Page Titles and Meta Descriptions are the forefront of search engine optimization as they are the first thing for searchers to find your website. One of the biggest questions to this day is “What is the right way to optimize our page titles?” As there is no concrete answer to this question, there are some ways to make sure your website is being found. From adding relevant keywords and even a location to your title. To increase your rankings even more, here are seven tips, or hacks, you can use to help increase traffic coming from Google searches. Not all of these tips with help in your case, but try some out and track your traffic after implementing these new hacks.
- Numbers – When you add numbers to your page title you will notice a slight increase in traffic to your website. This is because numbers pop out to people when they are searching on Google. Our brains are programmed to find things that stand out and look specific, especially when you are looking for something in particular. When you are looking at multiple listings on a SERPs page your brain will want to look for something that stands out, and numbers will help with that.
- Dates – Just like with numbers, dates tend to stand out in Google search results. In addition to standing out, dates are great for searchers looking for date specific items or events and specific searches in general. For example “Top fantasy picks of 2016” is a search were your page title should include the year 2016 if your page talks about fantasy picks during that era to gain extra traffic.
- Length – The length of a page title has been a topic of discussion for a while and gives SEO specialists a bit of a cringe as there is no real answer. This is where best practices come in handy when creating title tags. Generally have your page title be between 50 to 60 characters (spaces included), using top keywords people are actually searching for, and not making the title too long. Less is always more, but make sure it is not too short that it ends up being to broad.
- Synonyms or Variants – Whatever you think your searchers will search, it might actually be different than what you think. In this instance it is good to use synonyms or variants of your keyword in question and add them to your title. This way your page is hitting multiple variations of a keyword search, which will lead to more traffic. Google’s Search Engine Console is a great tool to see what people are actually searching. An example of this is when you think people are searching for “cheap taxis”, they could also be searching for “affordable cabs” or “low cost” or “cheap Ubers.” A good title to have may be “Affordable Cabs, Your Fast & Cheap Ride.”
- Call To Action – People might not always search for action keywords but they definitely help users click your link in comparison to other links on a results page. This is because it adds a wow factor to your page and that the user will be able to do something beyond the keyword they searched for. It provides something a little extra that will help increase traffic to your website.
- Top Referring Keywords – This practice is a little advanced but goes a long way. This step uses the help of Google’s Search Engine Console. We often optimize our pages and titles on one set of keywords we feel that are a good fit for the page and content. However, it may not what people are actually searching for. This is where you can go into the Search Engine Console and find what keywords a people are actually looking for. Use these keywords in your title tag for a better click through rate.
- Questions – Most of the time when people are looking something up on Google it is typed in the form of a question. By having your page title set to a question, you offer the additional bonus of appearing for searches typed in the form of a question as well as hitting searches for the keyword in question. If your page is centered around a certain topic, try have a page title in question form to hit both aspects of a search. It will also add a curiosity affect to your link and give a user an incentive if they click your link; an answer.