It is recommended to use keywords in page titles itself. This title tag is different from a Meta tag, but it’s worth considering it in relation to them. Whatever text one places in the title tag (between the portions) will appear in the title bar of browsers when they view the web page. Some browsers also append whatever you put in the title tag by adding their own name, as for example Microsoft’s Internet Explorer or OPERA.

The actual text you use in the title tag is one of the most important factors in how a search engine may decide to rank your web page. In addition, all major web crawlers will use the text of your title tag as the text they use for the title of your page in your listings.

If you have designed your website as a series of websites or linked pages and not just a single Home Page, you must bear in mind that each page of your website must be search engine optimized. The title of each page i.e. the keywords you use on that page and the phrases you use in the content will draw traffic to your site.

The unique combination of these words and phrases and content will draw customers using different search engine terms and techniques, so be sure you capture all the keywords and phrases you need for each product, service or information page.

The most common mistake made by small business owners when they first design their website is to place their business name or firm name in every title of every page. Actually most of your prospective customers do not bother to know the name of your firm until after they have looked at your site and decided it is worth book marking.

So, while you want your business name in the title of the home page, it is probably a waste of valuable keywords and space to put it in the title line of every page on your site. Why not consider putting keywords in the title so that your page will display closer to the top of the search engine listing.

Dedicating first three positions for keywords in title avoiding the stop words like ‘and’, ‘at’ and the like is crucial in search engine optimization.

Let’s analyze and verify the importance of keywords used in the title tag. To do this we will use the following method:

Step 1: Select two competitive, two- or three-word key phrases with a high volume of search engine traffic.

Step 2: Gather title tag data for the competitive keyword for the top and bottom search result positions (position 1, position 5, position 10, position 300, position 400 and position 500 in Google’s search engine results).

Step 3: For the purpose of this factor with respect to the search query, we will devise our own rating system that is logical and acceptable. For example, if the targeted search term is “car insurance quotes” and the title tag used by the position 1 result is: “Auto Insurance Quote: Car & Motorcycle Insurance – Progressive,” all keywords are included in the title tag. This means you can find the key words “car,” "insurance" and "quotes" in the title tag.

Since the targeted search term is a three-word key phrase, we can rate the keyword presence with the following equation:

Keyword presence in title tag (%) = (Number of words in the title tag that match with each of the words in the targeted search term) / (Total number of words in the search query).

% Keyword presence = 3/3 = 100%

Step 4: Assess the keyword proximity in the title tag. Of course, it might appear more relevant that you can find an exact match of a search query in the title tag.

Step 5: The last factor to be assessed in the title tag is the keyword prominence.

Step 6: Compute the overall rating that assesses the keyword presence in the title.

I had a person in my office the other day looking to improve their Web site and their search engine visibility.

He said, “I had this idea, see, where we would put all the keywords we wanted to use over and over again in white text on a white background. Then, the search engines would rank us near the top but it wouldn’t clutter up our page.”

I explained that this was a great idea, presuming he had a time machine and could return to early 1997—the last time this technique actually worked.

Search engines are getting smarter all the time. If you’re looking for a long-term success strategy that will allow you to concentrate on building your business rather than chasing the next search engine bait-and-switch, you need to know where to place your keywords for maximum results.
Before You Begin

Placing the wrong keywords in the right places won’t help your search engine visibility. Start with a keyword analysis to determine which keyword phrases will be most effective on your site.

Tools like Keyword Discovery and WordTracker will help you determine how much competition you have for specific keywords, and how often people are searching for phrases. It will also prepare alternatives and variations of your keywords so that you can cast a wider net. Once you have your list of effective keywords it’s time to put them in their place.
Titles

Titles are one of the few things search engine experts agree on. They’re probably the most important variable for search engine optimization (SEO). And yet, you may never have noticed them before.

That’s because titles appear not on the Web page itself, but rather in the aptly named title bar. If you’re on a Windows machine, this is where you see the minimize, maximize and close buttons. If you’re on a Mac, it’s where the red, yellow and green buttons reside.

You should front load your titles with your best keywords. In other words, “Recycled Paper Goods from XYZ Corp” beats “XYZ Corp: Recycled Paper Goods” for a search on “recycled paper goods,” all other things being equal.

Additionally, you should make sure that each page of your Web site has a unique title. Not only is a duplicate title a missed opportunity, it can be a red flag to the search engines that want to avoid indexing duplicate content.

Finally, make sure your titles read well. Titles appear as the big, blue link on most search engine results pages, and if they’re an unintelligible glom of keywords, people are less likely to click on them.
Headers

Headers and sub-headers are the “titles” that appear in the Web page. They are usually bigger and bolder than the rest of the text, and summarize the themes of the paragraphs that follow. Most experts agree that they carry more weight than the rest of the body copy.

Headers should reflect the title of the page, but shouldn’t be identical. This is because a variation of the title can help you cast a wider net, and also because duplication of title and header can appear “spammy” or “over-optimized” to the search engines.
Body Copy

Your page-specific, keyword-rich body copy is also important. You should be using your keyword-rich phrases and variations, too. Your copy also needs to read well. Bold and italics can help the reader scan the material for the most important ideas, and some experts believe this can also affect the search engine ranking of the page.
Intra-Site Links

Search engines give extra-weight to the words used in an intra-site link (from one page to another within your site) and–to a lesser degree–the words around the link. So, instead of “learn more” or “click here”, use keyword-rich links such as, “Southern Maine Landscaping,” or “Pesticide-Free Gardening.”
Meta-Descriptions

Meta-descriptions don’t appear on the page, but rather in the source code. The only time people will see them is on the search engine results page under the big, blue title tag link.

There’s some debate on whether meta-descriptions help with your rankings, (I think they have little to no value,) but a well-crafted meta-description on a search results page may get a person to click on your link rather than a competitor’s. Think of this as a short ad; what will compel a Google-user to click on your link?

Like title tags, meta-descriptions should be unique and reflect the content on the page.
Meta-Keywords

Got that time machine ready? Search engines give no weight to meta-keywords anymore. We generally recommend creating a list of keywords and using the same list throughout the site because they’re a giant waste of time!
In Conclusion

Of course, there’s a lot more nitty-gritty work that needs to be done in a competitive niche, but by placing your best keywords in the right places you can greatly increase your search engine visibility.

If you’d like help in running a keyword analysis on your own site, or would like to improve your site’s search engine visibility, contact flyte today.

–Rich Brooks
President, flyte new media

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