Ten Timely Tips for Terrific Title Tags

(first published in Search Engine Watch on June 6th, 2014)

Much may have changed through the years in SEO, however the importance of the title tag can’t be overstressed. Here’s how to create title tags that state who you are, what you do, why anyone should bother to click, and why Google should care.

Ten Timely Tips for Terrific Title Tags

Title TagGoogle’s most recent results page layout changes meant more than just a search experience update. With the change came adjustments to how each result is displayed, which may almost certainly necessitate a refresh for a core search engine optimization (SEO) element: the venerable title tag.

So first off, for both the old and new hat SEO folks, what is the title tag and why is it important?

As Google explains:

A title tag tells both users and search engines what the topic of a particular page is. … If your document appears in a search results page, the contents of the title tag will usually appear in the first line of the results … This can help users recognize if the page is likely to be relevant to their search.

As Kristine Schachinger wrote on SEW:

Title tags are part of the meta tags that appear at the top of your HTML inside the < head> area. Think of title tags like the title of the chapter of a book. It tells people and search engines what your page is about. … A title tag is THE MOST IMPORTANT SINGLE TAG in your page. It tells the search engines what your page is about. It is still vitally important to your SEO strategy.

Much may have changed in Google over the years, but the importance of the title tag can’t be overstressed. It’s used (most of the time) as the clickable text in a search result, it is the headline to your ad, the start of a (search) conversion funnel, and a facet of internal linking.

Your website’s title tag says who you are, what you do, why anyone should bother to click, and why Google should care. It is your opening line when you first meet someone, or a welcoming greeting on your return. It is important. (Did I make that clear?)

Google’s Distinguished Engineer Matt Cutts likes titles, too:

Title Tags How Long Should They Be

Tip 1: The Long

Long Title TagMuch has been debated over the maximum length of a title tag. Review the mean recommendations of 10 different online resources and the average is around the 65-70 character mark.

However, this study proved that character count is a somewhat spurious measure, and that the sum of character’s width should be the primary driver of optimal title SERP display.

Fast forward to Google’s most recent redesign and you’ll see less is more, with the title displayed appearing to be 10-15 percent shorter.

Though some (or many) folks will disagree, I’m not as concerned with the maximum display limiter of the new display of the title tag enough to spout change for change’s sake, so with the caveats I mention below (See Tip 3) don’t worry too much about adapting title tag length to this latest update.

(Tip 1.5: Cutts also mentions in the video embedded above that Google may use all of a title tag to understand a page, so it’s best to make sure you cover the main topic(s) in the title tag, even if it is a little long for SERP display.)

Tip 2: The Short

Short Title TagSo if there’s a maximum length, is there a minimum number of characters or character width? Although there’s always discussion on title maximum, the minimum length of the title tag is a challenge of a couple of factors:

  • Why waste valuable real estate with a short title tag and an opportunity to inspire a click?
  • Google may decide to ‘fill in the blanks’ and add additional characters to the title tag from on-page content = you lose some control over what shows.

So from these two factors, I’d recommend you follow the maximum characters/width for the minimum, ensuring you’re meeting those criteria will make the shortness of titles a moot point!

FYI: This is probably too short of a title tag:

Woodchuck Short Title Tag

Tip 3: The Start

Start of Title Tag There’s nothing worse than missing an opportunity. The key to the search results is to start strong, lead with your best foot, and connect with the search query to inspire the click.

This doesn’t mean you must start with your primary keyword for the specific page (or your homepage) titles, but consider doing some informal testing with a few friends or colleagues to see what mix inspires the click more than others.

A review of the SERP can also help from a standpoint of not following the herd (see “stand out” below), and differentiating the first 25 or so characters to stand out from the crowd.

If everyone around you is calling out their brand first, then maybe you should be more conversational, such as:

More than 5,000 air filters in stock! Check out Fred’s Auto online.

Remember… title tags are an art and a science. Write accordingly. Be creative!

Tip 4: The Big Bold Bit

Bold Title TagIt’s not just bravado. Nothing draws the eye more than contrast.

