If you find yourself stuck thinking about a title for a webpage, then you’re in the right place. Title tags are known to be SEO optimization factors. Page titles are important for SEO because these tell Google what a certain page is all about.
A title tag is also helpful for readers because this is the first one to see in the search results. It gives a good idea to the readers if your blog post or webpage is relevant to their search query. Thus, it’s best to optimize your page title to satisfy search queries and user intent.
In this article, we will talk about some useful tips for the best page titles in SEO. We’ll help you optimize your page titles and title tags for maximum SEO benefit. Read along to know these tips!
In this Article
- What Is a Title Tag?
- Title Tag vs. H1 Header Tag
- 5 Tips to Optimize Title Tags for SEO
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Final Word
- Related Reads
What Is a Title Tag?
Title tags are HTML elements that signal Google what title to present on search queries. You need an optimized title tag to rank your page on SERP rankings. This can increase the impressions and clicks for your page, thus increasing your click-through rate (CTR).
Title tags are the first thing that your potential audience will see on your website. Keywords should be included in your title tag to satisfy user intent. Having compelling titles can attract more readers to view your content. Leaving a good first impression will earn you more readers and subscribers.
A good SEO strategy includes a well-researched and optimized title tag. It helps your audience find your website easier. It also ensures that your page only appears on relevant search queries.
Title Tag vs. H1 Header Tag
Title tags and H1 headers are commonly mistaken as the same elements. However, these two have different impacts on SEO.
As mentioned earlier, title tags are HTML elements. The title tag that you put will dictate what title will appear on search results and active browser tabs. Thus, title tags will have a limitation (about 50-60 characters) to fit the SERP requirements.
Title tags appear in HTML codes like this:
<head>
<title>One Way Link Building: All You Need to Know | LinkDoctor™</title>
</head>On the other hand, H1 headers don’t have limitations. These are used primarily for SEO purposes. H1 headers represent the main topic of an article.
5 Tips to Optimize Title Tags for SEO
1. Title Tag Truncation
Is your title tag too long? You can shorten it by putting an ellipsis. Just make sure that you’re leaving enough context clues for the audience to figure out the context behind the ellipsis.
If the number of characters exceeds the maximum limit (60 characters), it is automatically turned into an ellipsis. There will be times that truncation won’t look good for your title and SEO because of the lack of context. The technique is to limit the characters for your titles.
This is what it should look like:
You can use tools like the Pixel Width Checker to check if your title will fit the SERP requirements. This way, you can always check and see what your proposed title will look like at SERPs.
2. Descriptive and Concise Page Titles
To avoid cutting your title off in the worst places (and phrases), you should think of a descriptive and concise page title. You can do this by planning for a title tag and drafting it before finalizing it. This way, you are certain that your title will fit the requirements.
It will be helpful if your CMS has a title tag optimizer to make it concise and fit in. You can also do this in an Excel sheet by using the =LEN() formula. This will show how many characters you put on a cell.
Make it as descriptive as possible. You can be more specific with the title tags as you go deeper into your site. A homepage title tag will be more generic than a product page title tag.
3. Write Unique Title Tags for Real Search Queries
To make a title tag unique, it must not have a duplicate. Since you don’t have duplicate pages on your site, there must be no reason for you to duplicate your title tags. Naming your homepage “Home” will not be favorable for Google.
Unique title tags are descriptive. It describes the content of the page simply and uniquely. This way, your readers and search engine crawlers won’t have a hard time finding the right page on your website.
You must also target real search queries when optimizing your title page. Having a real and “searchable” title tag will give you an advantage when it comes to SEO. Your page will appear more on SERPs if the search query matches your title tag.
That’s why keywords are so important in title tags, which leads us to our next tip on the list.
4. Keywords (and Long-Tail Variations) in Title Tags
Including keywords in your title tags is beneficial for your SEO. It will bring your website more traffic because it will be more visible on SERPs. However, you must choose the MAIN keyword to rank.
Having multiple keywords in your title tags can be chaotic. Your page can appear to multiple search queries, which can confuse your readers. Thus, sticking to the main keyword is essential.
But you can add long-tail keywords that are variations of your main keyword. For example, your main keyword is “expired domains”. You can make a title tag with the long-tail keyword “buy expired domains with traffic”.
5. Brand/Company Name in Title Tags
The important question is “When should I add a brand name to the title tag?” The answer depends on your content. For example, it makes more sense to add the brand name for company homepages.
Another concern is the placement of your title tag. For product pages, it is necessary to match the title tag to the results your end-user wants. In this scenario, it is better to add the product name you are trying to sell first and then add the brand name in the end.
This is what it will look like once you add the brand name at the end:
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is a good SEO page title?
Search engines display about 50-60 characters of the page title in the search results, so it is better to optimize your title to about the same length.
2. How can I improve my title?
5 Tips to improve your title:
1. Write unique title tags.
2. Incorporate the focus keyword.
3. Be concise.
4. Use numbers.
5. Use Brand name
3. Does changing page title affect SEO?
The page title helps Google’s algorithm understand your content and ranks it accordingly. Changing the page title after publication may lead to a positive or negative impact on search engine ranking, traffic, and visibility of your website.
4. Is page title the same as meta title?
The meta title is a name tag for the page, whereas the title tag is the actual title of the post and both are important for SERP (Search Engine Result Page).
Final Word
When it comes to the best page titles for SEO, you can’t go wrong with a clear and concise one. All you have to do is to invest some time and creativity into crafting a good title tag for SEO. This way, you can have long-tail keywords associated with your main keyword without looking unnatural.
We hope this article gave you an idea of how to craft a good page title for SEO. We’ll be glad to answer your SEO-related questions in the comments down below. For more SEO guides, visit our blog and read our other articles.
