SEO copywriting: everything you need to know about page titles

03 Jun 2009

If you’re looking to optimise your website, and make it as easy as possible for the search engines to find you, you need to get your page titles absolutely spot on.

It’s true that Google take about a zillion things into consideration before showing your website on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Ok, I exaggerate; it’s about 200 things, including keywords, content and links. But one of the most important is the page title. Why? Perhaps it gives Google a really good idea as to what a particular web page is all about.

So what exactly is a page title and where can you find it?

The page title (or title tag or title element) should appear on every page. In HTML code it looks something like this.

<title>SEO copywriting UK, SEO copywriter | Turner Ink Copywriting London UK</title>

This is taken from the SEO copywriting page on this site. If you want to take a look for yourself, click on the link above, click on View in your toolbar, and then click on Source. (In Internet Explorer only. Other browsers will be similar.)

The page title appears at the top of your browser window when you’re looking at a web page. Here’s the page title for the SEO copywriting page on this website.

So where else does it appear? Oooh this is the good bit. Because the page title is also used for the clickable blue link on the SERPs.

So the SEO copywriting page on this website appears like this on Google.

Too many companies use just their company name for every single page title. Imagine Google having to sift through a bunch of page titles which all say Barrett and Bloggs Ltd? How will Google have any kind of clue as to what each page is about? Or how about pages which only say Home, About Us, or Welcome? They will have Google scratching their heads.

Your page title should say ‘Hey Google, check this page out. It’s all about SEO copywriting from UK SEO copywriter Turner Ink in London’. Google are then under absolutely no illusion that this page is about SEO copywriting. Not someone selling blue socks. No blue socks here Mr Google, please move along.

So what’s the format for a page title? Up to 65 characters (including spaces). Your keyword or keyphrase at the start (unless you’re a super famous company like Ikea or Kodak). Then a divider, like a vertical pipe or hyphen. Then your company name. And where you are. And remember every page has a different page title. A bit like every chapter in a book having a different heading.

And that’s about it. Just 65 teeny tiny characters. But such a vital part of SEO.