffic to your website.
SEO – White Hat Success or Black Hat Exclusion
By: Karl Joseph | 16/04/2008 | SEO
In the process of trying to gain popularity and bring in more business, there are some companies that look at adopting some of the common modes of leveraging through Search engine optimization. This might help them or back fire and lead to their site getting black listed from the index. So, at the end of the day, it really does not matter how good or bad their site is, but what means they adopt to increase traffic.
Unique Selling Points And Call-To-Action
By: Steven Balfour | 29/05/2008 | Computers
When creating a website that provides a service or sells products it is essential to put a lot of thought into how to highlight the unique selling points (USP) that will make you stand out from the competition and how to clearly display your websites call-to-action (CTA), whether it be...
Got a Question? Ask.
Ask the community a question about this article:
Q&A Powered by:
Latest Internet Articles
Tips to Promote a Website Or a Blog
By: Submit Queen | 21/08/2008
Do you want to promote your website or a blog? Do you know how to do that? If the answer is no then you are reading the right article.
Why I should promote my website? Thousands of websites are launched every day. Many of them have good content and some of...
5 Marketing Lessons From the 'king of Make-up' - Max Factor
By: Adam Urbanski | 21/08/2008
Did you know that Max Factor was a marketing genius? You won't believe the strategies he used to get the rich and famous clamor for his services and products. His strategies can be simply replicated in your business to attract all the new and repeat clients you want. Here is how...
Finding the Right Internet Home Business That is Uniquely You
By: John Baril | 20/08/2008
When you are determining what is the right Internet home business for yourself, you have an opportunity to shape that any way you want. This is especially true when you use affiliate marketing to make money on the Internet.
Top Five Reasons Why Reciprocal Link Requests Are Turned Down by Webmasters
By: Kanaga Siva | 20/08/2008
Reciprocal linking is one of the accepted methods adopted by webmasters to build traffic, increase link popularity and improve page rank. It is a known fact that in recent times search engines have begun to place more importance to one-way inbound link and consider it to be superior to a...
Using Autoresponder Software For Follow-Up Success
By: Neil R Morgan | 20/08/2008
It's well known that only a tiny percentage of your web site visitors will buy from you on their first (and possibly only) visit to your web site. The vast majority of your prospects simply forget about you and your web site and never return.
Can you imagine just how much...
Marketing Any Business on MySpace
By: Sean Dell | 20/08/2008
MySpace is now, and has been for some time, the hottest trend when it comes to social networking endeavors online for businesses. This international website plays host to millions of individuals! With that many people accessing the website, it only makes sense to take advantage of accessing those people. Best...
Why MySpace is Great For Your Business
By: Sean Dell | 20/08/2008
Are you one of the many businesses that have yet to discover the power of MySpace? If so, you could be missing on a an exciting opportunity to get your business noticed. Yes, MySpace is thought of us a "friend" type of network, however, it is also great for business...
Tips On Building Online Traffic
By: Larry Mccullough | 20/08/2008
Okay so you have a brilliant web site. You are a treasure house in the field of your expertise. You have placed your knowledge in your website. You have a great product and now you want to utilize the web media to advertise and launch it. Unfortunately though, after you...
More from Steven Balfour
Keyword Research Guide For SEO
By: Steven Balfour | 12/06/2008 | Internet
Before you begin your website's on-page optimization and link building, it is important to first research which keywords and search phrases will attract relevant visitors. To do this there are a few tools and techniques which will help you make a decision on which keywords to target.
Keyword Research Tools
Probably the...
Search Engine Optimisation On A Tight Budget
By: Steven Balfour | 06/06/2008 | Internet
Improving your website rankings within search engine listings doesn't need to cost you an arm and a leg. With a few simple changes and a bit of extra work you can dramatically change the fortunes of your un-optimized website.
Website and On-Page Optimization
Firstly, focus on the structure of your website. Your...
Unique Selling Points And Call-To-Action
By: Steven Balfour | 29/05/2008 | Computers
When creating a website that provides a service or sells products it is essential to put a lot of thought into how to highlight the unique selling points (USP) that will make you stand out from the competition and how to clearly display your websites call-to-action (CTA), whether it be...
How To Link Bait
By: Steven Balfour | 15/05/2008 | Internet
Interesting News Articles
The first step to generate links to your website is to create a useful resource that people trust and rely on. There is no easier way to do this than by providing up to date news and information targeted towards a particular industry. If people see your website...
Search Engine Optimising For Long Tail Search Results
By: Steven Balfour | 14/02/2008 | Internet
What are Long Tail Search Terms?
The ultimate goal when search engine optimizing a website within a competitive market is to reach position 1 in the rankings for the most relevant popular search term. Whilst nothing is impossible, sometimes this goal may be unachievable with the given resources or may be...
5 Reasons Why Accessibility Is Good For SEO
By: Steven Balfour | 14/02/2008 | Internet
1) Validation of HTML
When creating an accessible website it is essential that you use valid HTML to allow all web browsing software the best chance to correctly read and display/output your website pages.
The SEO advantage of this is that the same rules apply to search engine robots that visit and...
Viewty LG KU990 - Better Than The iPhone?
By: Steven Balfour | 17/11/2007 | Computers
With all the hype of the current release of the Apple iPhone you would be forgiven for not being familiar with LG's latest offering, the LG KU990 Viewty. As with the iPhone handset the Viewty allows you to navigate its menus and features with the touch of a finger. But...
3 Mobile Launch Skypephone
By: Steven Balfour | 08/11/2007 | Computers
3 Mobile have teamed up with Skype to offer free calls across the Internet using their new Skypephone. The Skype network has, within a very short space of time, become hugely popular for making free Internet calls through handsets that are attached to your PC and has built up a...
Internet 
