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9 Tips to Creating Compelling Title Tags

Just as fish take to water so naturally in the aquatic world, your task in the online world is to attract prospects to click on your company’s search engine listings. I believe that the key to top rankings is to select a title tag/keyword that will earn you higher profits monthly, over and above the cost of achieving and maintaining your ranking. Because, if your keyword is wrong, you may just end up spending several thousand dollars to achieve a top 10 page rank, only to discover that the top ranking is not bringing in the desired business.

Hence, your title tag must be compelling enough to attract prospects to click on your company’s search engine listing. Title tags are the most critical element of your search engine listings. As they’re the first and perhaps the only sentences users will read prior to scanning through the search listing page for anything that attracts their attention.

Most often than not, title tags are created by web designers, who are generally clueless about the engaging effect of Google snippets, as well as the English language. Listed below are 9 tips to create compelling title tags to draw quality traffic to your site.

Engage at entry point

I did a random search for ‘affordable sport shoes’ on Google. Look at what the top 10 search results threw up:

Search no 1: Useful Links – FindMyShoes :: Womens Shoes :: Mens Shoes :: Ladies …

Search no 2: Sport-Shoes – Company from australia -Manufacturer, Supplier …

Search no 3: Pauls Warehouse

None of the three search results above are enticing enough to make me click through them, simply because they don’t answer my search query. The first search result gives no indication of whether sport shoes are being offered. While the second search result doesn’t indicate affordability in the sports shoes on offer. The third search result merely makes a mention of the company’s brand name.

Let’s now recreate those title tags to read:

Search no 1: The $15 sports shoes that all kids want to wear!

Search no 2: Does your sports shoe offer durability with style?

Search no 3: Nike Sports shoes: Affordable; guaranteed, FREE home delivery within10 days

In all probability, you would click on these compelling titles. You must start equating the functioning of your search engine listing to a television commercial. Look at it as a do-or-die situation for you to make an impression on your target audience or for them to click straight through to your competitor’s website. I believe that an engaging title tag is as important as a high search engine ranking, as it can cover up for lower search engine rankings. However, holding no 1 position is obviously good, but if it doesn’t draw prospects further into your website, the whole effort is indeed a failure.

Emphasise brand identity

Research shows that most search engine users dig further down the rankings to click on a ‘reputed’ brand and will pay more for a branded product than an unbranded item. It makes sense to include your brand or website name at the beginning or end of every title tag to enable searchers to figure out where they’re heading and encourage return visits.

Keep 65-character title limit

Instead of breaking off the last word and replacing it with a ‘…’, it is prudent to keep the 65-character title length limit (this includes spaces too). Search engines keep fluctuating on stuff and Google now supports around 70 characters in several instances.

Include keyword phrases

If your keyword research cites a specific keyword as being valuable in capturing searches, include it prominently in your title tag. While it need not feature as the prime word, it should ideally incorporate the semantic and be the focus of your title tag.

Divide and rule

When dividing the title tag, i.e. the main brand from the description, you must create breadcrumbs by using the ‘|’ symbol (aka the pipe bar) or the arrow ‘>’ or hyphen ‘-’ to enhance your message flow. It also makes sense to sometimes use the arrow or hyphen inside a title tag, as in, ‘Mitash |Blog and News > Is your title tag compelling enough for them to tag along’?

Check CTR and conversion rates

You should go about creating a title tag akin to how you would write an ad for paid searches. This should get you the desired results, the only difference being that unlike paid searches you will be unable to measure or improve click-through rates or conversions as statistics are not so readily available.

My advice is, if your market entails a relatively stable weekly search volume, it makes sense to test your title tags and improve click-through rates. Review your analytics and purchase search ads on the page to test your click-through and conversion rates. Be prudent not to focus totally on CTR, but on measuring conversion rates, as lower CTRs are acceptable if you command high conversion rates.

Mind-mime target users

Think of the search terms your target users would use to arrive at your site when you begin the process of creating title tags for your web pages. Whatever the intent; research, purchase, download or any other action, it should be evident in your title that the user can perform this function at your site. For instance, ‘Nike Sports Shoes | Compare Prices Chart’

Consistency is king

When you have ascertained a title tag that works for certain sections of your pages, you must stick to it. As over time you are bound to grow into a trusted and reputed brand in the SERPs as you fulfil user expectation in a particular area through your pages.

Repeat title tag in headline

It is crucial from a keyword targeting standpoint and a user experience improvement perspective to reuse the title tag of each page as your H1 header tag. Most users who visit a page from the SERPs expect to find the title they clicked or else they’ll get confused. As they clicked on your title tag in the first place because it could fulfil their needs. You can expect your user to stay on your page only if you’ve met their intended goal or query by fulfilling it on your web page.

If you invest time and effort in researching and meticulously creating your title tags, you can definitely expect a surge in quality traffic to your site, as well as increased search engine marketing RoI. Do let me know if I’ve missed anything that may have occurred to you in creating title tags. I’ll be happy to comply and glad for the knowledge.

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