HTML Title Tags

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a broad term that refers to the many different tactics used to rank a web site higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs). While optimization involves many complicated practices, many of the most key areas of focus for SEO are also the easiest to implement. A good example of this is proper use of the HTML title tag on your pages.

What is an HTML title tag?

A title tag is an element found in the header of a page written in HTML marked by the < title > tag. Chances are that you already knew this, but did you know that many web sites use one uniform title throughout the site? This practice continues despite the fact that a title tag is one of the first pieces of information that a search engine spider sees and the first thing that a viewer sees when your site shows up in a search engine results page. Proper use of descriptive titles not only helps your visitors determine exactly what information your pages presents, it will also give you a visible boost in the SERPs for the targeted keywords, assuming your other SEO practices are up-to-date and done correctly.

Title tags are meant to speak as to the page’s overall content. Good use of keywords in your titles is imperative and can be an instant difference with search engines. Web sites that show one uniform title for every page are penalized in the SERPs without fail.

While there are no pre-defined rules for HTML title tags, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) does recommend title tags be a maximum of 64 characters long and stipulates that titles may be truncated if they exceed that length. Despite this W3C recommendation, Google shows up to 66 characters in its search engine results pages while Yahoo! Shows up to 120 characters in its SERPs.

Based on the preceding facts, most SEO experts agree that using the first 66 characters to rank well in Google and the remaining 54 to rank well in Yahoo! is the best approach to title tags. Regardless of which search engine you are trying to please, effective use of title tags is a must for today’s web sites.