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SEO & Content Marketing Revue

SEO & Content Marketing Revue

By Heather Lloyd-Martin

About Heather

Described as a fast-talking, fiery redhead, Heather Lloyd-Martin is a 20-year marketing veteran, a recognized author and considered the pioneer of SEO copywriting. Recognized worldwide as a first-generation search marketing expert, she has been training corporate in-house SEO copywriters and creating revenue-driving Web site content campaigns via her consultancy, SuccessWorks.

 

Online Video Marketing Deep Dive

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Most people know Web 2.0 is simply the evolution of the Internet into an environment of interactivity, reader participation and...



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I often get super excited when I see other businesses doing cool and innovative things in mobile. You read an...



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Is generating leads with LinkedIn proving frustrating and difficult? Probably because you're failing at tempting prospects to click more deeply...



Ruthless B-to-B Marketing

Ruth P. Stevens
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May 6, 2013

E-commerce opportunity is evolving fast, but only 25 percent of B-to-B marketers are taking advantage of it, according to a...



Triple Venti Dolce Data...

Vince Pickett
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May 1, 2013

I live in a relatively small, rural town of 50,000 residents spread over 61 square miles. My specific neighborhood still...



Who's Your Data?

Rio Longacre
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The Whole Magilla

Ken Magill
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It finally happened. Politicians' idiotic email practices had a measurable negative effect. "Maine Republican Party chairman Charlie Webster has admitted...



Denny Hatch's Blog

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The Internet Can Make You a Chump—Forever!
Sep 25, 2010

Trouble is, the Internet is rife with misinformation and if you get caught advertently or inadvertently propagating this nonsense in...



5 Tips for Top Positioning (And Converting) Page Titles

By Heather Lloyd-Martin | Posted on August 11, 2010
11
 
Wondering about a SEO content strategy that offers the biggest impact in the shortest time? Try tweaking your page titles.

The page title appears in the top bar of your Web browser and it's also the clickable link on the search engine results page (SERP)—the page you see after entering a Google or Bing search. From an SEO perspective, a keyword phrase-rich page title can help boost search positions. And from a conversion perspective, a well-written page title can tempt prospects to click on your SERP listing over the nine other competing listings.

In short, page title creation is a highly important SEO skill set. Here's how to do it:

1. Give your copywriter "control" over your page titles
It's easy to think that page title creation is firmly in IT's realm—after all, they're part of the back-end code and often considered "too techie for marketers to deal with." However, because the page title is the first thing people see after completing a search, it acts as an attention-grabbing headline.  Although IT can create a page title that "works," marketing can create top-positioning page titles that scream "click me" on the search engine results page.

2. Make your page titles unique for every page
Unless your company has an SEO-savvy IT department—or your Web designer knows her way around search engine friendly coding—your site may be lacking an important element: Unique page titles for every page. Take a peek at your pages and see if the page titles change, or if they're highly similar (or worse, exactly the same.) Yes, you will have to make every page title unique—which can seem like a daunting task. However, the good news is, you should see increased search positions simply by writing unique page titles and editing your content (assuming you write your page titles right, that is!)

3. Focus on your most important keyword phrases
You may be tempted to shove every important keyword phrase into your page title, hoping that one of them will "hit" and gain the rankings you've always wanted. For example, don't do something like this.

Garden supplies, gardening tools, gardening gifts, hand gardening tools, tools for gardeners, garden tools, tools for gardens: GardenNow.com.

From an SEO perspective, keyword phrase-stuffing your page title won't help you position. And from a conversion perspective, there are better ways to create your page titles that will gain more powerful results (more on that in a bit.) When you focus your page titles on the top two to three keyword phrases that you targeted in your writing, you'll see much better success rates.

(As a side note, make sure that you've done proper keyword phrase research before rewriting your page titles. If you're not sure about how to do this, a content marketing strategist can help set your keyword phrase strategy.)

