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Title tags are some of the most fundamental building blocks of SEO success. If your tags are missing, if they’re duplicates, or if they’re simply not written well, it could compromise your SEO results in a big way—so what do you need to know to get your title tags right?

Defining Title Tags

To begin, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page about what title tags actually are.

Basically, this is an HTML tag that appears in the heading section of each Web page, offering some clue or context as to what the page is all about.

Moreover, the title tag appears at the top of the Web browser, as well as on the Google search results page. Beyond those two places, it’s not actually visible to your website visitors, which is why they are so easily overlooked—yet title tags provide valuable information to the search algorithms. Simply put, they allow you to tell Google what your website is all about.

Writing Effective Title Tags

As for writing good title tags, there are a few factors to consider.

Context

First, you need to know where the page in question fits within the broader context of the website. For instance, the title tag for your About page will probably be a little different than your title tag for a product page.

We recommend starting with a basic site map, showing your page hierarchy. Title tags for top-level pages, like the home page, will need to be fairly broad. Once you get deeper into the site, your title tags can become more specific.

Content

You need to think not just about your website as a whole, but also the content of the page in question. Remember: A good title tag gives a clue what the page is about.

As such, your title tag should be assembled from words, keyword phrases, and ideas that are drawn from the page content—and they should offer a big picture of what the page topic is.

Originality

You never want to have duplicate tags—even if you have two pages where the content is very similar. Duplicate tags can actually incur SEO penalties, so make sure yours are always distinct from one another.

If you do have duplicate title tags, you’ll be able to tell from Google Search Console. We recommend taking a minute to review your tags now, and rewrite any duplicates you spot.

User Intent

Another tip: Don’t skip your keyword research. It matters for all phases of content creation, and that includes title tags.

In particular, make sure your title tags include some keyword that match search user intent. What are people looking for when they come to your site? What are the goals they’re trying to accomplish? Those are helpful questions for framing your title tags.

Length

A common question is how long should title tags be? The answer: Around 70 characters. If you go beyond that, Google will truncate your title tag—which means your users won’t see the whole thing on the SERP.

Also, make sure you get important words and phrases at the beginning of your title tag, whenever possible.

Optimize Your Content—and Reach More People

Optimizing your title tags is a small yet crucial way to reach more users. To learn more about boosting your visibility and improving your outreach, contact the Driven2020 team. We’ll help you see the big picture, and to understand how on-page SEO is just one tool for making your website a sales machine.

It all starts with a website audit; contact Driven2020 to schedule your audit today!