Don?t Put Your Slogan in the Title Tag - Optimize Your Web Pages

Don't just put your slogan in the title tag when you formulate the copy of your website. The formulation of the title tag is the most important single aspect when you fine-tune your website:

1. It is what people first read when the listing of your site turns up in Google and other search engines.

2. It is the single element of your website that the search engines pay the highest emphasis on.

If you look up the source code, the title is what is between these tags: title and /title in the hard brackets. You can get the length of your title tag checked here: http://www.scrubtheweb.com/cgi-bin/webtools/meta-check.cgi

A typical slogan isn't stuffed with important keywords. My slogan for my stock photography business is "Stock photos from most of the World" and I am quite happy with that. It is honest and catchy which I like. But it isn't a good title for my website of A-Z Fotos: www.azfotos.com . Let us analyze that as an example.

The first two words of the slogan would be fine as the title tag because 'stock photos' are among the main keywords for A-Z Fotos. They are also fine because they are put in front of the title tag. Don't forget this so-called 'keyword prominence' in title tags.

They also function well when people are browsing down the listing after the search button has been activated, because people tend to look for exactly the word they wrote in the search box.

But the words 'from most of the' is absolutely useless. It is the kind of words that the search engines simply ignore because they are too common. The last word 'World' isn't any better. Nobody would search for the 'World'. - To say it mildly, it is too broad!

The alternative to your slogan is to formulate a title which includes your most important keywords for the specific webpage in such a way that it is attractive when the surfer browses down the search result.

For Google the title shouldn't be longer than 62 characters. Include your brand name if it includes keywords. Otherwise avoid it in the title unless it is very well known. As always be careful to choose relevant keywords and combinations of words that are often searched after. I always check at

http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ for the relevance of the keywords I have in mind. Be aware that many keywords are to some extent seasonal. Overture offers the frequency of searches in US of last month.

Searches in UK can be checked at

http://inventory.uk.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

Remember to make the title tag even more specific for your subpages, i.e. the pages after the home page (index-page).

Avoid having more than one page with the same title.

Get help from Soren Breiting to find ideas for your online marketing at http://www.ALLeMarketingTips.com and receive the latest really useful tips at http://www.StockPhotoNews.com (about pictures and marketing). Soren has written more than 20 printed books, and countless articles in journals and magazines about his special fields of interest. He is widely published on the web, too. Enjoy Soren's wonderful stock photos at: http://www.azFOTOS.com