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Posted on: Sep 02, 2019 11 min read
Unlike 10 years ago, when generating online business was – let’s say, practically a lot easier than now, in today’s day and age, in order to be successful online, you must have everything spot on not only to beat your competition but to comply with a lot of new algorithms and ‘white-hat’ practices.
If you have ever done SEO, you would probably know that one of the most frustrating things is getting everything to work together in motion in order to generate you the most results. Especially in 2019, a lot of elements must come together in order for your SEO to work.
SEO is perhaps one of the most complex segments of digital marketing that many, many businesses around the world are struggling with or are not even bothering with to begin with due to its complexity and lack of immediate reward.
Even though it may seem like a hard and almost impossible task, you must persevere and look deeper into the detail, which according to SEO experts from DubSEO, an SEO agency in London, are the main causes behind many SEO campaigns that have straight up failed.
In this blog, you will learn the importance of title tags, how to successfully implement them, why Google sometimes won’t use your title tag, despite if you are thinking that it’s good enough and provide you with a great website where you can design your title tags and meta descriptions before your web page is shown on the SERP.
Title tags and meta descriptions are bits part of the websites’ HTML code that are present in the header of a web page. They help Google better understand the content of a particular page. The page title tag and meta description are usually shown whenever the page appears in a search engine result.
Most snippets that show on a Google search are limited to two lines, however, we still generally advise you to write up a 160-character Meta description. Obviously there are exceptions but use that word count as a rule of thumb.
Primary Keyword – Secondary Keyword | Brand Name 8-foot Green Widgets – Widgets & Tools | Widget World
Google normally shows the first 50 to 60 characters of a title tag. According to our own research, if you keep your titles below the 60 character range, then expect Google to show at least 90% of it. There isn’t an exact character limit as that can vary, however, Google’s display titles max out currently is at 600 pixels.
The title tags are a major factor in helping Google better understand the overall content within a specific web page. Those title tags are used in three key places.
Search engine result pages: Your title tag will determine your display title on the SERPs. Even if your site is currently ranking well, a good title can be the make-or-break factor of whether someone clicks on your link or not.
Web browsers: Your title tag will also appear at the top of your browser and act as a placeholder. Having a unique and recognisable title with important keywords is especially fundamental for users that have many tabs open. This way, they will not lose track of your content.
Social networks: Social networks require title tags in order to determine what to display when you share a particular web page. Keep in mind that social media platforms like Facebook & Twitter have their own meta tags which allow you to better describe the content for the individual platform.
Since title tags are of such fundamental importance for SEO & user experience, writing them effectively is a terrific low-effort, high impact SEO task. Below, you will be able to read more about the fundamental recommendations from our experts when it comes to optimising title tags for search engines.
Title length: If you decide to ramble on for too long, the search engine may cut off vital information that may be what users want to hear in order to click on your link. Keeping your titles under 60 characters should be your priority. Some characters generally take up more space than others so do consider that too. For example, a capital “M” would take more space than “i” or “t”.
It is important to mention that even if you provide a title that is reasonable, search engines may still decide to display a different title than what you have provided.
At the end, it is all trial and error, and eventually you will reach the sweet spot. Just remember that there are currently no penalties for using a long title.
Don’t overuse SEO keywords: While Google is currently not punishing users for having long titles, you can run into some trouble if you decide to stuff your title full of keywords in a way that can create a bad user experience. It is better known as unhealthy click-bait which aims more towards attracting the user to the link rather than providing overall valuable content.
Google is smarter than you think. You will find it difficult to exploit or trick the algorithm so it’s better to just stick within the rules and attract users by following the rules and providing a lot of value. Google will certainly reward you for this effort.
Give every page a unique title: By having a unique title, you will help the search engine understand that your content is unique and can be of value to the user. When there are millions of active pages on the web, it’s hard to come up with a unique title, so if you have hundreds of product pages, you can use that data to easily generate titles like [Product Name] – [Product Category] – [Brand Name].
Make sure that you avoid default titles like “Home” or “New Page” at all costs as Google will instantly think that it is duplicate content.
Put the important keywords first: This one is a no-brainer. Be sure to always put the most important keywords first. For example, a category or a clothing range that you think is well known. Sometimes, it’s better if you put your company name if it is more famous and well known than a particular product.
Sometimes you may think that you have crafted the perfect title tag, and later find out that Google have decided to step in and completely change it up. That can be frustrating but there isn’t a real way you can fix this. When this happens, there really are four explanations for this to occur. You can find them listed below.
Yes, there is atitle tag checker online that can help you see what your page would ideally look like before it appears on Google. One that we would recommend is “ToTheWeb”.
If you need any further assistance regarding your SEO optimisation, be sure to get in touch with our reputed SEO experts at DubSEO.
