Title tags are always useful for us to understand the purpose of content. So does it also help search engines to understand the purpose of content to server better.
We'll share with you a perfect formula just to get a perfect attention of your users.
Make sure sure you are on top of these factors;
- Length of Title
- Keywords Coverage in Title
- Refrain Keyword Stuffing
- Google Rewriting Titles?
- The Perfect Title Formula
In On-Page SEO post we covered some basics about optimizing title tags but in this one we would cover it in dept.
Why are title tags important?
No matter how unique content you create. Title tags are like name plates of your house, it helps a user / person to find relevancy of details / content, by looking at it. If you keep your nameplate in an unorganised manner / unknown format / not too use friendly format, you might loose visitors / your users will find hard to relate it and that what we don't want. We want max users to click to our link and visit our website.
Title tags are once which appear in search results and appear in your web browsers. It helps your user to understand in short that what is content about / is it the content they are looking for. This decides whether your user would click on your link or your competitors link.
If you want users to click your link, then you should define exactly about your content and relevant keywords in your title.
Example: Let's say you are doing a google search and there are lots of results, still you choose to click only on few links right? It is because you look at the title tag which is enough for you to understand and relate with your needs.
That's what we are going to cover here and make sure that you select a perfect title tag for your page and rank higher in search engines with maximum clicks.
We'll go step by step. So let's get started without any delay...
Step 1: Length of Title
Believe it or not length of your title does really matter to your users and search engines as well. You just don't want too small title length and too bog title length. But, we want something precise which follows the standard and explains well about your content. Let's take an example below;
Example 1: Here are some more basics in SEO that you can use to rank higher in search engines (82 Characters)
Example 2: SEO - Rank higher with these basic tips (39 Characters)
One can always say that Example 2 is always better because it is short, precise and exactly what user would want to see. This is why length of title is important
Whenever you create a title it should be a minimum of 35 characters and a maximum 60 characters, explaining exactly what is the content about. Keeping a short title would not help search engines to understand purpose of your content and creating long title would lead to trimming.
So your title should not be too short / short and not too long / long.
Always remember one thing that if search done by user is a question then your title should be the answer of it.
Step 2: Keywords Coverage in Title
Now that you know how exactly the length of title should be you should focus on using right keywords in the title. Yes believe it or not, it's not that you have to use keywords only in your post content. But, you should also use keywords in your title to make it rank higher.
No we're not talking about stuffing keywords, it's that we should use one precise keyword / keyword trail that describes your content followed by a supporting keyword to your keyword and then comes your brand name.
Avoid using titles like these;
- Syntax:your_blog_name | your_main_category or Supporting Keywords - your_main_title
- Example: StackMantle | Site Optimization or Ultimate Guide | SEO - Introduction to SEO
- Syntax:your_brand_name | major_product_category - minor_product_category - your_product_title
- Example: StackMantle | Electronic Appliances - Laptops - Red wireless mouse
Your main title should have keywords describing the post which would come first, followed by your category name or supporting keyword and then comes your brand name. Research suggests that you should use the keyword within 1st three words of your title tag for better results. Let's say you are creating a blog / post regarding On-Page SEO then your title should look something like below;
From the above example your can see that we have mentioned a Correct SEO Optimized title because it has the keyword within 1st three words, then it has a supporting keyword and then comes the brand name. It is short, sweet, easy to understand and precisely describes the purpose of content. We have covered a number of keywords in the title without stuffing it or look it complicated for users and search engines to understand.
Step 3: Refrain Keyword Stuffing
As there is no penalty for Google or any other search engines to have non optimized title / long title. But, Stuffing keywords in the title won't help you rank higher. It would end you up not ranking / not getting your results listing in search results as expected.
You should always avoid using titles that are just a bunch / list of keywords or repetition of the keyword again and again. As we said already titles like these seems to be very confusing and not letting the user decide what the content is about. So why would user go there. Users and search engines are smart. Search engine displays the results and users decides which result to click.
Example: You have a name plate on house which says "XYZ Villa", you cannot keep a nameplate like "XYZ VILLA, Town's best Villa, Awesome Villa" because it does not make any sense. It just confuses the person.
Step 4: Google Rewrites Title?
Yes, in some cases google rewrites your title tags for better experience, we have not encountered yet because we try to use all the best and standard practices to keep title tags optimized. However google search algorithm is a bit complex to understand as it always alters content as per users search result history.
Don't worry that does not mean that Google will always replace your title tags or something like that. Let's take an example below;
"You have a title as On-Page SEO - Ultimate Guide 2020 | StackMantle"
Now let's say somebody searched about StackMantle previously or somewhere nearby, so next time if any search results appear which is related to your brand it would appear something like this
"StackMantle - On-Page SEO - Ultimate Guide 2020"
If you clearly observe the Brand Name is shifted from last to first, this is how Google rewrites sometimes as per users. Another scenario could be that you have used lots of keyword stuffing but yet you have a good amount of traffic for that particular post then Google would automatically rewrite the title for a better user experience.
As Google strives to work purely on user based experience is this one of the factor that Google uses.
Step 5: The Perfect Title Formula
Formula seriously?? Yups, now that we have learnt best practices of creating a title tag. Here's a bonus, we would share with you the formula for a perfect title tag which would help you rank higher and provide better results.
The Formula: Trigger Keyword + Supporting Keyword + Promising or Eye Catcher
From above visualization you can it's much clear how to use the formula now ;-) Use and let us know your thoughts if it works for you.
Conclusion
So we learnt what is title tag optimization and why is it necessary. We saw what should be a perfect title length for a better user experience. We also learnt how to make optimal use of Keywords in title tags and refrain keyword stuffing. Moreover we learnt that does Google rewrite our title tags and if yes what are the scenarios. Last but not the least we also grabbed a quick formula to generate an SEO optimized title tags.
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