Until Google adds additional color to the search results (I think it’ll be with us in the next 12 months, probably starting as a ‘color extension’ for paid ads), it’s a bold result that pulls us in as:

  • Psychologically, we see it as more important.
  • Subconsciously, our eyes are directed to differences.
  • Emotionally, we feel more confident in decisions that appear with signals of strength (our search queries are – roughly – matched in the bolding of results).

Anticipating users’ search queries and ensuring they’re included in your title tags (and meta description snippets), will potentially give you one or a few bolded words in your search display, driving greater visibility, differentiation, and hopefully driving a higher click-through rate as results appear to better match the user’s intent.

Table Tennis Bold Title

Tip 5: The Switch Hitter

Title Tag Switch HitterSearch [homes for sale] and you’ll see results with title tags that don’t include an exact query match. Why?

Google guesses, sometimes well, what you may be looking for based on a massive data set of prior queries, user interactions, and semantically related themes that encapsulate certain queries.

The Hummingbird update helps Google interpret both the search query and the match with your on-page content.

Understanding the meaning of a search query opens up the possibility of many more search queries matching your page and opens up many more possibilities in the SERP for bolding and highlighting of results. (When you searched for “homes for sale”, did you get “houses for sale” and “real estate” match via bold in the SERP?).

Leveraging thematic rather than exact match keyword-rich title tags can help capture more than just the query you thought.

List of music genres

Tip 6: The Big Click

Title Tag CTRA title tag, when used as the clickable part of a search result, should not only be clickable, it should inspire clicks through some kind of call to action.

I noted bolding as a facet of Google’s attempt to connect user queries with clicks, but there’s way more to clickability than just formatting. I’m one of the many who calls headline writing a true art because the element of inspiring clicks is about providing clear, concise, and connective reasons for user clicks.

The most simple is a ‘click here’, but it’s hardly inspirational, and in a world of SERPs where differentiation is key, building a subtle call to action into your result can be key to gaining more clicks.

I’ll add a big caveat here. I tend to push the most obvious calls to action into the meta description tag where there’s more opportunity (and more characters / visible space) to build a story, however short that story may be. But there are still some instances where the addition of an active verb, distinct command or user mandate, can fit snugly into a title tag.

Searches such as [Find a Tennis Partner] can give some idea of what to expect, and connect with a new-to-town chap like myself for a few sets.

Find a Tennis Partner

Tip 7: The Stand Out

Title Tag CalloutYou may not be top of the page, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be at the top of the mind! Don’t underestimate the ability of a title tag to help you stand out from the crowd.

As both major engines have alluded to, SERP click-through rates provide a valuable (initial) signal of relevance and user engagement, which in the short term gives you traffic, and in the long term may affect your rankings.

Standing out can be more than just adding CAPITALS to your title tag. Review the SERP for key queries to analyze the competition and try to differentiate within the confines of the tips noted in this article.

Trying to be different, attractive, and ultimately more clickable than the competition is the key when a higher ranking might be difficult. (Or from a well-positioned competitor closer to impossible.)

Here’s an amalgamation of results, one of which (in my opinion stands out a little more than the other). Which one would you click on?

Winston Churchill Quotes

Tip 8: The Databank

Title Tag DatabankThere are many ways to stand out, just as there are many ways to organize both the format and structure of your title tags.

One way to add differentiation and a little bit more ‘clickable-ness’ to your search result is through the inclusion of dynamic data. This is a tricky tip that takes a little development and planning, but the results can dramatically improve click-through rates.

Adding numbers of found results, items sold, or people involved can add both an element that attracts, and serves as a reminder to search bots of page changes that can inspire recrawls and faster indexing.

Although dynamic titles are often worth the bother of programming time, it does depend on your business and potential customer needs, if intent can be influenced through demonstration of scope and scale, then dynamic titles pulled from search or site data might be the ideal method to stand out and inspire clicks.

Tennis Dynamic Title

Tip 9: The Brand

Title Tag BrandingI’ve seen a fair amount of dissension in the SEO industry around “to brand or not to brand” your title tags. That highlights the fact that there is no definitive answer, and no proof of the inclusion of brand keywords in the title tag having any additional lift from an SEO standpoint.

