One of my readers is Sean and asked,
how to separate keywords on the title tag
Rule #1: keep it short and avoid clutter
If your website is about “German Shepherd manicures” then you want to have those keywords in your title tag to help you rank well in the search engines.
You also want to avoid any unnecessary words in your title tag. An example of an ineffective title tag is:
The snazziest German Shepherd manicures you have ever seen in your entire freaking life, man!
When Google sees this title tag they may associate your website with words like freaking, life, man, and snazziest.
Only put the keywords you care about in your title tag.
Occasionally you have multiple sets of keywords that you want to putting your title tag. For example maybe your website is about German Shepherd manicures, Poodle manicures, and pit bull manicures. You may want to have all three sets of keywords in your title tag.
This is how I would do it:
German Shepherd Manicures | Poodle Manicures | Pit Bull Manicures
Notice how I didn’t put any extra words in my title tag. I used a vertical bar | as a separator. You can also use a hyphen or a dash as a separator.
Rule #2: make it readable
What you put in your title tag determines is what Google uses to display a link to your site in its search results.
For example, the title tag of my website is:
Nick’s Traffic Tricks — Getting Traffic Is Easy. Let Me Show You How
When you search for my website on Google you see the following:
Notice that what I put my title tag shows up in Google search results for my site. So make sure that what you put in your title tag is readable. If it does not accurately describe your website then no one is going to click on the search result.
You can have the number one spot on Google but if no one clicks on the link you are not going to get any traffic.
{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
Like you I think it's best to get to the point in the title bar description as you only have a second or less to show someone your site offers what they're looking for, it took me a while to find the vertical bar though (it was between the z and the shift key and it was shift + ).
@CreateFirstSite
I forgot that some people may not immediately know where | is. Thanks for pointing that out.
Nick – what a fantastic post. I have read many articles on title tags and keywords and your posting is the first one to make it so simple and easy to understand. I have added you to my "Must Read" list. The information you write is valuable.
Oh – on the vertical bar, that was a great tip one of your readers gave. I tried it – and it works. Although I must have a different keyboard, because I also found it (right above the backward slash) on my keyboard.
I am excited about reading more from your website.
Take care – Maria Mekus
Thanks for the tip on the vertical bar Nick. I didn't know that. Its clean and precise without having to use hyphens .
Sorry, I hadn't edited my comment very well. This is another try.
These tips you are offering are super, Nick. And, no doubt without them, a person will not rank high on Google. But, once one DOES rank high, one actually has to have something to offer.
I was beginning to think it was impossible to make money online, and I was always fascinated when someone was trying to sell SEO expertise because I just hadn't seen anyone make any money.
However, that changed this year, not for me, but for my sis. She got a position as an online affiliate for Linda Christas College, an online college/academy. It's an especially good opportunity because for each enrolled student, the affiliate (They don't call them affiliates. My sis is a recruiter) receives approximately a $500 stipend. For each student who returns the following year for a full curriculum, the recruiter receives $1,000. It's a great program, and is replacing a lot of the advertising and recruiting budgets of traditional colleges. And, as online degrees become more accepted than traditional beer and football degrees (that's happening already with employers, since online degree holders are maturer and proven self starters), online colleges can only increase in terms of enrollments, and therefore the college recruiting end of things will improve also. It's one of those things whereby today online recruiters are hard to find. In five years, people will be begging for the positions, and those who have already proven themselves to be reliable (like my sister), will have secured the jobs.
My sister made just over $61,000 this year working totally online as a recruiter for Linda Christas, so if I were anyone needing or wanting an online job, I would check into that. As it is, I am married to a computer genius, so I spend my day doing other things. The trick is to find a guy like this that you can actually love. Good luck with that. I found a rare fellow who knows computers, but also knows how to share a bottle of wine at dusk in a mountain cabin.
All she did to get the job with Linda Christas was contact them. They provided the training free of charge.
Beth
Hey Nick,
That's a great tip and it's one I've been using for years. I believe the name for that symbol is "pipebar" . I can't draw a picture here but on your keyboard it doesn't look like this " | " . Instead it looks like two hyphens turned sideways and one on top of the other and that's why people have a hard time finding it on their keyboard.
Later,
Jeff Sargent
Instead of using this
> German Shepherd Manicures | Poodle Manicures | Pit Bull Manicures
Wuld this just as effective?
> German Shepherd Poodle Pit Bull Manicures
In terms of search engine optimization there is no difference. But when your website shows up in the search results for Google then German Shepherd Poodle Pit Bull Manicures is less readable. This may result in fewer clicks on your website.
Nick,
I don't think we should ever incorporate multiple sets of keywords in our title tag. I can't think of any excuse not to create additional posts on the various keywords.
I think in some cases it may be helpful to include a couple different sets of keywords on the homepage of your website. But you are right in that each set of keywords should have its own page.
How come I see commas sometimes instead of the usual stripe , whats your take on that Nick.
Using commas as a separator instead of the vertical bar | works just as well in my opinion.
Hello mate
Usually, if you leave comments on others blogs that are related or relevant to yours, you stand a higher chance of driving more traffic to your website. So I add you on my site. Thank for nice information you gave
I don't think this is true, because on my Google toolbar it gives me the most used/ common keywords or one with many search sites.
Google will only allow 66 characters in the title tag to be displayed in the SERP's.
Unfortunately for me my title tag is 67 characters!
I could cut it down to 65 characters if i take out the vertical bar "|" and use comma's instead… would comma's be just as good SEO wise?
Commas should work just fine.
Do we need to use all the 66 characters or would a shorter title tag be good enough if it describes the site well?
.-= 18k gold chain's last blog ..Contact Us =-.
Good question. Shorter is better.
Nick,
I have a question about keywords. If I were to choose the string "online writing services" as one of my keyword phrases and I anchored all external and internal links to the entire string, will Google also rank my website for "online writing" and "writing services" as well or would I need separate anchored links for those strings?
Thanks in advance.
It's hard to say exactly what they would do. But I imagine that you would rank for those other keywords too. You may have to build other external back links using those keyword phrases depending on the competition.
But how with blogspot Nick, I'ts hard to create different title tag for each posts
.-= Ecitis's last blog ..CCleaner Free Registry Cleaner =-.
That's one of the troubles with blogspot. That is one of the reasons I suggest getting your own domain.
So many people get the basics wrong. Thanks Nick for your informative post.
.-= Andy's last blog ..Directory Submission =-.
Page titles over 66 characters ARE indexed by Google, but will not appear to the viewer, as few browsers display more than this (hence the 66 character recommendation)
However, there is a suggestion that weighting is placed on words nearer the start of the page title, so words starting 70 characters in may have a ver low effect.
what about other punctuations, do they cause any problem
I don't think other punctuation is going to hurt you. Just keep your title simple and straight to the point with your keywords.
What happens if you use a period (.) instead of a comma or | ?
Honestly, I don't think it really matters that much.