The <TITLE> tag of your web site is arguably the most
important element of your web site. All the search engines
consider the keywords in this tag and give those keywords
a lot of importance in their ranking systems. Many search
engines use this <TITLE> tag as the title of your site
returned in their search results. This means that your HTML
tag must not only work to your advantage for keyword scoring,
it must also be compelling.
There are two elements to every web site listing in the search
engines:
- The site title, which will be blue and an activated link
to the site
- The site description
Of course both must be compelling, but the <TITLE>
tag has a special relevance because so many search engines use
the title exactly as it appears on your page. Some search engines
will use the site description that you give in the META tags,
but others will not. For this reason, the <TITLE> of the
site is more important than the site description.
Here are the important principles to remember
when writing site titles:
- Longer <TITLE> s are more effective because more
words allow you to build a more compelling reason to visit
a web site.
- People don't read text, they recognize words.
Longer <TITLE> s work better – is true
because it takes a certain number of words to persuade someone
to take action.
Remember, in a direct response approach it's difficult to offer
time, money and value in just two words. People scan headlines
in brochures and magazines often, even when they don't read
all the information. Since the title is usually a hyperlink,
it is a different color, and it is generally bold and easy to
read.
When it's longer, there are more words with which to hook a
reader. If something catches the readers' eye as they scroll
down a list of site titles, they will hopefully read the site
description. If you've done your work, they will be hooked.
Research has also shown that people don't read individual letters
after about the time they turn 12 years old – they recognize
words. Educators know that people glance at words and recognize
the words by the shape they see defined by the tops of the words.
If you don't believe it, take a sentence in any newspaper or
book and cover the bottom half of the words.
You can still read the words with relative ease. Now, cover
the top of a different sentence. You'll find that the words
are harder to read because there is not much difference in the
shape or line of the bottom of the words. You'll see that you
recognize words by their tops, by the differences in the height
of the different letters. You might think to yourself, "Interesting,
but how does this apply to me and my marketing efforts?"
If people recognize words by looking at the tops of the words,
and that this is accomplished because the tops of words vary
in height and appearance, then sentences that start with just
one capital letter and then lowercase letters will be easier
to recognize and will get read first. Every little advantage
helps you!
WORDS IN ALL CAPS ARE HARD TO READ! PEOPLE DON'T LIKE TO READ
THEM AND DON'T READ THEM AS EASILY. RECOGNIZING THE WORDS IN
THE SENTENCES IS TEDIOUS, AND THESE LISTINGS ARE FREQUENTLY
OVERLOOKED.
To further illustrate the "tops of words" principle, look at
how difficult it is to read this sentence:
SeNtEnCeS ThAT VaRy CaPs AnD LoWErCaSe LeTtErS ArE mAdDEnInG
AnD EvEn HarDeR To ReAd.
See what a difference the tops of words can make? For this
reason, construct your <TITLE> tags and site title submissions
with one capital letter to start the tag, then use lower case
letters for the rest of the site title. This technique is
just one more advantage that you can realize over your web
site's competitors in search results. |
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