YOUR page title on your home page is the biggest indicator to search engines of what your website is about.
If it doesn’t succinctly explain exactly what your website offers, as well as containing your keyword phrase, then you’re missing out significantly on website visitors.
What is a website page title?
The page title is the writing in the blue bar at the top of a web page, and originates in the meta tags, which are a set of instructions for search engines and technicians at the beginning of your web page.
These meta tags are not displayed in the normal view of your website. However (assuming your are using Internet Explorer), all you have to do is click on the ‘View’ tab at the top of the page and then select ‘Source’ to view the code behind your website.
Your page title will be in-between the two ‘HTML Tags’ (which indicates the start and end of the page title).
Your page title is also shown as the clickable title link displayed in search results, if your site has been found using a search engine query.
The most common page title mistake that businesses make
Most businesses are proud of their brand name. Unfortunately, that means that they want their brand name all over their website. Including all the areas that should be used for keyword phrases instead. Businesses HAVE to find a way to take independent advice AND act upon it without their ‘brand-coloured glasses’ on when deciding on their website page title.
How to write an effective page title
A page title should be between ten and 60 characters long – including spaces. Any longer, and it may be cut when appearing in search engine results. It should ideally JUST be the keyword phrase that you have decided on for your page.
A good example of an effective page title would be ‘Internet Marketing Training’.
The second best example of an effective page title would also include the brand name – for example, ‘PurpleInternetMarketing.com – The internet marketing training company’. The effectiveness of this title is, however, diminished compared to the first example.
The worst possible page title in this example would be ‘Purple’. If found in search engine results, hardly anyone would visit the site because the title doesn’t denote what the website is about. In addition, the chances of appearing in desired search engine results would be reduced significantly due to the lack of keywords.
Remember to think about all your website pages – each page title on each page should be optimised. Not just your home page. Take time getting your page titles right. It will prove to be an extremely beneficial tool for significantly increasing your future website traffic.
Contact David Bain at www.PurpleInternetMarketing.com
Tomorrow: The PurpleInternet Marketing series: The ten biggest search engine optimisation mistakes – No.3.
