Title Tag
Page titles are critical to giving online searchers quick insight into the content of a search engine result. It is a primary piece of information they use to decide which result to click on, so it’s very important to use high-quality, keyword-optimized titles on website pages.
Here are the best practices along with some of my methods for writing title tags:
Length
For Google, the length is usually 50 to 60 characters. Beyond this number, it will show an ellipsis. If you keep it under 55 characters, then you can be guaranteed that at least 95% of your title is displayed properly.
Keywords
Place important keywords (based on your keyword research and analysis) at the start of the title. The closer a keyword is to the left of the title, the more helpful it will be for search engine ranking—and the more likely a user will be to click them in search results. At the outset, it is very important to choose the right keyword to optimize for the homepage title. Choose a keyword that has a good search volume while there is medium to less competition.
Separation of Keywords
I used pipes to separate keywords or keyword phrases in the title. I suggest you avoid using underscores, commas, dashes, or any other punctuation mark unless the keyword is written that way.
Wording
Keep important phrases short and simple and direct to the point.
Do Not Duplicate
They must be written differently for each page. Don’t mass-replicate title tags.
Relevancy
The title tag must be relevant to the content of the page. For example, the About Page should have a title like this:
About Us| Important Keyword | Company Name or Important Keyword | About Us | Company or simply About Us | Company
Branding
I usually append the company name to the title after a pipe (|) at the end of the title tag. This is to leverage branding. You can either put it at the start or at the end of the title. The placement of the company name depends on its popularity. If you find that there are brand-related keywords in your keyword research, then I suggest you put them at the start to increase the click-through rate (CTR). If the brand is less known or relevant than the keyword, the keyword should be first
Impact
Again, title tags should be compelling in order to pull in more visits from search engines. Always think of the user experience when you are making your title tags, in addition to optimization and keyword usage. The title tag is a new visitor’s first interaction with the company when they find it in a search result. In this regard, it should convey the most positive message possible.
Description
The description attribute (otherwise referred to as meta description) is a short, helpful summary of a page’s content. Along with the title tag, this is a primary piece of information searchers use to decide which result to click on. Having a description attribute doesn’t guarantee that search engines like Google will use it in their search results, but in most cases, it will. There are cases when search engines choose a description attribute to show for a website.
Here are the best practices along with some of my methods for writing meta descriptions:
Length
Although you can write a long description, search results limit the number of characters they display for meta descriptions. It is best practice to keep meta descriptions to a minimum of 50 characters and a maximum of 156 characters. Beyond 156, search engines will shorten it.
Keywords
Again, use the most important and relevant keywords based on your keyword research. Although Google dispels that they do not use the meta description as a ranking factor, keywords should be placed strategically in the description because if you notice they bold keywords that match a searcher’s keywords. Since readers read from left to right, there should be a high concentration of bolded keywords on the left. This is particularly helpful for searchers who are in a hurry (most searches, I guess). You only have a few seconds to capture their attention and interest, so you better use keywords on the left where they can easily see to increase CTR.
Do Not Duplicate
Each page should have a unique meta description. Search engines prefer it when a website has unique meta descriptions for each page. Unique meta descriptions help search engine algorithms interpret page content and its quality. Search engines may ignore any pages with duplicate meta descriptions.
Readability
While you have the liberty to use whatever case you want for the characters, make sure that you only use capitalization to highlight an important keyword or word.
Impact
Like titles, meta descriptions should be compelling so that when a potential visitor sees it in search results, he will click the website thinking that it’s what he needs. Descriptions should serve as advertising copy. Make a readable, compelling description that has the most important keywords. It should improve the click-through rate for a given page, especially the homepage.
When you make a description, make sure to include these elements:
The details of the page to let a searcher know this is a relevant, useful link
The benefits a searcher can have from the website. Do not just describe the service/product. Sell the service/product.
A call to action should be in place. Use powerful words like click, choose, learn, shop, decide, try, find out, discover, and get.