Target Several Keywords Without Stuffing Your Page Title
Ok, so today I am giving my first SEO tip and I made my best to start with something both basic and useful.
Creating a good title is real art. Especially if you need to target several key phrases on one page:
- You don’t want to stuff the title with your core term repeating it twice (or more);
- You don’t want to make the title too long.
The solution: match two keyword patterns in one:
[modifier1 keyword] + [keyword modifier2] = [modifier1 keyword modifier2]
Here is an example for you to better understand what I mean, let’s say ‘make-up artists‘ is our core term, then:
[find make-up artist] + [make-up artist portfolios] = [find make-up artist portfolios] which makes our title target three phrases in one:
- find make-up artist;
- make-up artist portfolios;
- find make-up artist portfolios.
So this very simple tactic makes it possible to create a short concise title of the page and at the same time optimize it for more than one key term. Of course, it is not always possible to find patterns like the above one but anyway before choosing the ultimate variant, make sure you thoroughly considered this tactic.
And what tricks for title tag optimization do you use? Please share them in the comments or submit your SEO tip!
142 Responses to “Target Several Keywords Without Stuffing Your Page Title”
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Do you feel by trying to put together terms you might turn off a less sophisticated person?
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In addition to Anne’s nice tip. Look at your core keyword to identify a potential opportunity.
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Amazing how all those retweets just made it in before 1970…whew
Michael Martin’s last incredible blog post..RC33 Update for T-Mobile G1 Android Phone Users - Why No 31 or 32?
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I tend to change my title tags quite often when the site is new, say every month or so. More out of my pursuit for perfection more than anything.
Wes McDermott’s last incredible blog post..Paid Links! Why the Hell Not?
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let’s not forget to mention the reason the title shouldn’t be long: too many keywords dilute the effectiveness of each one of them. so if you the page is targeting long tail keywords it is more appropriate to have a longer title than if you are targeting highly competitive keywords.
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Am new to SEO, I did it (focusing on long tail keywords) only for a month and subsequently found myself dropped from Google SERPS by about 150+ steps for all of my keywords except my domain name. I’m not sure where I went wrong (perhaps keyword stuffing) but I deleted most of the posts I made during that time, in the hopes that I may return back to the top of the SERPs.
You’re off to a good start and am subscribing to your feed. Good luck!
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Hi Ann, nice tip there.
Here’s another. Use your PPC data to find the title (and description) that get the highest CTR in the paid listings. Use this title for your organic title. 9 times out of 10, it will improve your organic CTR. And we all know that 2009 is the year of organic CTR optimization don’t we
Dave Davis’s last incredible blog post..5 More Ways to Improve CTR
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Ann Smarty Reply:
February 12th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
very good point, Dave
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Great explanation! Word-smithing can be fun! Don’t forget to consider the plural over singular of some keywords and/or other word inflections to capture additional possible searched terms.
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daily SEO Tip: When someone offers a free blogroll link, TAKE IT!
pablo palatnik’s last incredible blog post..Valentines Day PPC Tips
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Great start up! I suggest we can add phone number or skype contact in the title tag which helps in great deal for corporate websites!
Mercy Livi’s last incredible blog post..L K Advani Follow Obama Style Online Marketing Campaign
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A useful tip and often overlooked. Keep the tips coming.
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Here’s a tip I picked up (now I can’t remember where):
Use sparingly symbols in the title so that when the search engines pick it up, it’ll actually draw searchers’ attention to the title. For example, two asterisks on either side of the title.
Philip Liu’s last incredible blog post..The Competitive Advantage Of The Late Mover
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Title is one of the most important on page element, but I have seen too many websites using it wrong way, worse not using it at all. I am hoping they read this post.
I would love to see what’s coming next. Thank you.
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I often use keywords in title. But as a rule of thumb not more than 2
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And what tricks for title tag optimization do you use?
It depends on case. Sometimes I use synonyms, sometimes I reinforce brand blog name.