You should rank for your brand. Period. And if you don’t, there are probably a lot more challenges ahead, including the possibility of a penalty, site availability, and any other number of SEO “deal-breakers”.

I generally recommend the brand be visible in the home page title, with consideration for numbers 3 & 4 above, either in the first position or right after the key differentiator keywords.

Remember that on brand searches – [navigational] where Google thinks the user is looking for your brand and nothing else – the search results is likely to reflect a truncated version of your homepage title tag anyway. Review the SERP and adapt accordingly.

Walkie Talkies

Tip 10: The Reality

Title Tag RealityGoogle can show whatever they like, and will. Do a brand search and you’ll see a massively truncated result. This is based on user intent on navigational queries when Google thinks they know what you’re looking for.

Following the best practices outlined above is designed to (hopefully) not give Google any reason to swap out your results, though we’ve certainly seen tests (and Matt Cutts confirmed above) that Google can – and will – show anything they believe is more relevant to the searcher, even if you believe your title tag is great, Google can always think otherwise.

Test.

Bonus Tip: The Power Tag

Title Tag Internal LinkingIn the 10 tips above I touch on the best or better practices for title tag formatting, SERP display, and click-through, but the lowly title tag goes far beyond just these.

Anchor-rich internal linking has long been an ‘old hat’ SEO fallback, leveraging anchor text as keyword reinforcement to search engines (and occasionally users) of what they should find at the other end of a link. But onsite the title tag is a powerful tool that’s almost certainly used by search engines to assess page topics and the logical connections between them.

In a naturally, user-centric website (one that offers the best experience for users), links between topically relevant pages should be related via like, similar, parent, child, and/or logical themes and hierarchy, offering title tags (as an indicator of page topic) as a perfect vehicle to underscore and reinforce page, topic and hierarchy relevance and association.

What are your thoughts on the 11 tips above? Still, think title tags are old hat?

For my 2019 gag, I thought a little coup des mot on the “World’s Oldest Profession” might be fun.

 


 

New Discovery Suggests Real Estate Is Actually The ‘New’ World’s Oldest Profession

Ancient Cave Paintings Shed Light on Early Real Estate

Last month a team of archeologists in Peru, uncovered what is thought to be one of the oldest cave drawings depicting the commercial exchange of property. The drawings themselves are formed from cochineal (Dactylopius) – an insect known to have lived more than 3,000 years ago – and the local indigenous chalk, and depict what scientists say is a prehistoric ‘agent’ trading livestock for a dwelling, in this case, thought to be one of the carved edifices in the Chachepoyas series of caves (east of Los Friopla township.)

 

 

How Old?

Initial carbon dating of some of the surrounding markings place the drawings’ creation between 20,000 – 22,000 years ago, not the oldest known (that honor goes to Maros, Indonesia,) but the earliest that shows some kind of exchange, and far earlier than monetary and financial systems.

Dr. Ramos Philippe, University of Lima, and his team were among the first groups on the scene to assess and analyze the paintings in their natural surrounds after reviewing photos and live video from the site. “It is quite extraordinary how these have survived uncovered for so long,” Philippe responded to journalists, “and the scene of the earliest commerce is exciting to understand pre-Inca trade that happened in this area of South America.”

What Do They Show?

The University released an overlay diagram emphasizing the more interesting aspects of the drawings, such as the dwelling, its new resident, a talisman of some kind that Philippe indicated might be a ‘trading icon.’ It also illustrates what is perceived as the selling ‘agent’ leaving the scene of the transaction with three animals – most likely representing a percentage of commission in both a symbolic and sign of value of exchange.

 

 

What’s Next?

When asked what’s next, Philippe was optimistic given the depths of the Cave series. “I am certain there are other treasures to uncover; at the very least a deeper understanding of the transactions that took place between these indigenous people and nomadic tribes who roamed the region 25,000 years ago,” he added. “Who knows if it stopped at real estate-like buying and selling? Perhaps there were cave inspectors and rudimentary mortgage negotiations too.”

