When you open up a web page with your browser, the first thing you’ll see letting you know you have safely arrived is the title element for that page. This can be seen as the page title located on the top of your browser chrome, on the so-called title bar. This is a true fact regardless of whether you’re a sighted user or not, the title bar is always first. It’s also true if you’re not even human. Say, for instance, you’re a web search indexing spider or robot. Yep, you get the title element first as well. Using Google as an example, the result you will see during a search will be the title element of a specific page followed by the description or a portion of the text containing your search string.
More Than Communication
You may already see the importance and relevance, but if not, you may be asking why this matters and what is so important about the title. The simple answer is you want your content to be found — you want your content to be first in the search results and completely relevant. Spelling out what an entry is about by using a specific page or post title will better fulfill this desire, this need. On the web, page titles are more than a simple communication with your readers, there’s added importance. Certain considerations need to be made.
This Article as an Example
The title of this article is “Writing Effective Web Page and Post Titles” and it was no accident that it was chosen. The reason is simple: it’s telling and it works. Sure, we could have gotten creative. We could have called this article “The Tao of Titillating Titles” but that wouldn’t have been nearly as informative, and aside from the word “title” being in it, it wouldn’t be very revealing. Sure, most human visitors would get it, but on the web — unlike writing a print article — you’re serving more than humans. Creativity is fine and good, but on the web it should be avoided to a certain extent. On the web, it pays to be direct.
Think Search
It also helps to try and think is terms of the searchers’ input. Using the example above, would anyone in their right mind wanting more information about “page titles” or “post titles” enter “Tao” or “Titillating” in the search field? Very unlikely, right. So what would they enter? Title, Page, or Post are likely candidates. As such, all three are part of our title. Obviously there’s more to being found by search engines than just writing a title. Offering a proper, accessible web page is paramount. Also of great importance is the relevance. This is a measured variable based on others linking to your well-titled article: page rank. The more people that link to your web page or post the more relevant it is (which is usually pretty accurate). We’ll discuss this at a later time. For now, though, work on your page titles.
And For You
As was said, say what you mean so visitors on all levels will know that you also mean what you say. Don’t fake it. Don’t abuse titles by focusing on keywords and not communication. It’s a marriage of both that will bring you the best results. Talk to your visitors while informing search engine spiders and robots. If you can pull this off regularly, you will be that much closer to succeeding on the web. If you’re a WordPress user like most of our customers, remember this lesson when titling your next post or page. If you have questions about how this is done, do feel free to contact us.
Further Reading
Also, you might want to read “WordPress Titles & Descriptions for SEO,” “How to Write Content for the Web,” and “Better SEO through Blog Post Titles.” These articles also link to even more articles worth noting.