Importance of Title Tags in Search Engine Optimization

The title tag is the text that appears at the top of the browser window (in Internet Explorer, it's usually white letters on a blue background). It's very important in search engine optimization (SEO) because it's one of the mostimportant factors in achieving high search engine rankings. In fact, fixing just the title tags of your pages can often generate quick and appreciable differences to your rankings. And because the words in the title tag are what appear in the clickable link on the search engine results page changing them may result in more clickthroughs.

Search Engines and Title Tags

Title tags are definitely one of the "big three" as far as the weight given to them by search engines; they are equally as important as your visible text copy and the links pointing to your pages.

You can put your company name in the title, but you will benefit more from adding good descriptive phrases which contain your most important keyword phrases and office location.

Title Tags Should Contain Specific Keyword Phrases

For example, if your practice name is "Anxiety Center of New York", you should use something like "Anxiety Center of New York, Psychotherapy, Counseling and Stress Reduction Workshops."

You want your site to appear in the search engine results for searches on phrases such as "New York counseling" or "Psychotherapy New York". You can use up to about 10-12 keywords in your Title Tag.

Remember, the text of your Title Tag is what will appear in Google or other search engine results pages - so be sure the phrases make sense to someone reading them. Try to write compelling titles as opposed to simply factual ones. Many SEO consultants also recommend including benefit statements as well. For example, you might try "Control Your Anxiety and Stress at Anxiety Center of New York, Psychotherapy and Counseling". In this way your search engine results listing can serve as a mini-ad for your practice, following BOP principles.

You can also test different title tags to see which rank higher and which convert better.

Lastly, try to limit your Title Tag to 64 characters or less for optimial results.