Do you have a stunning physique with six-packs behind your shirt? Remember that nobody is going to notice you if your outfit sucks!
Apply the same strategy here – Even if your website has stunning content inside, it’s worth only if people can read it.
The meta title tag, meta description, and URL are equivalent to the outfit that creates exposure and makes it SEO friendly for better ranking.
People read the title and description before they see the main content. So, it’s important to optimize the metadata to create exposure and improve user engagement.
Ranking the website high in Google SERP is how you can generate organic traffic to view your website content and bring meaning to your hard work.
Been said even social media like Facebook display the metadata while the content is shared. So, the metadata plays an important role in giving an outline of the webpage.
First, Let’s see how to optimize the title tag to rank higher in SERP and to increase the CTR to generate maximum traffic from search engines and social media.
You might like reading How to improve Alexa Ranking.
Importance of Title Tag in SEO:
The Title tag is one of the important elements in the On-page search engine optimization.
The title tag tells what inside the content like a leader(title) organizing the group(content).
So, it’s important to create a stunning title tag that should be search engine friendly following Google Webmaster Guidelines and at the same time looks impressive to attract the search engine users.
The poor title tag will lead to a lower rank in SERP and even if it’s raking on the top, the engagement will be poor eventually leading to poor CTR%.
Essential Elements to make the Title Tag for Better SEO and CTR:
Be advised that Google uses about 200 signals to rank websites. Improving SEO tag is just a small part of it.
Search Engine Friendly Title:
In CMS like WordPress, we use SEO plugins Yoast or Rank Math to optimize the title for SEO.
So, we can give two separate titles for the content the one that appears in the article and the other title that displays in SERP using the plugin.
Usually, the title that appears on the webpage will be more user friendly. It should be like an abstract of the content.
In the case of SEO title, it is the one that appears in the SERP so it must be search engine friendly and at the same time should appear engaging.
Speaking about search engine friendly title, it should contain the main keyphrase that you target to rank for and it must be natural. Also, it should not be over-optimized just to manipulate the SERP.
User-Friendly Title:
While you optimize the title for search engines, it’s also important to note that ranking in the top with no engagement brings no meaning for ranking higher in SERP.
So, it’s important to create a title tag that is search engine friendly and at the same time appealing to the users.
This will ensure that the people who search clicks your website instead of other websites in SERP.
Research shows that a website that ranks in number one position of SERP with poor metadata faces a low CTR issue than the website that ranks number two with appealing metadata that creates suspense about the content inside the website. So, this will create an urge to click the website with a great title and description raking lower instead of the website with poor title optimization ranking number one.
Don’t Over Optimize Title Tags just for Sake of Ranking Higher in SERP:
Been said Google now analyses the CTR of the websites in SERP along with the time on site and bounce rate to verify user engagement and its authenticity.
They use the complex algorithm to find if the website has meaningful content or just created to generate traffic.
So, you are advised to produce proper content that is promised in the title.
10 Tips to Craft Title Tags for Better SEO and Higher CTR:
So, now you know the basics of title tag based on search engine optimization and it’s importance, now it’s time to learn how to optimize title tags for best performance in SERP.
Basic Tips for Creating Title Tags:
1. Length of the Title Tag:
The basic thing you should work on while creating a title is optimizing the length of the title tag.
When I calculated the number of characters that fit into 600px is 50 to 60 characters including space.
The letters like “I”, “1” take less space while the letter like “Q”, “G” fill more space in the title. You must make the adjustments accordingly.
Webpages with Short title with no meaning won’t rank in SERP and at the same time, the title with more than 60 characters gets truncated as shown below.
So, follow the best SEO practice of maintaining the title length within 60 characters. That doesn’t mean you have to fill all the 60 characters. Limiting to 50 – 55 characters should be ok. In some cases, if it’s necessary you can go for up to 60 characters.
The length of the title seems to be non-essential. But remember it is one of the important on-page optimization steps according to SEO analysts.
2. Use Caps and Never Mind Grammar to an Extent:
While creating title tags, you must make the first letter of each word as Capital Letter to make the title appear bold in SERP.
If you don’t wish to make all the first letters to capital letters, change only the first letter of main words of the title as shown below.
Making the first letter capital will make the SEO title look bolder in the SERP. This is a trick to create attention from the people who make searches.
This technique is an authentic way to increase the CTR of the website ranking better in SERP.
Example of Over Optimizing Title Tags:
Do not over-optimize the title tag by changing all the letters to caps. It might look like spam created just to seek attention from the searchers.
As you can see above the full caps SEO title looks bigger and bolder than the normal title tag. This will help you to get extra attention in SERP but looks spammy.
While I tested changing all the words in the title as capital, Google displayed the result as same as I did it. My website got ranked in top SERP with all the words in capital letters.
I have noticed the CTR of the URL with the title tag in capital letters ranked on Google SERP has increased. But it is not considered as best SEO practice and may not help in the long term.
