What Is A Title Tag And How To Write One

What Is a Title Tag Used For, And Why Is It So Important?

Title tags appear in various places on the Internet. If someone shares a web page on a social media platform, the title tag usually displays automatically. Title tags, or the first few words of them, appear in the browser tab when a web page is loaded. Last but not least, Google displays the title tag in its SERPs (search engine results pages) for organic results.

From Google’s perspective, title tags are so important in its search engine user experience that they are weighted very heavily in Google’s ranking algorithm. Google’s crawlers use title tags to get a basic understanding of the main information on a given web page. SEO optimized content always involves making title tags as near perfect as possible.

Title Tag Best Practices

• First and foremost, every page of the website should have a title tag. This helps Google understand how pages of your website relate to each other — and, of course, helps users understand what’s on the page when they see it in SERPs, social media shares or browser tabs.
• Each page’s title tag must be unique. Duplicate or very repetitive title tags reduce Google’s confidence in understanding what makes each page unique, and thus tends to lower these pages in rankings.
• Title tags must describe the core purpose and content of the web page. Relevance is critical for SEO and user experience. If a person clicks on a link in social media or on a SERP and goes to a web page that is irrelevant or barely relevant, what do you end up with? A bad user experience and damage done to your brand and credibility. This is why Google crawlers value relevance of title tags so highly.
• For SEO purposes, it’s best to keep title tags under 60 characters — since Google cuts them off in SERPs after that, roughly speaking. It’s an inexact science because Google truncates titles based on pixel width, and title tags are measured in characters. But, for instance, an “I” takes up less pixel width than a “w,” making the point of truncation difficult to pinpoint in a given mix of letters. In general, this is one reason it’s wise to avoid writing title tags in all caps — capital letters chew up more pixel width, and in addition, they are harder for humans to read than upper/lower case composition.
• For SEO target pages in particular, it’s important to incorporate the primary keywords in the title tag, ideally at the beginning of the title. Having two or even three keyword phrases in the title tag is OK, but take care not to overdo it, as keyword stuffing is a “black hat” SEO practice that will hurt you with Google in the rankings (because users see the practice as being quite spammy).
• Branding is often a great enhancement to title tags, but for SEO purposes usually makes sense to put at the end.
• In addition to branding, a brief sales message, persuader or enticement can be inserted in the title tag, as long as its relevant and accurate.

Examples of Title Tags

Putting all of the above together, here are some examples of how title tags can be structured.

• Brown Widgets with a 10-year Warranty | ABC Company
• Brown Widgets, Black Widgets, Red Widgets on Sale
• Brown Widgets, White Widgets | ABC Company
• 10 New Applications for Widgets | ABC Company
• How to Install Brown Widgets in 10 Minutes or Less
• Quality Widgets | ABC Company, Serving Industry Since 1960

Using the “|” symbol to separate the branding message is recommended because Google ignores it and it is easy for humans to read.