How do you emphasise the key phrases you’re targeting with a piece of content?
Aside from using key phrases in the text itself, there are some pieces of HTML code that you should know about – don’t be too worried about the word ‘code’, as you may not even have to look at the page code to us them. The most powerful are Title Tags.
What is a title tag?
Behind every page in your website is HTML code. It communicates with the browser to tell it how your copy should appear.
Go to View menu in your browser and choose Source code (or if you’re using Google Chrome, Developer and then Source code). It should open up a new window or tab to show the HTML that lays out the page you’re on.
Here’s the title tag for this page:
The Title Tag is between the <title> and </title>. The rest may help if you’re looking for the tag in your own WordPress page.
What you need to know about Title Tags
- They should be less than 70 characters long. Google will ignore any information that appears after the 70 character limit
- Put the most important information first
- Don’t stuff them with key phrases – one is best
- The most important information should come first – see the difference between my headline and Title Tag
- Make each Title Tag unique
The Title Tag in search results
When you write a Title Tag, you should consider how it will appear in the search results as the link to the page.
So, not only should the Title Tag include a key phrase, but it should be readable and informative about the page content in itself.
The tag also appears ate the top of your browser window, but in these days of multiple tabs you’ll probably only be able to see the first few letters when it appears on a tab.
Unique Title Tags in WordPress
WordPress (and many other blogging platforms and CMSs) don’t give you control of Title Tags out of the box. Instead, they either reproduce the article’s title or the blog’s title.
You may have to edit the HTML directly, if the platform allows you to and doesn’t over-write your changes.
Before you start trying to change the HTML, make absolutely sure there isn’t a way of changing the Title Tags from within the package’s dashboard. If that’s not the case, then you should look for a plug-in.
In WordPress, a good choice is All-in-One SEO. It’s free and allows you to write your own Title Tags (and other factors that will help SEO) easily.
In case you’re wondering, All-in-One then adds the site title to the tag (see above, in the HTML code), so suggests a maximum of 60 characters for your customised part of the tag.
Remember to fill in your Title Tags. They’ll help the search engines and people looking for your site.