Dr. Philippe’s excitement is obviously contagious in the scientific community. Both the National Geographic Foundation and Smithsonian Institute indicated they would be sending teams to investigate further after the first of April’s holidays.

This was an epic 2014 holiday post driven by hunger and some childhood memories.

As a recent trip to Japan underscored, I much prefer to buy them pre-cooked. (they have chestnuts in lots of food!)

Although it was tough to know what food it was in (see video at the end of this article!)

 


 

Chestnuts (Not) Roasting on an Open Fire

As a young lad, I remember gorging on chestnuts!

chestnuts-not-roasting-by-the-open-fire

There wasn’t less danger in the 60’s, but there was much less paranoia. So I recall sitting in front of our electric fire in England, placing raw chestnuts between the grill and waiting with excitement, like the small child I was, until the chestnuts popped. A fork was used to ungracefully remove the chestnuts (often ending up on the floor feet away), while ripping open the hot shells and then feeling our tongues burned as my siblings and I gobbled down the delicious meat.

Living in New York City years later, the corner stands of hot chestnuts and toasty pretzels often compelled me to go blocks out of my way, guided by the roasty smell and trail of shells littering the gutters — like a Hansel & Gretel forest trail.

Even today, the smell of roasting chestnuts transports me back to English winters and inspires one of my few culinary vices on Amazon Prime, where I order cooked, peeled bags of chestnuts frequently.

Fast forward to my supermarket trip last night.

Maybe it was the Christmas music playing from the loudspeakers on Granby Street (on my 200 yard commute), or the memories my mum’s birthday (yesterday) brought on, or maybe it was just fate that I spied a bag of raw chestnuts on my weekly food run.

Whatever fate transpired, I grabbed the bag with child-like eagerness, paid my $6.99 (wow chestnuts are expensive) and quickly drove home to cook.

A little sidebar about my cooking skills — put me in front of a website, and I can tell you what’s right, what’s wrong, and how to fix it in 15 minutes flat. Put me in front of a cooker, and I panic. It’s not that I can’t cook, rather that ingredients and I have a way of disagreeing about amounts; and cooking times are just a guide, right?

IMG_0184

I diligently followed the instructions on the bag label that said “to roast chestnuts, cut an X into the flat side of each with a sharp knife.” Although, many of the chestnuts had no flat side; many of the X’s ended up looking like T’s, and many succumbed to the sharp knife to become chestnut halves.

Challenge number one came on reading the second set of instructions: “roast at 400 degrees… on a rimmed baking sheet.” Hmm… the only baking tray I have came with the rental I live in; it’s a thin aluminum tray that I think is placed under a turkey to stop splashes. It would work though, my culinary-less brain told me, so I placed the chestnuts in lines as the oven pre-heated to the set temperature.

IMG_0177

Next came the timing issue. At 15 minutes, I grabbed a chestnut from the oven, and after playing “chestnut shuffle” to avoid burning my hands, found the nut wasn’t quite cooked enough. Fair enough, the ‘recipe’ said 20 minutes max, so I expected to have five more minutes before my chestnut feast.

So I dutifully waited the five minutes, tried another chestnut — same issue; so I let the tray sit in the oven for another 10 minutes while I finished watching the most recent episode of “The Flash” on Hulu.

Time to take those chestnuts out! By this time, I was hungry and salivating with the same expectations of the young child who had roasted by the electric fire.

Unfortunately, challenge three was a true cooking conundrum. I have no oven mitts. Umm, I have a MacGyvermoment as I grab a hand towel from the bathroom, place the baking sheet on the countertop and begin the chestnut selection process for the appetizer, main course and dessert.

First nut… a little overcooked, but that was okay; there was a whole sheet of yummy chestnuts to select from. Second nut… a little overcooked too, but probably because it was in the same area as the first, obviously.

 

IMG_0178

 

I am nothing but an optimist and went through the whole tray expecting just one to be cooked to perfection, even biting down on a couple that would’ve looked like a cowboy testing the gold coins of the old west if anyone had been there watching — and not rolling around on the floor laughing at my predicament.