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I use Title Tag plugin for WP. http://www.netconcepts.com/seo-title-tag-plugin/ I have an option to choose the title of the post, while editing it.
I try to choose keywords out of the post title, arrange them in meaningful order and make it the title.
Thoughts Unlimited’s last incredible blog post..Posting to Twitter by E-Mail [Twitter]
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Nice Information but i am confused why u have not followed this in this Post . Is that for bloggers or for website services
Vevin.com’s last incredible blog post..Open or Save More than One Home Pages In Firefox
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How you are Extracting latest post title in comments
Vevin.com’s last incredible blog post..Open or Save More than One Home Pages In Firefox
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Loren Baker Reply:
February 12th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Via a plugin called CommentLuv
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Gerald Weber Reply:
February 12th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Comment Luv rules!
Gerald Weber’s last incredible blog post..When the Ban Hammer Comes Down on StumbleUpon
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Exciting post.
As Vevin.com i writing im as confused as him.
Good luck.
Adwords and Seo blog
Frederik Trovatten’s last incredible blog post..Hvad er Negative Keywords? Lær at brug Negative søgeord i Adwords!
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I will go for the Title tag once in a week for my revenue generated sites.
i agree with create a short concise title but what we can do if we have more than 3 4 services with one main keyword in common.
I will go for short sentence in Title with common words used in between two words and try to use the primary keyword first.
Semil’s last incredible blog post..Standards for Search Engine Rankings
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This is the reason my blog title has only a few words, but those are very important SEO related ones.
Manish Pandey’s last incredible blog post..Best Of The Web - Sceince & Technology Posts and Articles Of Year 2008
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Though I can still see a lot of websites on many keywords ranking higher with their spammy titles, one should not be expecting Google to spare such websites in the long run. However, making a Title concise is always a bigger task and your post makes it easier.
I sometimes change the Title of a Page on the same day thrice before settling on to one :).
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Great 1st tip Ann! My tip for page titles, and yeah I know its a very basic tip, but too often I see mizzpelld title pages with and title pages with poor grammar. Cheers and keep em coming…
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Its worth keeping in mind that you’ll only have 70 characters displayed in the SERP results as well, although you can get some keyword weighting if you extend past this limit. Go too long though and your title tag will be treated as body text.
Mark Edmondson’s last incredible blog post..Site Migration And SEO
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Mark Alves Reply:
February 12th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
If you’re getting a second, indented listing then then maximum title length drops to 68 characters before Google displays an ellipse (…) instead of the end of your title.
Mark Alves’s last incredible blog post..Announcing Weather-Related Church Closings to a Mobile Congregation
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Wow, this one is really hot and I haven’t read ‘em all. However my tip is to check your title in the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. You may find some variant in order that works better.
Barry Welford’s last incredible blog post..Exponential Marketing - Meme Links
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I think what to write good title not simply because is necessary that it consisted not only of keywords, but also made sense.
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I don’t change the tags in my titles after posting. In some cases I’m using syndicated content and I prefer not to mess with the existing stuff. I’ve already book marked this site and put it in my daily tab and look forward to reading. Thanks!
Super Smart SEO’s last incredible blog post..Be Careful On How You Choose A Web Hosting Company
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This is the best bait I’ve seen for a while in blogs. Congratulations Loren and Ann!
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Ann,
Great tips here. it’s true that creating a good title is very important from a search perspective but also very important from a visual human perspective(Since this is what displays in search results)
Interestingly I am already pretty much doing what you suggesting here.
Yay!
Gerald Weber’s last incredible blog post..When the Ban Hammer Comes Down on StumbleUpon
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I heard a podcast last year with Jack Humphrey interviewing some super-seo-guru who said his extensive tests indicated that shorter blog titles rank better/do better (?) than longer titles. I think the inference was that Google used to love longer titles and now don’t…? Anyway, food for thought!
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We generally recommend targeting two key phrases per page and definitely use a similar style as suggested above. The goal is to maximize the effectiveness of the title tag so that you can get as much ranking as possible.
