Do Title Tags Matter for SEO?

Title Tags are a critical element in your SEO efforts. They matter a lot. When I train my writing team on SEO, I start with the Title Tag because it helps frame everything else we talk about during the training.

What do Title Tags do? 

Title tags are the first introduction to your website or blog. They’re the first item a potential reader or customer will see, and it’s up to the Title Tag to entice them to click through to your site to learn more.

Do Title Tags Matter to SEO?

They’re also a very important SEO element for several reasons. First, Google’s search engine spider, Google Bot, crawls the code or page source information on your website or blog to learn what your page is about. Your Title Tag should include your keyword(s) in it and that’s a signal to Google as to what your page is about. Your Title Tag helps Google understand more about your website or blog.

Second, as I mentioned before, Title Tags are the first thing someone sees in the search results, and they help entice someone to click. This matters because Google knows which websites get clicks and which don’t in the search results. If your Title Tag leads to more clicks, Google will figure that your website or blog has information people find relevant for this type of keyword search, and it’s more likely they’ll show your site in the results again.

Keep in mind that this only helps you if your Title Tag is super relevant to your website page or blog post. If you create a Title Tag that has nothing to do with your page and people click but leave super quick, it will hurt you because you’ll have a high bounce rate. A high bounce rate indicates that your content isn’t what people are looking for when they are searching with those keywords, so your site is less likely to be shown in the future.

Why Do You Need SEO-Friendly Title Tags? 

If you want to build your business or grow your readership, then you need to have SEO-friendly Title Tags on your website or blog. You want to help Google understand what your website or blog is about so that they show you in the search results. You also want a Title Tag that encourages people to visit your website or blog to learn more.

What's the job of a Title Tag? 

Think of your Title Tag as the title of your story. It has to catch someone’s attention with very little information. You have up to 60 characters, including spaces, to catch their attention and convince them that your site has the information they’re searching for so they’ll click through. 60 characters may seem like a lot until you start typing. That’s when you realize that the last sentence was 56 characters. You have the equivalent of one short sentence to introduce someone to your brand and have them decide they want to click to learn more.

Now that you understand that Title Tags matter, you’re probably wondering what you should do to ensure that your website has a good one. Right? We’ll go through a few Title Tag best practices here so that your website is more SEO-friendly.

Title Tag  SEO Best Practices

•  Choose a unique Title Tag for every page on your website or blog
•  Do not use just the page name as your Title Tag
• Include your brand or business name in your Title Tag
•  If you have a local business include the city and potentially state information in your Title Tag
•  Keep your Title Tag under 60 characters, including spaces
• Use 1-2 keywords in your Title Tag
• Do not reuse the same keyword in more than two title tags

Recap, Title Tags matter a lot to your SEO efforts.

They also help with your click-through rates by helping people understand what your website is about and encouraging them to visit your site. Title Tags are believed to be a ranking factor in Google’s ranking algorithm. We’re not 100% sure what’s in the algorithm because it’s their secret sauce and they guard it closely. It’s reported to have more than 200 factors and we’ve heard that Title Tags are one of the most important ranking factors so yes, they matter to your business.

If you haven’t optimized all of your Title Tags on your website or blog, I want you to get started today. Choose a page and get to work. Request a copy of my free Beginner's Guide to SEO here and use it to get started with SEO today.

ProTip: avoid using the term “click here” or “click to learn more” in a Title Tag. It’s unnecessary and won’t help your rankings.