Google and title tags

[moll]

Does anyone have any info on how much precedence Google puts on title tags? I remember reading that Google no longer reads meta tags... so the title tag is important. Also, what is the optimal length of the title, etc.

Thanks!

[ihelpyou]

Welcome to the forums moll! :hi:

You are right. Meta tags mean little to Google. The title tag tag is important. I would not worry too much about the length. Google will cut it off anyway so even up to 90 characters is okay.

Be sure to make a signature if you want hits from here. :up:

[usbnuts]

Well, my suggestion is not just to think like a computer.

It's the people who will eventually click on your links.

So, writing a good title tag is a marketing aspect. Your title tag, the first thing readers scan, has to convince the people that your page is what they need.

For example, if you have a product to sell, instead of just naming your product. Put some words that intrigues your targeted audience while keeping good keyphrases. Make sure the keyphrases go first.

From my experience (i'm no expert in this area), title tags are not as important as link popularity. Pages that get good rankings are those that have good links from Yahoo, DMOZ.

I would put the time to get your pages listed on DMOZ and then Yahoo. The return of investment (your time) would be higher.

[ihelpyou]

Good post usbnuts!

Other comments anyone?

[Mel]

Hi all:

I agree with USBnuts - While the search engines are placing less and less importance on Meta tags (and even on content to some degree) the Title and Description meta tag are important to your CUSTOMERS and thus to you.

Many search engines use the title tag as the heading in their search results with the description underneath. Even if you do get good rankings, if the content of the search results does not convince your potential customer (the surfer) to click through to your site that #1 ranking does you no good.

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the technicalities of creating, publishing, and obtaining good rankings for our sites that we forget that there are still some old fashioned ways of doing things that work well on the web - good copywriting is one of them.

The RankWrite newsletter is a great resource in this area, and I would suggest that anyone serious about writing good web copy should get it delivered to their mail box weekly - after all its free and that is a rare thing these days.

[Mel]

Sorry Moll:

You asked, among other things, the "optimal length of the Title tag" for Google. Google reads up to 90 characters in the title tag, and likes to see the same keywords there as in the page content. I would use all the characters allowed.

[usbnuts]

Yea, RankWrite is a good thing, but all the content is broke up. You get a little of something every week.

However, when we designing sites, we need all of the knowledge on how to fully optimize on a site.

The blurb for each search engine in FreeMoneyServices is great as a handbook for webmasters.

I think what I need is to know the dfiferences for search engines. I think I know enough on how to optimize a page.

If you write a article naturally, keyphrases often pop up without optimization. For my site, that is. It's just USB USB USB USB. heh

Yahoo and DMOZ will add ya links and Google will go crazy on your site and give you a good ranking.

[usbnuts]

Mel,

"Google reads up to 90 characters in the title tag, and likes to see the same keywords there as in the page content. I would use all the characters allowed."

I believe this is the least we have to do to get listed, right?

It doesn't make sense to have keywords in title tag without some relation with the actual content.

[ihelpyou]

Many good points made in this thread.

We have to remember Google considers many different things in their algo. It so happens that the title tag and your content are the two most important.

...... usually that is.

This refresh is still not done yet and Google is tweaking. It is hard to say what is what right now as far as the algo. We shall see though....

[Mel]

Hi USBnuts:

The point I was trying to make (similiar to yours) is that not only do we have to write our pages to include those things that the search engines want to see, but we have to write our pages to convice the readers of those pages (our potential customers) first to click through to our pages and then to buy from us.

Just as a small difference in wording can change a good printed advertisement into a great advertisment, so a better written web page will greatly increase your conversion rate.

The advent of the web has not decreased the need for good copywriting, if anything it makes it even more important. While you have to spend considerable time with your New York Times to find articles that are of interest, the search engines deliver links to hundreds of web pages on topics of interest in milliseconds. If the reader of the New York Times doesn't like what he reads he might have to spend another fifteen minutes browsing before something else strikes his fancy, but the surfer has hundred of pages on the topic only a click away.

[JuniorHarris]

Very good points all!~ Having a great title is very important as noted, since it will most often be used for listing the page. Getting top listings is only half the battle, as we still need to convince the user to actually click the listing!~ :)

[Advisor]

Just a quick comment regarding Rank Write. Yes, it's "broken up" in the respect that you get a little bit in the newsletter each week. However, have you checked out the Web site? There's not only a full, searchable archive of every newsletter we've ever put out, but also all of the articles we've every written. These cover nearly every SEO subject. You might want to check out my article All About Titles at: http://www.rankwrite.com/allabouttitles.htm

Good luck!

Jill

[Mel]

Hi USB Nuts:

If you need a source for search engine details there are many.
As mentioned Doug has writeups on several of the search engines on his frremoney site, and you can also click on the link in my signature and then go to the Search Engine Data secton for general infromation and comparasion tables.

[MsSearch]

In discussing Google and the use of Title tags and META tags...

The Meta description tag is important however, in Google search results, the descriptions that appear are usually pulled from the actual web page body content. Please correct me if I'm wrong but Google does not use the Meta description. Most of the descriptions listed in the results are bits and pieces of body content where the search term is found.

[Advisor]

I think Google also uses some info from the ODP/DMOZ listings. But you're right, they don't usually use the Meta description.

Jill

[ihelpyou]

Very correct MsSearch!

Google could care less about the description tag, but of course, that tag is kind of important to some other engines, just not Google.