Sometimes Google has changed some of the title tags to the small letters which were capital letters.
So, I advise you not to over-optimize the title tags. Instead, follow the white hat practices to make the user experience better.
Never Mind the minor Grammatical Errors:
You don’t have to worry about the grammatical error up to an extent on SEO title. You can skip unwanted article usage in the SEO title and other elements to limit the length and improve the intent.
Instead, try to make it engaging that should improve the CTR even if the grammar is poor.
3. Connect the Intent of Title With Description in the Snippet:
While it’s important to have a good SEO title, you should also give importance to meta description optimization.
The description in the snippet should be in such a way that it gives a brief description of the content and should answer the intent of the title.
There should be a relation between the title and the description. If the description doesn’t relate the title then there are chances that the searcher might skip your website in SERP.
Be aware that Google may automatically change the actual description to enhance snippet in the search results.
Besides, boost your website’s SERP using the schema markup and improve the CTR.
While you cannot control search engines changing the description, make sure to take care of the relation between the title and the description.
Advanced Tips to Enhance the Title Tag for better CTR:
4. Make use of Synonyms that creates Attraction:
You may find alternatives to the important word(s) to make the title more attractive. To do so pick the word that you like to make better, search for the synonyms in Google.
If you find an alternative that is better than the current word, you may pick the new word instead of the existing word.
Here are some of the examples for making the SEO title better than the existing title.
While this is not going to help the website rank better on SERP, it may increase the user engagement that might lead to an increase in the click-through rate.
5. Initiating Title with Numbers:
Adding numbers to the title tag is a great way to improve user engagement.
Research shows that title tags with numbers at the beginning are said to catch the immediate attention of the search engine users.
For example,
Instead of using “How to build muscles for attraction” – a generic title,
It can be reframed as “10 workouts to build attractive physique”.
The second title looks more engaging than the first one. Work on creating engaging titles for maximum CTR.
Just create some title tags and choose the best one at the end.
6. Use the Suspense Words in the Title:
Including suspense words in the title is a great way to improve the CTR.
Use the words that should create the suspense of what’s inside the website. The suspense word will trigger the user to click your website in search result even if it ranks lower in SERP.
Words like “new”, “free”, “better”, “alternatives”, “updated”, “release”, “best selling”, “dollar”, “eye-opening”, “formula”, “just arrived”, “official”, etc. creates suspense in the mind of the users. This will create the urge to click your website in the search result.
So, making use of the suspense word(s) carefully in the title tag can help increase in CTR eventually generates more traffic.
Do not over-optimize the suspense words. Use it only where it is applicable since it can cause negative effects.
7. Trigger the Emotions of Users:
One of the proven ways to improve user engagement is by triggering the emotions of the user.
It can be anything that you must analyze based on the topic.
Titles with questions, titles with excitement, titles that trigger user’s logic can attract the users creating more engagement.
8. Add Name of the Website in the Title Tag for Branding:
Add the Brand name at the end of the title to improve your website branding.
While users search Google, they do give importance to the brand. They tend to click the search results of the brand they already familiar with.
So, you can add the brand name to the end of the title to start building your brand.
Let the users get used to your brand so that they will search for answers with your brand name in the search engine.
Essential Tips for Improving Title to Increase SERP:
9. How to Add Keywords in the Title Tag for better Ranking:
The most important step in optimizing the title is adding the keywords to the title tag.
Using the right keywords in the title at the right place is the prime optimization technique to increase the rank in SERP.
Do proper keywords research, and use the keywords naturally in the title tag.
SEO experts recommend using the keyword(s) in the beginning part of the title tag for better performance.
Do not stuff the keywords in the title since it’s against Google Webmaster Guidelines.
The proper keyword optimization in the title will let the search engine rank the website higher if other signals are perfect.
When Keywords are optimized along with the proper title optimization techniques given above, it will increase the CTR result in generating maximum traffic.
So, concentrate on keyphrase optimization by taking the time.
Other Things to notice in Title Tag Optimization:
10. Mobile Snippet:
As you know, now the number of mobile internet users has surpassed the number of PC users. You must optimize metadata better for the mobile snippet view.
While there is no need to work on title and description separately for the mobile snippet, just make a not that everything is fine for the mobile phone view.
11. Optimizing the URL:
Now Google snippet displays the URL first instead of title, hence it’s important to optimize the slug along with the title and description.
Poor URL optimization can cause reduced CTR even if the title tag and other things are fine.
Final Words on Optimizing SEO Title Tag for better Performance:
SEO title and H1 title tags are the most important on-page SEO factors that decide the performance of the website in SERP.
Proper optimization of title tags along with other on-page and off-page optimization will improve the website ranking in the SERP.
Follow the same strategy for ranking YouTube content and increasing the CTR of Facebook ads with a better title, description, and other factors.
