What is a Title Tag?

Here is everything you should know about title tags & why they are important!

Isn't it so true that it is often the little obvious things in life that make the biggest difference. In fact, life isn't typically that hard to figure out. The hard part is doing the right little things over and over again. Like getting a good nights sleep, spending time with family, eating healthy food, drinking plenty of water, saying nice things, ...

The same is true with building a successful website. It is the little things that make the world of difference. One of those little things is the the title tag on a webpage.

For all the visual learners out there here is a video I made teaching about title tags. I basically go through everything that is written below but it is more entertaining to watch.

Here is the raw code of what a title tag looks like.  This is HTML code.  BTW – If you didn’t know, every website is made up of HTML code.  HTML is the basic language of the internet.

Raw Code:

<title>This Is My Title</title>

To properly explain where a title tag is located let me first explain the basic foundation of every website on the world wide web. Here it goes.

Websites are made up of something called tags. Almost every tag has an opening tag ( <tag> ) and a closing tag ( </tag> ). As you can see the only real difference is a forward slash in the closing tag.

A common term with tags and html is nesting. What this basically means is that the information that gets seen or used on a website is nested between an opening tag and a closing tag.

There is a set order to create the skeleton of a website. Below is that set order.

As you can see in the example above the <title></title> title tag is between the head tag.

This question is asked quite often and the answer is a resounding yes. Now with that answer I want to clarify that in the world of marketing online and SEO there isn’t a do this one thing and all is well. A healthy successful website is like a healthy strong body. It is a combination of many things working the right way for a long period of time.

Why is the title tag important for SEO?

Google uses the title tag as a key indicator as to what the page is about. So, if your home page title tag just says “Home” then you are missing out an a huge opportunity to tell Google what your website is about.

It is important because it is 1 key indicator out of 200+ that Google uses in order to properly categorize and rank a website.

Title tags are not just for Google. In fact, they are the most looked at tags on the internet. Yep, it is true. The title tag is read more often than the most amazing blog post that was ever published. You may be a little shocked to hear that. Let me explain and then you will understand.

Picture of a Bunch of Title Tags

Below is a screenshot of how Google display’s a websites title tag. The title tag is the main title of each search result.

The first search results title tag is “How far is 1 mile? | Yahoo Answers“. The second result’s title tag is “How many minutes to walk a mile for average person (treadm…“

Every time anyone search via Google they use the title tags to know what is worth clicking on based on their search query, needs, interests, etc.

Your Internet Browser’s Tabs

Have you ever noticed the tabs at the top of your browser. All of them have something written on them with a little icon. Did you know that the words come from the title tag. I have attached a screenshot below of a tab open for my website. You will see a portion of my home page title tag.

Another common question that people ask about title tags is how long should they be. Remember to always think about the end user. The internet wasn’t created for software or search engines. The internet and everything else in this world has been created for people.

That being said you should keep your title tags under 65 characters. Why? Because Google won’t show more than that, the tab on browsers won’t show more than that, and if the tag is too long it starts to be spammy and is a small negative factor. Why? Because in the past and even today people try to stuff keywords into the title tag and end up with a overly stuffed title tag that is really long.

Recap: Keep Title Tags Less Than 65 Characters Long

Here are some of the best things to keep in mind and do when it comes to coming up with each pages title tag.

1. Make sure your title tag accurately reflects that pages content and purpose.

2. Make them enticing to your end user. To know if it is enticing you have to know your end user. *Remember that you can get to know your end user a lot more as you analyze visitor behavior, actions taken on your site, etc.

3. Focus on key words and phrases but never be unnatural with the way the keywords are included or the by the amount of times the keywords or keywords are used. People and Google can smell spam a mile away.

4. Keep the title tags under 65 characters.

Overall your on page SEO will benefit from well thought out title tags. The right title tag can be the difference between ranking higher in major search engines but will never be the only reason for this.

Have you ever heard this phrase?

Jack of all trades, master of none

Remember that if you are trying to start a website or grow your business via the internet I will always recommend that you focus on what you do best. A good painter should spend as much time painting as possible. Why? Because that is where they make most of their money.

For example, although people can paint on their own and do their own online marketing I don’t recommend it. I don’t recommend it because everyone is limited by time and the more time someone spends multitasking the less productive they will be. At the end of the day it is about the ROI for businesses and I can guarantee that a business’ ROI will decrease when they get distracted from their most profitable tasks.

I have created a private Facebook group where I answer questions and share my articles on marketing. Feel free to connect with me here and ask me whatever you want.

I can’t promise that I will always be able to provide the answer for you but I am working on it everyday. I do own and operate a business and have many clients that I do marketing for.

How To Join?

Click on the link below and request to join. Once I get your request I will approve it. I invite you to participate in the group and always add value to the group and I will do the same.

→ Join Here: eWebify’s Facebook Group on Marketing

I can't remember where I first learned about title tags. It would be over 6 years ago. However, since then I have used and analyzed title tags hundreds and even thousands of times. I definitely know what I am talking about with this one.