With respect to frequency changes, it really should depend on the results. If your site has beeen spidered and you did not obtain the desired ranking, then you should change your title tags and other aspects of your page as well.
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I remember looking in the source code of a clients site once and finding the title was so long we’d have needed a screen the size of a football pitch to view it all at once!
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I like this tip because it’s simple and effective. It keeps your title tags looking clean and not spammy. Good work!
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Thanks for the tip, Ann. I’ve followed you on SEOmoz for the last couple of years now, and your tips have helped me with TITLE/META optimization. This is a good one; it sparked some creative thinking about revising weak TITLE tags. Cheers!
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Thanks for the tip Ann. I will surely look at my own sie right away, and think of this the next time i write a blogpost.
Best regards,
Kim Andersen - Denmark
Kim Andersen’s last incredible blog post..Fjern fed/bold tekst i Safari – Text-shadow i CSS
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This is an excellent tip, Ann. It is amazing the impact SEO (and digital technology in general) has had on human language.
Adam | PageRush’s last incredible blog post..SEO Quick-fixes a Case Study
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I proof read until I get the rankings I am looking for. Then I go after additional keywords for additional pages.
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That seems like a good approach to Title tags. I think one important part you left out is the ability to add the pipe to get a better keyword rich title tag.
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Michael Martin Reply:
February 12th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Pipes are great as a parser so you can include your company name at the end of the title tag thus you get the branding and minimalize the keyword dilution - IMHO
,Michael Martin
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Good start to the new blog. I’m going to enjoy getting this in my RSS reader. Keep up the work.
Duane Brown’s last incredible blog post..Breaking Out PPC Accounts by Country is a Must for Success!
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Also it’s ok and I encourage people to repeat your keyword phrase in some variation within the title tag. And as always brand at the end of your tag NOT at the beggining unless it’s a keyword you are trying to rank for.
Entire site/blog is in the process of a re-design, coming soon!
http://www.spiderbait.com/seo-expert/2008/11/twitter-free-local-business-promotion.asp
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Loren Baker Reply:
February 13th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
DANTE! Welcome to the conversation!
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Thank you for the new blog, first of all - it does look very promising.
I like your idea about combined titles, however, I’m not sure that it will work in all cases. As another option, you may simply create a well-thought sentence and separate keyterms by commas.
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Hello Ann, very good advice. From our perspective as an agency, it’s really important to explain this in ways that less Internet savvy people can understand, your simple formula is a great place to start. Thanks for the tip, I’ll be subscribing to your site.
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The best tip for new SEO, the most valuable on page element. Keep the tips coming!
Stephen Pitts’s last incredible blog post..Measuring the Value of ALT and Title Elements of Image Tags
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I have learned or suspected that if you change your HP meta title too often, Google will slap you down because they will sense you are trying to manipulate your result.
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Great tip Ann. With the 66 character limit, it’s important to accurately use modifiers and high-search volume keywords without being overly spammy. Your formula works!
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Great post Ann. It’s amazing how many web sites can’t even get the simple things in SEO right such as keywords within title tags. Look forward to future tips from you.
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Congratulations on your new blog Anne.
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I know a lot of people try to go for keywords in their titles that are just to broad and have too much competition.
I do a fair amount of keyword research to come up with my initial title based on competition and number of estimated searches.
Then I let it run for a few months. I will then look at my site stats to see what people are searching on to find my site. Sometimes you can find gold in those search terms. Those terms sometimes lead me to change my title, other times they give me ideas on new pages, sites or blog posts.
Mike of Dofollow Blog List’s last incredible blog post..New DoFollow Blog Comment Strategy
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Well the post didn’t say anything about not keyword stuffing comments - reference the mass links to some wonderful drugs above
,Michael Martin
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Ann Smarty Reply:
February 28th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
LOL
My bad I missed it.
Thanks for the catch
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This little trick might work in some cases with low competition keywords, I have done it a few times before.. thanks for sharing it with us
Affiliate Secrets’s last incredible blog post..Keyword Elite Review
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