Top Tips for Title Tags
- Written by NewsServices.com
The SEO community is buzzing with the recent news that Google changes around 60 percent of all title tags. Those working in search engine optimisation in Melbourne have long suspected that Google makes adjustments to title tags, but it has been difficult to pin down exactly how or why the search engine engages in this type of behaviour.
Well, around 6 months ago, Google released an official statement outlining changes they were making to their title generation system. This was further refined a month later based on feedback from users. According to the search engine giant:
‘Last week (August 2021) we introduced a new system of generating titles for web pages. Before this, titles might change based on the query issued. This generally will no longer happen with our new system. This is because we think our new system is producing titles that work better for documents overall, to describe what they are about, regardless of the particular query.’
At face value, this seems to be Google suggesting that they are doing website owners a favour optimising content based on user needs. But how does this new system work and what does it mean for the process of SEO? Read on to find out!
What is a title tag?
A title tag is an HTML element that dictates the title of a web page. Let’s break this down even further. A HTML element is a component of code that tells a browser how to interpret a document. In the programming language of HTML, the title tag looks like this:
The information that most website and business owners need to know is that a title tag is also a clickable element that appears in a search engine results page or SERP. What you choose to replace the word TITLE with in the above code is what will appear in Google’s search results.
<head><title>TITLE</title></head>
Why are title tags important?
Title tags are important for a number of reasons. To start with, if a potential customer finds you via a search engine, the title tag will be their first impression of your site. It needs to be neat, grammatically correct, and reflective of the page content.
The title tag is also what appears at the top of the tab window in your web browser. If you share a page on social media, the title tag tends to automatically appear as the link headline.
Title tags are therefore important from both a user perspective and SEO perspective. Including keywords in your title tag can help improve the quality and relevance of your leads. However, when discussing title tags, Google consistently warns against the practice known as ‘keyword stuffing’ where irrelevant and unnecessary keywords are placed in title tags to increase traffic.
Google’s new approach
Google’s new approach involves taking much more than just the title tag into account when creating titles. This is in response to a number of issues, including the fact that:
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* Title tags are often too long
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* Title tags are often stuffed with unnecessary keywords
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* Title tags are often not descriptive enough to be of use to the user.
The search engine explained that it will be making use of text outside the title tag, including page headlines, header tags (<H1> tags, often used as paragraph headings), and content that features prominently through an article or page. Links and anchor text might also be taken into account.
An update published approximately one month after the initial announcement saw Google share that title tags are used around 87 percent of the time, which is to say, they still form a very important part of your web development and SEO endeavours.
Optimising title tags
Google Search Central is a great resource for anyone interested in optimising their website and content. Of course, you can also seek pro-level assistance from a team that provides search engine optimisation in Melbourne.
Advice for optimising title tags from Google itself includes:
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* Make sure every page on your site has a title tag.
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* Find the right balance between concise and descriptive when creating title tags.
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* Avoid keyword stuffing. Having one keyword in your title can help from both a user and SEO perspective, anymore than that and you could be penalised heavily by Google.
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* Avoid repeating title tags within your site.
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* Consider expanding beyond a word or two to give a descriptive indication of the page’s contents.
As you might have guessed, optimising title tags or any other type of heading does require a certain degree of SEO and web development knowledge. If you’re unsure how to access the backend of your website or are worried about damage you might cause, speak with a professional.
When generating title tags or any other type of SEO content, be aware that Google is constantly making tweaks to its algorithms and search practises. These are always designed with the end-user in mind, so by prioritising user experience above all else, you will always be on your way to success.
