Are Your Title Tags Geared Towards Robots?

Here’s something to try, look at a single page on your website, it doesn’t have to be the homepage. Once you have selected a page, take a long careful look at your title tag….

Here is an example I found buried deep in the search results for the term “Photo Frame” on Google:

“Photo Frames Direct Photo Frame”

Now, many people will not see anything wrong with this title tag and some SEO companies may even suggest this as a good idea but this is just a wasted opportunity.

The main focus of the site in question here is indeed photo frames so it is at least relevant, the problem here is that this particular title tag is being used only to manipulate keywords in an effort to fool the robots (search engines).

Including the singular and plural versions of the same keyword is not going to buy you any favour with the engines, they are quite capable of seeing the correlation between singular and plural phrases, without being spoon-fed the information by simple keyword manipulation.

To make matters worse, when/if a searcher sees this website’s entry in the search results they are confronted with a title that doesn’t read well and is slightly confusing to look at – probably best to click on someone else’s listing. This is very likely to happen given the appalling description accompanying the advert that reads:

“photo frame, photo frames, birthday photo frames, anniversary photo frames,
picture frame, standard size frames, christening photo frames, wedding photo…”

If your website looks anything like this then consider re-writing it as soon as possible. Starting from today, write your title tags for human beings, robots can’t buy your products, visit you business premises or pick up the phone and ask you a question… well, not yet anyway!

Keywords are still important and it is still best practice to include the keyword or phrase as close to the start of the title tag as possible, just don’t sacrifice readability by doing so. Tell your potential visitors what you have to offer, and give them a reason to click on your advert. Even small changes to the wording of an advert can have dramatic effects on click-through rates and it is not uncommon for a lower placed advert to outperform a higher ranking page because of a superior title.

What Should The Title Tag Look Like?

My personal recommendation for writing title tags is to write a short sentence that looks and reads like a newspaper or book title whilst remaining on-topic and keyword focused, this isn’t always possible but this should be your target, options for this particular site could include:

1. Photo Frames Direct – Buy Online At Great Prices    [straight to the point, no confusion]
2. Buy Photo Frames Online For All Occasions    [includes the buy keyword modifier]
3. Photo Frames & Picture Framing Products    [adds a variation of the key phrase without resorting to repetition]

There are many different options available, the three shown above provide some useful hints to the searcher about what might be available on the site and encourage a click. No matter what changes Google, Bing or any of the other search engines make to their algorithms, those titles are unlikely to be ever penalised for over optimisation or keyword stuffing.

Now is your chance to write the best title tags in your market sector, potentially gaining positions in the SERPS whilst at the same time helping to future-proof them. So have a good look at those all important 70 characters at the top of your web browser and ask yourself if they are really good enough to attract a click from a real human being.

JP – SEO IGNITION