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How to write SEO optimized Title tags?

What is a Title Tag & How to use it for SEO?

The Title tag is an HTML element that is used to display the Title of a web page. For search engines and social platforms it’s important that you write descriptive and engaging Title tags, based on the main focus keyword(s) of your page. Title tags are displayed as the clickable headline on the search engine results page after performing a search query.

How do search engines use Title tags?

Search engines use the Title tag as one of the most important on-page SEO ranking factors to determine the subject of a page. When a web page is considered relevant and authoritative enough for a specific query, search engines will display the Title tag of your page on the search results page (SERP).

Make sure you write relevant and engaging Titles to get the attention from potential visitors and maximize the Click Trough Ratio from the search engine results page.

Title tag length

Google uses a maximum width to determine when they will cut off a title tag. This number is not the same for mobile and desktop results, because they have simply more room when displaying a desktop search results page. To be sure your Title tag will be displayed completely it’s recommended to use a maximum of 60 characters (punctuation included).

Code Example:

Page source: <title>Relevant page title</title>

How to write a SEO optimized Title tag?

Title tag content advice:

  • Title tags need to match search intent:
    • An informative page about running shoes: Nike Running Shoes: the Definitive Guide 2017 | Running Shoes Guru
    • A commercial page about running shoes: Best Sellers Running Shoes. Nike.com
  • Use the most important keyword as close as possible to the beginning of the page title.
  • Page titles can be enriched with relevant long-tail keyword combinations, synonyms and secondary keywords to maximize a page visibility.
  • The page title should include your company name to improve brand recognition in search results.

Title tag CMS advice:

  • Title tags must be automatically generated, based on the page name.
  • Your CMS should offer you the possibility to manually override automatically generated page titles.
  • It should be possibility to use custom title tag templates for all the different page types within the site, for example:
    • Category templates.
    • Product page templates.
    • Blog templates.
    • ….
  • The CMS should trigger a warning when the maximum number of characters is exceeded.

Avoid Title tag issues

  • Avoid keyword stuffing. Google doesn’t appreciate needles keyword repetition. Because keyword stuffing doesn’t improve user experience and looks spammy.
  • Avoid duplicate Title tags. In most cases when Google is confronted with page using the same Title from the same domain, they will only display the best result. In this case it’s advised to shift your keyword focus and adjust your content and Title tag accordingly.
  • Avoid non-descriptive Title tags. If the Title tag doesn’t match the page content Google won’t rank your page as well as it potentially could and users are far less likely to click on your result because the heading doesn’t match their search query and intent.

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