Why the Title Tag is Important for SEO
The title tag is text that you enter into the html code of your website and is only visible in the browser's title bar. Of course its of great importance to the search engine robots. Your title tag is just a preview of what the reader can expect to find when they click thru the link.
Your title tag essentially is a perfect ad campaign. It should be a first step in your SEO campaign.
Text appearing inside the title tag will be used to display your site in the search engine results as the title. Because most search engines only read up to 150 characters of your title's text, you're limited somewhat. It's safe to say that you can get 70 reliably in Google. This includes spacing. Stuff as many relevant keywords as possible. Keep it meaningful and remember this is ad copy. The very first thing users see in a search engine ranking. Make it stand out. The use of powerful action words that entice the reader is a great chance to get them to click and follow the link.
Ensure that your web page body also contains the text that's in the title as well as your meta-description. If you can try using the same text as your page title. What you're after is more relevance on a specific topic.
Some more tips on coding the title tag
1.Place your company name last in the title
2.Don't use strings of keywords in the title
3.View your page titles from your potential visitors' eyes.
Even though the effort to make new titles and meta-descriptions for each of your pages may seem like quite a bit of effort. Its well worth it in the long run.
Striking a balance between SEO and readability is a skill you must master. Readability is more important to your end user. Remember that the search engines are not going to be the ones buying what you're selling, so if its between pleasing a reader or the search engines, I say please your readers.
Does the order of my keywords matter?
Yes. The order of your keywords in your title description is important because they show relevance. The more prominent a keyword is to your subject or topic on your page the closer to the beginning you will want this keyword to be.
So how do I come up with a good title?
What is your web page about? What are the key things you want people to know about your website? What can people find when they land on a specific page in your site?
Brainstorm. And then brainstorm some more. Even more importantly use a search term suggestion tool or a keyword suggestion tool. It's a good idea to place a service offering in your title text. So rather than saying:
McGraws House - Seafood restaurant.
Try something like:
Seattle's finest Seafood restaurant.Half price on crab-McGraw's House.
Now obviously you can see by this title it has important characteristics to the viewer.
1.It denotes location. (good idea for business of this nature)
2.Uses a power word. Finest.
3.Uses several potential keywords. Seattle + Seafood + Crab
4.Then gives the user a pull by mentioning half price deals on Tuesday.
A little effort I know, but that's what it takes.
Years ago, a company called Overture had a great keyword tool that worked like a charm. It would tell you how many people on average (within its group of search engines of course) have searched for specific key phrases in a month.
A very popular tool nowadays is wordtracker at http://www.wordtracker.com. They have a very good product that will give you these kinds of useful information.
Your web content has a lot do with what keywords will work for you and what help title tag's effectiveness. If you can't find enough keywords in the content, and you are able to edit it, then edit it. Restructure the sentences get creative. Don't overdo it though and don't get so greedy for keywords that your content now sounds retarded when you read it back. It needs to remain readable. Again, don't sacrifice quality of content for keywords.
I sincerely hope this article was useful to you.
by Roger Samboer
Roger Samboer is the founder of Dynaweave LLC, a Seattle based web site development company. They create streamlined, professional looking web sites at very competitive prices. The main focus is on providing new start up companies with affordable yet high quality web sites.
Feel free to visit dynaweave at: http://www.dynaweave.com
Internet Directories to Improve Link Popularity
Description: one way of jumpstarting you link campaign is to get directory links. Building links, by listing your website in the search engines and directories, is one way of increasing your link popularity, especially if yours is a new site or one with no inbound links. However, you should choose your directories and search engines well.
You can jumpstart your link campaign by getting directory links. Building links, by listing your website in the search engines and directories, is one way of increasing your link popularity, especially if yours is a new site or one with no inbound links. However, you should choose your directories and search engines well. But, the shortage of inbound links puts your site at a severe disadvantage because link analysis is an important part of every search engine's ranking algorithm.
So, you can overcome this disadvantage by getting a few quality links. And a good way to start is to get listed in as many directories as you can. There are many directories out there, and the more you can get into, the better. If you have a business related website, and it cant be accepted by non-for-profit directories, then you should try submitting it into business directories and should be prepared to pay a small fee for it. A good strategy is to contact a site that doesnt offer advertising or paid listing and offer a small amount of money in return for a link. Chances are that few will be willing to accept your link. A few that you should try and get your site listed in, are Open Directory (http://www.dmoz.org), Yahoo(http://www.yahoo.com), LookSmart (http://www.looksmart.com), Zeal (http://www.dmoz.org), Joeant (http://www.joeant.com) and Business.com (http://www.business.com), Discount-Search.com (http://www.discount-search.com) or any other business directory if you site doesnt qualify for free submission.
