Using tags to optimize search engine marketing

In order to achieve the best possible search engine marketing results for your small business website, understanding the parts of your site that users see first and those that garner good search results is key.

Whether you design and upkeep your own site or if you use the services of a professional webmaster, you can gauge the success of your website by examining your listing in search results. Try inserting one of your main keywords or phrases into a search engine and take a look at your listing. If you’re unsure about keyword significance, placement, selection and ranking, check out one of our posts on SEO and web-based marketing metrics.

Titles

Your business website should have its title as the linked listing (the blue underlined text at the top). This is your site name, according to the search engine you’re using. If it doesn’t appear the way you expected, or if the phraseology is awkward or too long, you can optimize the name by creating or changing your title tag.

In the absence of a title tag, web browsers may use a piece of text from the body of your site, such as the first line of the anchor text, a caption from the top image or a heading from a prominent index. If the content of your landing page is strong and well-designed, the selected title text may be a perfect, succinct name for your site. However, if the text doesn’t easily explain what you offer, internet users may skip your listing. An incomplete or ambiguous title appears unprofessional and may drive away potential customers, and a convoluted name (or one that wrongly describes your business) won’t immediately grab the attention of someone quickly scanning a results page.

For example, if you sell discount craft supplies on your site, you would want your title to spell that out: Either the name of your business or the term “discount craft supplies” should appear at the head of the search results listing. You can achieve such a fitting site name by using a title tag with the exact phrase you want to show.

The title tag also dictates the name of your site once it’s open in your web browser. The top bar of the browser (or the relevant tab when working in tabbed browsing) will show your title, often followed by the name of the browser (Internet Explorer, for example).

Descriptions

The next part of your search engine listing to explore is the description. Directly under the link title described above, you’ll find a brief excerpt on the contents or nature of the site. Google Maps, for example, carries the following explanation: “Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.”

By using a meta description, a similar HTML tag to the title function, you can ensure your business is well explained in search results. If your site doesn’t contain a meta description, the text may come from the body of the page. Even if your anchor text makes good use of keywords and is concise, it may not read well for the short description provided by search engines.

When building a meta description, use important terms at the beginning, and try to stay close to 100 characters (including spaces). An overly long sentence will be cut off and an ellipsis (…) will appear, leaving out potentially important terms and detracting from the professional image of your site.

Take a look at your website’s listing in a few different search engines to determine the strength of your title and description. If you work in HTML, fixing your tags is a simple cut-and-paste process, and if you employ a web developer, you can request a reworking of these important elements.

This entry was posted in Advanced, Search Marketing. Bookmark the permalink.