8 Tips for optimizing page titles for SEO : Design the best Page Titles

If there’s one thing that I can’t miss  optimizing on a webpage then that would definitely be the Page Title. Its the most important SEO factor that helps search engines get the idea about what your website is about.

its a fact that  many webmasters abuse the page title usage to take undue advantage, and often screw up. Lets take a detail look at the various do’s and don’ts in designing the perfect page titles for SEO.

1. Repeating keywords on page title ? Not a good idea.

We’ve been told several times that repeating keywords on the page title is not a good idea. But every other website I see (popular ones) do follow this method. What’s disappointing is that while Google suggests that this is bad karma, not all the time can they “catch” such acts.

Also, most of the time, when keywords are repeated on the title, there are all sorts of keyword spamming techniques that follow. Obviously, if the webmaster is taking the luxury of spamming his page title, then he must be following other methods too.

So, if you’ve been repeating keywords on your page title, then its most likely that you’ll lose your reputation with Google somewhere down the line, if not now. Most of the successful websites doing keyword title spamming, is either gone unnoticed or not within the Google radar, so don’t imitate them.

2. Keep it within the ideal length of a page title, that’s 65 characters.

In my opinion, the ideal length of a page title is around 65 characters, because Google SERPs will display only 65 characters, anything after which will be truncated. So it makes sense to write page titles within the 65 character limit.

3. Select and design your keywords after thoughtful keyword research.

If you select and design your keywords properly 65 characters is a lot of space, and spamming occurs when you are not sure about what keywords to target. So don’t just go about picking up every keyword variation possible from your keyword research tool. You just got 66 characters, make full use of it.

4. More than machines, its real people who’ll read your page titles, so make them meaningful.

The problem of SEO obsessed webmasters are that they see everything from Google’s perspective. But that reality is far from it. Your Page Titles are not just about communicating with Google but also with readers. So try and make them meaningful , readable and not in machine language. Nobody likes it.

5. Does your Page Title answer the users question? Use it as a Call For Action.

You know, people tend to like websites that address their concerns. So, if someone is searching something on Google and assuming that your site appears on the first page, check if the page title is answering the users question. Merely matching the search term just isn’t enough to convince the user.

For example, if the Google search query is -

“What is Karate ?”

A perfect title would be something like –

“Learn Popular Martial Art Karate – Get Karate Gear,Videos etc”

Rather than something like –

“Karate Videos, Karate Gear, Karate Masters, Blah Blah”

6. Make your Page Title different from others.

When writing page titles, keep in mind that there are ten other competitors thinking like you and doing the same thing as you to get their sites ranked. In order to “win the user” you have to be different. A simple solution is to check your keyword rankings on Google and find out what the top competition page titles are like. Then write effective and attractive copy within the 65 character limit.

7. Bring personality to your Page Titles.

You know, the idea is to get the users attraction while doing the search. If you will make your page title, attractive and meaningful (rather than spammy) then they will click/visit your page even when you’re not No.1 and this adds up to more “Google points”.

We have enough reasons to believe that if Google finds a new site getting all the clicks comparatively more than other bypassing the No.1-2 and 3 positions, then eventually you get brownie points and may possibly rank higher, because of higher user engagement.

Think over it.

8. Don’t repeat your page title on the meta description.

Again, this will definitely look spammy so keep away from any repetition. Instead make the meta descriptions complimentary and related to the page title. Please don’t just blindly go ahead reputing the same keywords.

Summary

Even if you had bad page titles, you can still show up on the first page with legit search engine optimization methods that support the website, like for instance relevant backlinks. So it doesn’t make sense to spam the titles in the hope that you’d rank for all of them on Google. Play them cool, don’t spam, and work around the other SEO methods. Results will show up.

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