GOOGLE SEO part4 ~ 24helpzone

Page Title Tag Best Practice

<title>What Is The Best Title Tag For Google?</title>

The page title tag (or HTML Title Element) is arguably the most important on page ranking factor (with regards to web page optimisation). Keywords in page titles can HELP your pages rank higher in Google results pages (SERPS). The page title is also often used by Google as the title of a search snippet link in search engine results pages.
For me, a perfect title tag in Google is dependant on a number of factors and I will lay down a couple below but I have since expanded page title advice on another page (link below);

A great page title for Google is highly relevant to the page it refers to. It will probably be displayed in a web browsers window title bar, and will probably be the clickable search snippet link in Google, Bing & other search engines. The title element is the “crown” of a keyword targeted article with important keyword, or KNOWN SYNONYM, featuring AT LEAST ONCE, as all search engines place a lot of weight in what words are contained within this html element.
Last I checked Google displayed as many characters as it could fit into ”a block element that’s 512px wide and doesn’t exceed 1 line of text” although this, too, is subject to change. THERE IS NO EXACT AMOUNT OF CHARACTERS any optimiser can lay down as bullet proof best practice to GUARANTEE your title will display, in full, in Google. Ultimately – the characters and words you USE in your page title will determine IF your entire page title will be seen in a Google search snippet – and THAT is even if Google uses your page title as your search snippet. Google used to count 70 characters in a title – but not in 2015. If you want to ENSURE your full title tag shows in Google SERPS, stick to about 65 characters. I have seen ‘up-to’ 69 characters recently – but as I said – it depends on the characters you use. People use too many devices and Google changes things so much that it’s a thankless task to lay down a best practice for the exact amount of words or characters to use in your page Title Element for it to display properly ALL THE TIME. It was designed, by Google, to be this way.
Google will INDEX perhaps 1000s of characters in a title… but no-one knows exactly how many characters or words Google will actually count AS a TITLE when determining relevance for ranking purposes. It is a very hard thing to try to isolate accurately. I have had ranking success with longer titles – much longer titles – Google certainly reads ALL the words in your page title (unless you are spamming it silly, of course). I often pick a long descriptive title over a shorter title. I just remember my important keyword phrases should be in the first few words of any Title Element.
You can probably fit up to 12 words that will be counted as part of a page title, and consider using your important keywords in the first 8 words.
Some page titles do better with a call to action – one which reflects exactly a searcher’s intent (e.g. to learn something, or buy something, or hire something. Remember this is your hook in search engines, if Google chooses to use your page title in its search snippet, and there is now a lot of competing pages out there!
When optimising a title, you are looking to rank for as many terms as possible, without keyword stuffing your title. Often, the best bet is to optimise for a particular phrase (or phrases) – and take a more long-tail approach. Yes – that does mean more pages on your site – that’s the reality in 2015. Content. Content. Content.
The perfect title tag on a page is unique to other pages on the site. In light of Google Panda, an algorithm that looks for a ‘quality’ in sites, you REALLY need to make your page titles UNIQUE, and minimise any duplication, especially on larger sites.
I like to make sure my keywords feature as early as possible in a title tag but the important thing is to have important keywords and key phrases in your page title tag SOMEWHERE.
For me, when ranking in Google is more important than branding, the company name goes at the end of the tag, IF I ADD IT AT ALL, and I use a variety of dividers to separate as no one way performs best. If you have a recognisable brand – then there is an argument for putting this at the front of titles.
I like to think I write titles for search engines AND humans. Mostly for Google though…
Know that Google tweaks everything regularly – why not what the perfect title keys off? So MIX it up…
Don’t obsess! Natural is probably better, and will only get better as engines evolve. I optimise for important key-phrases, rather than just keywords.
Generally speaking, the more domain trust/authority your SITE has in Google, the easier it is for a new page to rank for something. So bear that in mind. There is only so much you can do with your page titles – your websites rankings in Google are a LOT more to do with OFFSITE factors than ONSITE ones.
Also bear in mind, in 2015, the html title element you choose for your page, may not be what Google chooses to include in your SERP snippet. The search snippet title and description is very much QUERY dependant these days. Google often chooses what it thinks is the most relevant title for your search snippet, and it can use information from your page, or in links to that page, to create a very different SERP snippet title.
Click through rate is something that is likely measured by Google when ranking pages (Bing say they use it too, and they now power Yahoo), so it is really worth considering whether you are best optimising your page titles for click-through rate or optimising for more search engine rankings.
I would avoid keyword stuffing your page titles as it is an easy thing for Google to detect and mark you down for – if they care.
Remember….think ‘keyword phrase‘ rather than ‘keyword‘, ‘keyword‘ ,’keyword‘…optimise for very specific key phrases and very specific key phrases that are highly relevant to them.
A good page title will not necessarily make a thin, low quality page rank better. Low quality pages need improved to get the most out of your page title.
Google will select the best title it wants for your search snippet – and it will take that information from multiple sources, NOT just your page title element. A small title is often appended with more information about the domain. Sometimes, if Google is confident in the BRAND name, it will replace it with that (often adding it to the beginning of your title with a a colon, or sometimes appending the end of your snippet title with the actual domain the page is on.

A Note About Title Tags;

When you write a page title, you have a chance right at the beginning of the page to tell Google (and other search engines) if this is a spam site or a quality site – such as – have you repeated the keyword 4 times or only once? I think title tags, like everything else, should probably be as simple as possible, with the keyword once and perhaps a related term if possible.
I always aim to keep my html page title elements things as simple, and looking as human-generated and unique, as possible.
I’m certainly cleaning up the way I write my titles all the time. How do you do it?