Fast forward 30-something chestnuts, and I found nut-nirvana… one of these brown delights was indeed cooked to nutty perfection; and as I bit down on it, after clearing off the two plates of burnt, dry and tasteless husks, I was instantly back in our house in England on a blustery winter’s day, enjoying the treats of the electric fire. Yum!

 

IMG_0182

 

This morning as I came into the office, I announce that I would like to write a blog post, to share the insights learned from my “chestnut catastrophe,” so that everyone can ultimately enjoy the taste of roasted chestnuts, perfectly cooked, perfectly prepared, and perfectly delicious.

So here’s the link to buy them on Amazon. Enjoy!


For my 2017 gag – driven by the idiocy that was our competitors at the time “homes.com is a silly name” – I decided a rebrand was in order

 


 

Out With The Old, In With The New: Announcing trulowtor.com

 

Trulowtor

 

Dear Readers,

We are excited to announce that as of April 2016 Homes.com will now be known as trulowtor.com.  After both extensive research and closely monitoring industry peers and their naming strategies, the easy to recognize and memorable domain name of Homes.com will be retired, and the current search portal and services business will be rebranded to trulowtor.com.  In a recent Geek Wire article, a top real estate industry executive states, “if you picked a real word like Homes.com or something silly like that,  [the domain] actually costs [real] money.”  Taking this comment to heart, the team at Homes.com conducted exhaustive consumer research and determined that a less silly and more nonsensical name would make sense. Four separate focus groups from around the country picked trulowtor.com as a more serious name that consumers would eventually identify with, and potentially remember, all while improving the brand’s trust with consumers.

“We’ve been listening to the industry and have decided that the name ‘Homes.com’ is too silly and simply doesn’t make sense for a real estate portal offering almost 3 million homes for sale or rent,” said David Mele, president of the former Homes.com. “Based on our core value of ‘collaboration’ we worked closely with a sample of American homebuyers to arrive at the name trulowtor.com. It just makes sense to us, to them, and, over time, we’re sure it’ll make sense to consumers too.”

The memorable and easily recognizable name, Homes.com, will be offered for auction in the coming months, and with a reserve price set at one billion dollars it’s sure to garner the interest of domain aficionados, investors and Silicon Valley startups. “A name as obvious as Homes.com may be silly for real estate,” said Grant Simmons, VP of Entertainment at trulowtor.com, “but for a new venture in, say, medical supplies, it may make a perfect branding play.”

Anyone with a business can relate to the fact that branding is hard, and sometimes it takes a few swings before you really hit the ball out of the park. Some things that our focus groups took into consideration when brainstorming our brand’s future direction were: potential for growth (with no meaning in the English or American-English language, trulowtor was a strategic pick in the hopes of expanding our company internationally), bananagrams scores (trulowtor.com comes to a respectable 12 points), and our core mission.

“We really wanted something outside the box that would stick with our audience and represent our core values, and Homes.com just didn’t do that for us,” said DeVante Batts, Director of Millennial Engagement at trulowtor.com. “Homes.com was too plain, too in-your-face, and didn’t grab the mission of our business; to connect homebuyers and home sellers. People don’t know how hard it is to explain to others what Homes.com is. But trulowtor, oh, as soon as I say it people automatically connect the dots.”

Our market research suggested that the American public, particularly millennials, want to be a part of something special, something mysterious and unique. Initally naming our brand Homes.com was like picking the low-hanging fruit, so we decided to aim higher. When it comes to the core purpose of our business, we don’t want to just help you find a sensible home, we want to help you find the homes of your dreams, a purple unicorn, and we feel as though our new brand better reflects that.

Welcome to trulowtor.com.


About the website formally known as Homes.com:

Homes.com is a top real estate search destination, visited by more than 16 million consumers each month. Homes.com leverages search visibility to connect this in-market audience with real estate professionals in their local areas of interest. Homes.com offers the following real estate marketing and media services: brand advertising, property listing exposure and syndication, search engine marketing and instant response lead generation to help real estate agents and other real estate related partners succeed online. For more information, visit www.Homes.com.