How to Write Title Tags for SEO

The title tag can make or break search engine clicks. Get it right, and potential visitors will happily click through to your site and become a possible conversion. Get it wrong, and you might miss out on the only chance you’ll ever have to engage with them.

They’re short, often snappy, and more critical to your site’s SEO success than you might give them credit for. So if you’re wondering how to write title tags for SEO, we’ve got you covered with a short guide covering tips, tools, and great techniques to make your title tags the best they can be.

What are Title Tags?

Every web page should include a title tag, and often just writing it isn’t enough. Like much of SEO, it’s all about optimization.

While it’s not always included on the page itself, the title tag is the snippet of text you’ll find in an open tab. More importantly, it’s also what searchers will see on Google – assuming Google hasn’t changed it on your behalf.

For such a short sentence, it has several SEO applications, including:

• Informing search engine spiders what the page is all about
• Telling visitors what to expect if they click through to the page
• Allowing publishers to demonstrate in search why their content is superior to the competition

The best title tags are snappy, relevant, and informative. They give search engines a reason to rank the page highly for your target keywords and reassure prospective visitors that your page will answer their query.

How to Write Title Tags for SEO With Ease

A title tag should typically sit between fifty and seventy characters. If you use SEO plugins such as Rank Math or Yoast, you’ll see that they measure the tag in both characters and pixels, with the latter being the most relevant. However, it’s hard to measure pixels when writing text, so the character guide is the easiest option.

There are plenty of guides out there for SEO writing – this article says more about it – and you probably already have an idea about keywords and other general requirements.

When you write title tags for SEO, it’s vital to consider your two audiences. The best title tags appeal equally to visitors and search engines, just like the greatest SEO content!

Here are the steps to fantastic title tags explained:

Make Each Tag Unique

Your title tag is an opportunity to show both audiences what your on-page content is all about. You don’t want to cannibalize your rankings. Ideally, you’d prefer one page ranking first for a keyword than two ranking ninth and tenth.

Even if you have similar pages on your site, you can usually find something unique and worthwhile about each one. Then, if you focus on that uniqueness, you’ll have an easy time making the title make sense.

Use Your Primary Keyword – But Don’t Overstuff

You’ll already know the main keyword if you’ve written great content. Include it in the title tag, but make it natural. Google’s crawlers will notice the keyword even mid-sentence, but don’t forget to frame it naturally for potential readers.

Remember, the title tag and URL slug don’t have to be the same, so while you might want the slug to reflect the primary keyword, you have more creative freedom in the title.

Entice the Human Reader

Clickbait is out of fashion. People have become desensitized to it and would usually rather click a link that gives them information from the outset. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t actively make them want more.

The best title tags demonstrate you have the answers but show the reader that they can find out much more about their query. Consider numbers and power words to make your tags really shine.

Take On-Page SEO to the Next Level with Title Tags

Rising up the search rankings is all about gaining an edge over the competition. Optimized title tags are often underestimated in terms of their potential for quick, easy wins.

Now that you know how to write title tags for SEO, you can craft great headings that entice visitors and search engines alike, and don’t forget to go back and optimize your existing content for an even more significant boost!