I’ll preface this by saying that when it comes to SEO, I’m a content and linking girl. If you want to rank well in the SERPs, you build decent content and you get people to link to it. Those two steps are the most important in SEO. They involve a lot of forethought and strategy. You have to understand your audience and know what they want from you. But this post isn’t about that.
This post is about what everyone writes about when they write about SEO – Title Tags!
I was making Title Tag recommendations the other day. I was a bit out of practice, so I decided to Google a few terms and see what others were doing with Title Tags this season. I found something interesting…
A lot of ranking pages weren’t using keywords in their Title Tags at all.
So, I did a 10-minute unscientific study in which I Googled 10 competitive keyword phrases and counted how many of the 1st page results used keywords in the Title Tag.
I purposely chose keywords I thought would be over-optimized and disprove my theory. The results:
As the MythBusters would say: Myth Busted!
Well, not scientifically – my little chart doesn’t prove anything. But, personally, I’m over Title Tags. Only 50% of ranking pages used the entire keyword phrase in the title. 25% of ranking pages used an unordered or disrupted version of the keyword phrase (ex. Cable TV, High Speed Internet and Telephone Service) And 35% of ranking pages didn’t include the keyword phrase or only had a partial phrase.
So, can we please stop writing about title tags as if there is some super secret SEO art to writing one.
In 2007, a bunch of SEO experts pulled together and ranked Google Search Engine Ranking Factors. Keyword Inclusion in Title Tag was hands down number one.
Rae Hoffman wrote: I still think the title tag is one of the most important on page elements from an algo perspective as well as a click through perspective.
Jill Whalen wrote: Probably one of the most important factors in determining rankings.
Christine Churchill wrote: If you have time to do only one SEO action on your site, take the time to create good titiles.
I think times have changed.
Back in ’07, SEOs were writing Title Tags that looked a lot like: Brand Name | Keyword Phrase #1 | Keyword Phrase #2 | Keyword Phrase #3.
And then everyone was saying “LOOK NATURAL! LOOK NATURAL!”
Now, I’m saying don’t sweat Title Tags.
If you have an old domain and a shitload of backlinks, well yeah, you could change a few title tags and rank just fine.
For everyone else, investing a bunch of time in writing that perfect natural-looking title that includes all your keywords is a waste of time. Title your page whatever it’s about and move on to finding links. Your time is better spent there.
Hey Tanya – really interesting study.
Do you remember me from Brulant? Shoot me a note if you ever get the chance. Would love to hear what you’re up to! Take care.
I just Googled, “womens apparel” and every entry minus one had women’s + apparel in the title tag or description (I still try to compliment my title with a good description). I still think the title tag is important, but is only a piece of the whole. I agree with linking and content probably being more important, but I wouldn’t want to launch a site without title tags or title tags without keywords.
Hey Robb! Thanks for reading. As I’m sure you know Google results are always changing and can even be different depending on which IP address you search from. Hence the “unscientific” part.
The point of this post was really the last sentence. Yes you still need title tags, but if you’re spending the majority of your time there, you’re wasting your time. It’s about linking If you look at search results for most non-adult (& therefore spammed) keywords, you’ll see the majority of ranking sites have domain authority – old domains, tons of links, relevant content. If you’re starting a new site, yes you need title tags…but they won’t get you anywhere. Not until you get a link.
Tanya, Great observations. We’ve tried a number of variations on title tags and none of them seem to make a tangible difference. For the #1 keyword in our niche, the top ten are a mix of spam(repeated over and over), not included, and partials…so it’s basically impossible to glean much from the tags. I think domain age seems to be a much bigger deal these days. Cindi
I really liked reading your post about this, and I saw a few others as well – very informative and useful information without a bunch of BS!
I’ll be sure to give this URL to some friends
Thanks Again