Why Website Title Tags Are So Important

Ever notice that in the upper left corner of the main bar of the Internet Explorer (IE) browser (most statistics report 84% of Internet users or higher are using IE) there is some text on every website you visit? You can also usually see the first portion of this text when you minimize the browser window. This text is displayed from the website's title tag - and it's vitally important to any commercial website. The title tag is easy to see in the browser, but it originates in the underlying code used to design the website. If you 'right click' on a website with your mouse you will see a display box with several menu items listed - if you click on 'View Source' - you will see a text display of the underlying code for that website. Here are the first few lines of underlying html code from one of our sites: As you can see, the title tag is proceeded by the <title> tag and ends with the </title> tag - the text that appears between these two tags is what will appear in the browser in the main display bar at the top. ''Okay - I get it!'', you might say. ''So I can put any message I want in there to sell the goods and services of my site''. That's true, but the title tag is important for a much broader reaching reason: search engines treat your title tag as an indicator of your site's main purpose, and therefore which categories and search terms to place it under. If you want to be found under a specific search term in search engines, you must include that term in your title tag. Let me sat that again so that you don't miss the importance of this: If you want to be found under a specific search term in search engines, you must include that term in your title tag. So how do you determine which search terms are best to include in your title tag? I would suggest using a great tool from Yahoo! Search Marketing which will help you find popular search terms that can help you generate more traffic to your site. They call it their 'Keyword Selector Tool' and it can be found here: http://www.valueweb.com/search_engine_optimization.htm) had this to say regarding a website's title tag, "The title tag is crucial to any optimization effort, as it is the first item on the website that is seen by the search engines. It is important that your targeted keyword phase be in your title tag as close to the front of the tag as possible. An effective title tag has greater implications to your website than just 'SEO', it has real marketing value as well. This is a simple method to set the tone of your website messaging. The title easily and quickly confirms what the user can expect from your website." A final word of caution - don't put everything under the sun into your title tag - thinking that you will benefit from having a vast number of terms listed. Position Technologies, Inc. (