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Why Are Title Tags Important In SEO?

Marketing

Effective on-site SEO is all about getting all of the ingredients just right, and understanding the different ranking factors that impact your results. Meta titles are an often overlooked but very important ranking factor that every SEO specialist in Sydney should know about. Learning how to correctly optimise them is an essential for best practice and good results.

What is a meta title tag?

A meta title tag is a snippet of HTML code that tells search engines and visitors the name of your web page. They will appear in various places, including in your search results and on the tab tag on your web browser. The purpose of them is to tell you and search engines what the content of a web page is all about in the most clear and concise way possible. They are like a newspaper headline, encouraging you to click so that you can read the rest of the story. They’re an important feature for usability, results and social media and are meant to entice you to read whilst also giving you a straightforward explanation of what to expect when reading on the page.

Titles tags are considered to be one of the most important factors in ranking, it is therefore very important that the keywords you want to rank for are included. Generally, you should try to include the keyword as close to the start of the title as possible to improve rankability.

How do I write a good meta title tag?

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Title tags are generally denoted in the head section of your websites HTML, here’s an example:

head

Title> Example Meta Title Tag

head

Most content management systems (CMS), including WordPress, will have easy edit options in their general settings when editing posts and pages however. It might be called a tagline when editing in your CMS.

When trying to write a good title tag there are a few things you should consider. Firstly, your chosen keywords, title tags should generally be kept short and concise, so there is typically only space for a primary and secondary keyword. Your primary keyword should be used as close to the beginning of your tag as possible, then you should use your secondary keyword and finally include your brand name.

It’s important to note that title tags should be written for humans however, not robots. Although they are important to search engines and should be formatted so that they are easily understood in search results, they should always read legibly and be easily understood by humans.

Generally they should look a bit like this: First Keyword – Second Keyword | Brand Name

A few other things important things you should consider are:

Tag length: Generally taglines should be no longer than 50-60 characters.

Duplication: Replicating taglines for different pages will result in keyword cannibalization and negatively impact your search results.

Keyword stuffing:  Don’t try to include too many keywords or repeat keywords, it will negatively impact results and hurt your legibility for humans, making them less likely to view your content anyway

Vary your H1 tag: A lot of people leave their meta titles and the H1 tag’s the same on their websites, but this is a missed opportunity to vary keywords and increase searchability by targeting different keywords.

Make it relevant: Your title tag should relate to your meta description and on-page content, if it doesn’t appear to it may negatively impact your search visibility, or google may rewrite your title tag, so make sure it makes sense!

So there you have it –there are a number of elements to consider when creating the perfect title tag!

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