And these directories and search engines are gold mines as linking partners, waiting and begging to be mined by an enterprising and prospecting webmaster. The most obvious Internet directory to start with, when beginning a comprehensive link search, is the well-known DMOZ directory. Its complete category and sub-category classification system makes it convenient for any website owner to find numerous sites within their area of business.
With DMOZ, theres no need to contact them for link exchanges if youre concerned about loss of visitor traffic to their sites. However, if youre not listed in the DMOZ directory, you can still find the category where your site would probably be included. And the process remains the same for finding link partners, whether your site is listed or not.
Another directory that is good is The Yahoo! Directory which has many of the same sites in its list as DMOZ. This is inevitable. There are, however, many sites listed in Yahoo! that are not part of the Open Directory Project. And this fact opens up many more possibilities for the webmaster.
When you go to the Yahoo! Directory, you must first go to your category, if youre already listed. But if youre site is not listed, you should select the most probable one. However, keep in mind that the listings are in alphabetical order, and may not have the same descriptions as the DMOZ directory. Then, use the same procedure as before, and your list of potential linking partners will grow larger.
A third important Internet directory is the Google Directory. They use listings supplied by the Open Directory Project and the listings are very similar to those found in DMOZ. But, Google is different in that it orders the results from the highest PageRank listing to the lowest, making your sorting that much easier. Though, it should be remembered that some of the PageRanks on display are most probably out of date, and may not reflect the site's current PageRank.
But, if exchanges, for higher PageRank purposes are important to your site, then the Google directory is the answer to what youre seeking. However, as a general rule, don't let PageRank determine your linking partners. Its far more important to make your site helpful, for your visitors and customers.
And, since directories are an excellent source of theme related link partners for any website, you should use a major one for the search such as DMOZ, the Yahoo! Directory, or the Google Directory. So, finding potential linking partners is very easy when you use the major directories or search engines.
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Search Engine Optimization Off-Page Optimization
If you have ever wondered how important off-page optimization is, then ask yourself this question. Why do major companies put their brands on tee shirts, coffee mugs, and other items? Because, it is effective brand advertisement! The more the message is seen, the more likely it is that customers will buy their products.
The same principle applies to off-page optimization for websites. However, instead of using tee-shirts, mugs, etc, the SEO typically uses links included on other websites to do the branding. This technique accomplishes two functions. First, it opens additional ports through which potential customers can come to your website. Second, the major search engines use the links from other sites to help establish the popularity of the site being linked to. They then use this popularity to help determine the ranking for that site.
To really evaluate the importance of this off-page optimization, consider the effort and money that Google, Yahoo, and other companies put into getting a link to their sites from other websites. Googles AdSence ads are seen on websites all over the world. So are Ebay ads. Why? The answer is branding and search engine optimization.
There are a number of ways to get your site linked from other websites. Affiliate programs, free directories, link exchanges and partnerships with other relevant websites. Whichever option that you choose to use, be careful to make sure that the linking site is relevant to yours. Search engines do evaluate the relevancy. You will also want to be mindful of the sites that carry your link. If those sites are not in sync with the moral, ethical, and philosophical standards that you set, then your reputation could be at risk.
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You Have Identified Your Keyword Now What?
So you have done your ground work and identified your best targeted keyphrases now what? Well now you have the task of optimising your landing pages for best results in the search engines; however this doesn't mean spam your pages full of keyphrases. The trick to remember about optimising your webpage's for the search engines is to focus on the website visitor and not the search engines.
We all know that link building is very important but before you do that you will need to optimise your webpage's. Below I will detail some of the onsite factors that need to be addressed if your pages are to perform well.
Title
The title tag of your webpage's should all be unique and contain a short description about your webpage. Here is a good opportunity to include one of your chosen keyphrases. Only if your keyphrase reflects what is actually contained in your webpage.
Description
Your description tag also needs to be unique and contain a longer description of your webpage, around 130 characters. This is also another place where you can use your keyphrase but don't overdo it and make sure it reads well. Another good tip that is underused here is a call to action. Your search engine listing is really an advertisement for your website and you want it to be desirable for people to click on. There is many other listing fighting for the searchers attention so make yours stand out.
Keywords
The keywords tag is more or less ignored by the search engines today because of spammers misusing it. They could not be bothered to properly learn search engine optimisation so they cheated. It is still a good idea to use them though just in case.
Headings
The proper use of headings should also be observed as these also offer a good indication to the surfer what your webpage is all about. If you can include a keyphrase in here all the better but make sure it all reads well.
Incidentally if you're wondering where you can find a good SEO company that can help you with this I would recommend these guys. I have used them and found them to be great. They can also help with your website design needs, other companies are available.
These are only the basics but will put you on the road to a well optimised website. There are of course many other factors that you need to think about but they will have to wait for another day.
Author
Jack Mack