4. Get over yourself
Many companies lead their page titles with their company name, screaming their branding all over the SERPs. However, that may not be the best option. If your company name is long—say something like Pristine Printing Services, you've already sucked up 26 characters (with spaces)—and best practices dictate that you want to keep the main "meat" of your page title to 70 characters with spaces. Consider placing your company name at the end of the page title—if at all. That way, you've focused your page title on the keyword phrases and the user experience—and you have more characters to create a compelling page title.

(The one exception to this rule is when your brand is so trusted—such as "IBM"—that it's more beneficial to lead with the company name.)

5. Give your prospects something to click for
Do you offer free shipping? Does your company offer a unique benefit? Because page titles are instrumental in getting people to click on your listing over the nine others on the SERP, how you say what you say is crucial. Instead of a page title like:

Garden supplies: Outdoor gardening tools from GardenNow

Consider something like:

Outdoor gardening tools and garden supplies—free shipping and 25% off retail

See what I mean? Just because you're using keyword phrases in your page title doesn't mean that you have to write something that sounds like a laundry list of keywords. Remembering the "page titles are like headlines" mantra should make them easier to write (and more powerful from a conversion perspective.)

Tweaking your page titles takes time, effort and a whole lot of creativity. However, all that work can result in some incredible returns. It's well worth it.

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COMMENTS

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Most Recent Comments:
art - Posted on November 16, 2010
Using the Title tag helps the designer/web page editor to clearly focus on one theme for each page. Clarity and Focus helps the end user and the search engines. Art
fashionlingerie - Posted on November 05, 2010
I will follow what you said and put it into practice to derive the fruits, thank you.
Nick Stamoulis - Posted on September 01, 2010
Page titles are so important and people tend not to give them the attention they need to be effective in the search engines. Page titles should be unique to each page.
Laura - Posted on August 30, 2010
Great post. I agree it is very important to provide users some way to dig through the site... Create curiosity... the longer the visitor stays on your site the more are the chances he/she is gonna buy something! cheers! Laura
anurag - Posted on August 21, 2010
In short web designer should keep in mind viewpoint of searchers and how a person using a search engine will glance thru the results. This is what exactly mentioned in this page. www.downloadformsindia.com
Elena - Posted on August 19, 2010
These are excellent (and fairly simple) SEO tips, thanks! A unique and expressive page titles really draw me to page if all the others look identical.
Joey Gray - Posted on August 14, 2010
Focusing more on keywords carries the weight in order to optimize the web. But the other recommendations given also equally important.
Nina - Posted on August 11, 2010
Great tips Heather. I like the way you give examples of ineffective and effective titles. Hopefully companies, will realize the importance of creating compelling titles that intrigues their prospects to click. That was a great refresher, now off to my website to check out my own titles.
Click here to view archived comments...
Archived Comments:
art - Posted on November 16, 2010
Using the Title tag helps the designer/web page editor to clearly focus on one theme for each page. Clarity and Focus helps the end user and the search engines. Art
fashionlingerie - Posted on November 05, 2010
I will follow what you said and put it into practice to derive the fruits, thank you.
Nick Stamoulis - Posted on September 01, 2010
Page titles are so important and people tend not to give them the attention they need to be effective in the search engines. Page titles should be unique to each page.
Laura - Posted on August 30, 2010
Great post. I agree it is very important to provide users some way to dig through the site... Create curiosity... the longer the visitor stays on your site the more are the chances he/she is gonna buy something! cheers! Laura
anurag - Posted on August 21, 2010
In short web designer should keep in mind viewpoint of searchers and how a person using a search engine will glance thru the results. This is what exactly mentioned in this page. www.downloadformsindia.com
Elena - Posted on August 19, 2010
These are excellent (and fairly simple) SEO tips, thanks! A unique and expressive page titles really draw me to page if all the others look identical.
Joey Gray - Posted on August 14, 2010
Focusing more on keywords carries the weight in order to optimize the web. But the other recommendations given also equally important.
Nina - Posted on August 11, 2010
Great tips Heather. I like the way you give examples of ineffective and effective titles. Hopefully companies, will realize the importance of creating compelling titles that intrigues their prospects to click. That was a great refresher, now off to my website to check out my own titles.