I am still amazed at how many times I see a site that is missing its title tag. The title tag is the most obvious way to let users, searchers, and most importantly the search spider figure out what a page is about! Part of the beauty of title tags is that each page on your site has one. That’s right, each page has its title tag. That’s important because you can tailor your title to the actual information you are displaying on that page. I have heard some concerns from companies who have dynamic sites, or sites that use include files to minimize redundant code. Well, a properly coded page should allow for unique titles on each page.
A favorite trick of mine is to set the page title as a variable in the code before the call to the include file. This easily allows each page to have a unique title, plus the include file is coded in such a way that if the variable is not set, a generic, yet still relevant to the site, title is displayed.
Content is King
Many people ask me how they can increase their website’s rank in search engines. While there are several things they need to be doing, having relevant content is the most important. Don’t get me wrong, using META tags, page titles, and proper labeling of images and links are all very important. The question is, how many times have you searched, and clicked on a high-ranking organic search result, and the website wasn’t what you were looking for? More than a few times, I’m sure. The major search engines – Google, Yahoo, and Bing- work to keep this to a minimum, but it happens. This is where content is so important. If the people finding your site, aren’t turning into customers, what is the point? Is that the reason you want your site to be number one? Without well-thought-out and relevant content, those searchers won’t be on your site for long.
