Simply put, a Page Title on your homepage, is the first thing search engines "read" that tells them what your website is about. In the example below, you'll see our Page Title (right below our URL: sevell.com), which is "Website Design Columbus Ohio, Columbus Website Design, SEO Agency."
We use that specific set of keywords, because our keyword research shows they're well-searched phrases for people looking for web design firms. We show you how we know what keyword phrases people search for, further in this blog. Or see that section now, by clicking here.
They pay attention to it when they're searching on Google. Then people see it because it's the main words on the search results. On a search engine results page (or, SERPs to us geeks), your Page Title is what will get your prospects attention. (See the screen shot below. The Page Title is in the red box.)
Having the right keywords in it, is critical for two reasons:
- It helps search engines find your website when people are searching, and
- It helps people decide whether to click on your website link, if your keywords match what they're looking for.
You'll see domain names appears smaller in green text. You'll also see the keywords, or those very similar to the keywords, appear in bold in the black type below your domain name. That text is called the Meta Description, and you can read more about it here.
Page Title keywords are important, because when your prospects are looking for a company that does exactly what you do, the Page Title's keywords catch their eye.
Your company name is the least important thing to put in a Page Title.
Some articles you'll read about Page Titles tell you to put your company name in it, but we disagree. Why? Two reasons:
- If someone is searching for your company by name, and your company name is already in your website -- and theoretically, no other website -- dozens of times, if someone Google's your company name, it will show up in the search results. (If it doesn't, you have bigger issues with your website), and
- There's a limit to how many words can appear in a Page Title. It's based on how many letters and spaces Google and other search engines display on their search results. That generally-agreed upon number (by SEO experts) is between 55 and 65. In the screenshot example above, 58 letters -- AND SPACES -- appear in those results.
Every page in your website should have a different Page Title.
Why should every page have a different Page Title? Because the content of every page of your website is different. Or should be, because there's no reason to have two or more pages with the same content.
Now that you know the Page Title summarizes what's on a specific page (using keywords), you understand why each page in your website should have a different title.
There are times when someone might not come into your website on the homepage.
When is that?
Let's say someone does a Google search for "What are Page Titles"? Since our Page Title is exactly that (even though the headline is "What is a Page Title on a website's home page?"), if all goes well, this blog page could show up in Google's search results, instead of our homepage. And in that scenario, someone would come into our website on this blog page, instead of the homepage.
How do we know what keywords people are searching?
Simple: Google tells us. As you can see from the screen shot below, Google's AdWords/Keyword Tool shows detailed monthly searches by keyword. Your search can also be segmented by city.
Note: to see the exact number of monthly searches on any keyword, you have to be running your own Google AdWords campaign. Otherwise, you would just see number "ranges." So instead of showing there were 25 searches for a keyword, it would show a range of between 100 and 1000. Hardly very helpful. Essentially, you have to "pay to play" to use Google's AdWords/Keyword Tool. Which we do.
How do we know which keywords to choose?
We prefer to select keywords with a decent number of monthly searches (between 25 and 100) and "Low" competition. The one thing Google doesn't tell you, however, is how many other websites are using those keywords when they show "Low," "Medium," or "High" competition. But in this case, "Low" is definitely the way to go! As you can see here, our 3 main keywords have over 200 searches a month (in Columbus). If we use them well, and often, the synapses of the search engines will connect them to our website.
Of course, enough other Columbus website design firm and SEO companies are using them, too, for us to constantly battle to be on page 1. That's why we blog every week, using accepted best SEO practices. So most of the time we show up on page 1 for our keywords.
How well your SEO works depends on a multitude of things, not the least of which is what your competitors are doing. Read what determines how well your SEO will be, here.
Let us help you determine what YOUR prospects are searching for, so your website can starting showing up well in a Google search. This way, when your prospects are searching for exactly what it is you do, you can be right at their fingertips.
