Submission
and Optimization >>Search Engine Optimization Tips
Are You
Losing Visibility by Duplicating Titles?
I can't stress enough the importance
of title tags to the ranking of your Web pages. Few other
elements on your page will influence your rankings like
the title tag. Therefore, I'd like to provide a couple of
tips regarding titles that I did not mention in last month's
article.
|
Tip
#1: |
Avoid Duplications. Sometimes taking simple steps can
make a noticeable difference in the visibility of your
Web site. For example, one common mistake is to get
in a hurry in building your site. You work hard to create
that initial layout for your home page. You're excited
to get the site built, so you start copying your new
layout to all the other pages of your site that you
have planned. You create product information pages,
a contact page, order pages, and so forth. |
However,
did you remember to go back and double-check each new page
to make sure you did not forget to change the title tag?
It's easy to focus on writing the unique content for the
rest of the page and forget to change the title tag from
what it said on your previous page.
Furthermore,
did you make each meta keyword and description tag unique?
Although duplicating titles and meta tags across multiple
pages on your site will not get you in trouble for spamming,
it does reduce your potential visibility. Most likely there
are dozens of potential keywords and phrases that people
might search on to find you. You should use as many of them
as you can. A good way to start is to double check that
your page titles and meta tags are unique and have been
properly optimized for each page.
|
Tip
#2: |
Regionalize Your Title. If your business primarily seeks
local or regional business, include your city, state,
or region in your title. Even if you offer services
to anyone in the world, such as Web Site Design services,
you'd be wise to still regionalize one or more of your
page titles. Include the name of your city, state or
province, and country in the title. |
Many
people prefer to do business with someone in their hometown.
Therefore, they may search for something like "San
Diego Web site design service" rather than just "Web
site design service." If the only place you mention
that you're based in San Diego is on your contact page,
then a search engine is not likely to match that up with
the major keywords that appear on the other pages of your
site.
Despite
a desire by search engines to look for "themes"
in a Web site, rankings are still assigned primarily based
on the content and incoming links for each individual page.
This article is copyrighted
and has been reprinted with permission from FirstPlace Software, the
makers of WebPosition
Gold. FirstPlace Software helped define the SEO industry with the
introduction of the first product to track your rankings on the major
search engines and to help you improve those rankings. A free
trial of WebPosition Gold is available from their Web site.