Playing Tag – “You’re IT!”

Some of the most basic elements of website optimization are the title and description tags that you append to your web page. These tags are an easy way for you to let the search engines – and the searcher – know what your page is about. The user sees the title tag at the very top of the browser when he enters your web page (look up to see the one on the top of your screen).

In addition, it is the title of your web page that appears as an entry in the search engine result pages, together with the description, which is the one or two line snippet that normally appears under that title in the entry.

Apropos the description, Google has recently been using longer snippets in the search results, excerpted from different places on the page where the search terms appear, for searches of 3 or more words. Page excerpts had often been used when there was no description tag or one that was irrelevant to the search terms, but now even when there is a description tag that has most of the search terms (but not all of them), it may be ignored. It has been theorized that this may reduce the importance of the description tag and place the emphasis for achieving good snippets on on-page optimization.

There is also a keywords tag that the user never sees – it is for search engine use only. The keyword tag has declined in importance for Google in recent years (it used to be that you just inserted whatever keywords you wanted to rank for and – poof! There you were! But no longer…), leaving the focus on the title and description tags.

Many content management systems give you an easy way to add and edit these tags, eliminating the need for you to know the HTML code to insert them manually. In case your system does not provide you with that convenience, the following is the coding that should be inserted into the HEAD of the web page in question.

Title tag: <title> insert title </title>

Description tag: <meta name=“description” content=”insert description”>

Keywords tag: <meta name=“keywords” content=”insert keywords separated by commas”>

What should these tags say? How can you use them to your advantage?

1) Make sure they exist

A surprising number of web pages have no title whatsoever, or have wholly unoriginal titles such as “Home” or “Blog”, or have the same title for every page on their website. The Search Engine Roundtable’s Blog commented recently on the problems this can cause, as Google might pick a title for you, and it may not be the title that you would choose. We saw this recently when the (untitled) homepage of one of our clients appeared in search results with the title “-name of company- logo”. Apparently Google decided that their logo was the most relevant thing on the page, but I doubt many searchers would agree. Additionally, if all the titles and descriptions are the same, Google might decide that the pages must not be unique and fail to index part of them.

2) Make sure they use the words searchers will use

The tags should contain your keyword(s), both for the searcher to see and to give Google a reason to put your page in the search results, so put on a thinking cap when you write them, but not your thinking cap – the thinking cap of your potential searcher. If your web page deals with koalas, don’t use “All You Ever Wanted to Know about Phascolarctos Cinereus” as your title, unless you want to attract zoologists only.

3) Make sure they sound attractive

Although you may think it’s “just semantics,” your choice of words can mean the difference between a searcher clicking on your site or moving on to the next. As my husband pointed out about our baby’s burpcloth: “It’s really just a nice way of saying ‘vomit rag’.” But we humans appreciate when things sound as sweet or as suave as possible – even when it’s a piece of fabric meant to catch regurgitated matter.

4) Make sure they sound attracting

Engage the searchers – compel them to click on your site. This especially applies to the description, where you have more text space at your disposal. Ask a question – invite the searcher to find out more. Which attracts you more? “LOW LOW Prices on Electronics on Joe’s Electronics website” or “Where can you find a digital camera for $20? An iPod for $30? Joe’s Electronics invites you to explore our website for the electronics you need”.   (See the first screenshot above for a good example.)

Two heads are better than one, and three are better than two, and four are better than… Test your titles and descriptions on others before you use them. Ask people who fit the profile of your potential searchers: what words would you search for? Which title sounds more appealing? Which description makes you want to click more? Use their feedback to create tags that will say: “You’re IT!”

Do you have a home page with an uninspiring title or description? Or with none at all? Post the website domain name in the comments, and we’ll give you a suggestion!

Thanks to you all for having been so patient, and for sticking around till we got back to writing here again. Looking forward to seeing you on our next post  (if you sign up for our RSS feed, of course!)

Related posts:

1. Excel Tip for Title and Description Tag Optimization