One of the easiest things you can do to optimize a web page is to write a better title for it. Aside from writing great content, learning how to write better titles is the best thing you can do for your web page. I'll start with the basics of a page title and then move into more advanced discussion.
What is a web page title?
If you look at the top of your browser window, above the address bar and the menus, you will see "Writing Better Titles". That is the page title of this page. The title of a web page is specified by the title element Use a call to action. Remember that your title is the main draw to get people to click through to your site. Start of with your keyword(s) and then follow up with your call to action. Real important for search engine marketing. In a few words you should explain to your reader what they can gain from visiting your site. People should know instantly what they will be benefiting from the moment they click. Even informational sites can utilize this. For example: "Pepto Bismol - Learn how Bismuth Subsalicylate relieves your upset stomach." Avoid unneeded words. Some people like adding extra information in their title tags like article date, site section, or the URL. My advice is to remove anything that does not need to be there (for example: "Click here to head to My Page" could be reduced to "My Page"). If your page title is descriptive enough, there is no reason to add anything else. Avoid keyword stuffing. Plenty of beginning Search engines ignore widely used words like "and", "a", "the"...etc. These ignored words are called stop words. Instead of stop words, use separators like "-" or "|". This will save you title space and allow you to put more information into your title if needed.Use your own judgement.
These are a set of tips that can help you write better titles for your readers and for the search engines. Of course there are always exceptions, but hopefully this article provided you with some basic guidelines and gets you thinking on how you can improve your titles. Michael Nguyen blogs regularly atSuggest a Correction
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