The title tag, your webpage’s business card
A webpage title is embedded in the html-code between the tags. This text is displayed at the top of the browser, e.g. in the tab label, and will be displayed when the cursor hovers over the label.
We all know how important first impressions are: the title tag is the first clickable line in the Google search results, i.e. the first thing an internet user will see of your website when searching for your products / services through Google. The text for your title tag will have a direct impact on the click-behaviour of potential visitors.
- Include all of the unique keywords for which the page is being optimised in the text of the title tag.
- Also, one or a few synonyms or words related to the keywords will add value.
- Preferably, turn this into a call-to-action, a compelling call to do something. A question can also be functional, if the webpage content offers a reply.
- Google automatically reduces the length of titles that exceed 50 characters.
The title tag is not the same as the meta title. The text in the title tag is important for Google, the text in the meta title is simply ignored.
How long is a title tag compared to those of other webpages that have top scores in Google for a specific keyword? Which words does Google define as synonyms and / or related words with respect to that keyword?
For answers to these questions, iPower has developed an interesting tool: SEO Page Optimizer. You can try it for free! That way, you can see immediately how many words, keywords and related words are used in the title tags of the highest scoring websites and how far off your webpage is.
Bonus: you can also see scores for other content-related components.
Click here for the SEO Page Optimiser tool
Next blog post: the meta description.