Crafting the perfect title tag
At Klikki we are working on the first building blocks of an open framework for best practices SEO. This is really exciting and in doing so we are turning on a number of ranking factors, trying to define the "best practice". One factor we have dug into is the infamous title tag. We all know how important it is to optimize the titles, but what characterizes a perfect title tag?
Our first working draft, dividing the practices of crafting the perfect title tag into 6 levels:
- Missing title tag / more than one title tag
- The title tag is unique, but the targeted keyword isn't included
- The targeted keyword is included, but the title tag is longer than 70 characters.
- The target keyword is included and the title tag is no more than 70 characters in length.
- The targeted keyword is included as the first word in the title tag, but the total length is more than 70 characters
- The targeted keyword is included as the first word in the title tag, and the total length is no more than 70 characters in length.
Where 1. would be the "worst practice" and 6. would be the "best practice".
So the question is what other SEO professionals think about this? Do you agree, or are there important aspects of the title tag missing in the list above? Maybe you would arrange them in a different way? Feel free to express your thoughts in the comments below.
Klikki AB
Comments
Yes this clearly makes the most perfect sense, but I think you could go even further by discussing the number of keywords it's ok to target within a keyword phrase.
If I optimise for 'webdesign widgets in London' am I also by default going to come up for 'webdesign widgets' in a broader search? Because if so it would pay to include a number of keywords in each title tag to try to satify the widest possible keyphrase. I guess what I'm trying to say is: Would a title tag for 'webdesign widgets' be more likely to come up in a search for 'webdesign widgets' than a title tag page for 'webdesign widgets in London'?
Some time ago upon reading a post about the 70 characters title "limit", I did some additional research (SEO blog posts and articles) and concluded that it is actually better to keep your page titles at some 66 characters (or under). Google, for example (as far as I can see), reflects page titles up to 67 characters, but not a character longer.
I think this is a great framework for understanding best practices surrounding the creation of a title tag. I haven't seen in it rank order like this before, but I think you've done a nice job.
Since you've asked for input, I think I'd add one caveat (at risk of stating the obvious) that should set the tone for writing a title tag. The caveat? Does the title actually describe what the page is about, or are we using keywords just because they have an attractive volume/competition ratio?
I'd rather get two visits a year from search engines on a specific article from visitors who are truly trying to find the exact content I have than 1,000 visitors who wonder why they landed on my site.
Not always the easiest conversation in the board room, but quality trumps quantity, and accurate title tags are a great way to filter out untargeted traffic.
End rant :)
I'd always make sure it's grammatically correct too, as it's the first thing a prospective client sees in the SERPs. That means no lists of keywords and no ridiculous repetition!
@Tom Freeman, thanks for the input. I guess if we take the discussion that far, it would be better to have one page optimized for "webdesign widgets" and another for "webdesign widgets london". Assuming you could get away with that without creating a problem from a user experience point of view.
Bernt Johansson
@Geno: If you ask me, the person who has done the most research in the subject might be "seomofo", http://www.seomofo.com/snippet-optimizer.html. And his conclusion was 70 characters.
But I am aware that there are a lot of different guides on the length of the title tag, and anything from 64 - 70 seems to be the usual answer.
Then on the other hand, in most cases it is probably better to have a more focused title tag, keeping it even shorter than that. From a strict ranking point of view.
If we are talking CTR in the SERP's, making use of as much as possible of the available characters is probably a good idea.
Bernt Johansson
@custom P, hmm you are onto something there. But then again maybe the analysis and selection of keywords and how to craft the content on your web site is a bit broader that just the title tag. But there should probably be a caveat regarding relevance some how.
Bernt Johansson
@Andy, that is a question that keeps popping up. What it all boils down to is if there is a difference in ranking between a page that repeats the targeted keyword, or just lists the keywords compared to those that use a grammatically correct title. And what the effect on CTR and conversion rate + branding it might have.
Bernt Johansson
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