Google Title Tag For Dummies!

[Anthony Parsons]

Don't take offense here, but the Dummies part is in regard to the book series, you know the one, the easy to understand guide. Ok, to the point.

It is often misunderstood exactly how Google utilise their title tag correctly. It has been discussed here numerous times, though never hit on the head correctly that I have seen, to how Google actually interprets and utilises the tag in regard to indexing and ranking purposes. So I am going to provide the content to those who don't know the basics to get their ranking campaign on the right track.

This is not about what words you put within the title, but how it is interpreted. So lets not get the thread confused.

It is believed that Google only use the first 65 characters of the title tag for ranking purposes! Untrue.

It is believed that Google only index the first 65 characters of the title tag! Untrue.

For those newbies that don't know how to get the best out of their title tag for Google, then here it is:

Google indexes past the 180 character quantity. If you haven't tested, then please do so. Insert a long phrase, 180+ characters, including spaces, perform an allintitle and that will highlight. However, at the end of the day, indexing is one thing, using it for ranking is another. Google does not use all this for ranking purposes, thus take onboard the below statement.

Google does use more than 65 characters for ranking purposes. The secret to this is that the first word of the last phrase you are targeting, must be within the first 65 characters, including spaces. This is why you actually see results in an allintitle that do not show all of the word. You may see the first and / or second word, and the rest is hidden, though completely assessed for ranking purposes.

How do I know this? I tested the theory and every single time, the page came up when searched for a term within the title only, using the above method, without the word in the body or any other facet of the page. Nil.

Example:

>This is your page title here ........ end of the 65th Character<

Lets say that the "r" is the 65th character, thus making the word "character" inside the first 65 characters. If you had another phrase now, say "character spacing in Yahoo", then your page will actually read and rank accordingly for that term, with weight placed upon the title for ranking purposes. The only word that will be highlighted and seen in the SERP's is "character", though the rest of the term will be there, even though it is outside of the 65 characters. This is where the first test comes into unison with this test.

Now, if using the above example, you now only want the phrase "spacing in Yahoo", and this is placed beyond the word "character", your page will not rely upon the title to help you with ranking, as the phrase does not have the first word within the first 65 characters of the title.

And that's how you make the most of your Google title. This is why you see results with maybe one word at the end in the title, nothing in the body and nothing within backlinks within the SERP's. This is how Google correctly interprets the title tag.

For those beginners, enjoy!

I hope that makes sense? It's late, and I'm bored enough to share...

[Anthony Parsons]

O, when does this come in handy? It comes in extremely handy when your two or three phrases your targeting per page (semantically like phrases offcourse) don't fit within the 65 character limit, like most tell you to do. Swap and play with the order and get your phrases to suit the above guidelines, and your page title will weight correctly for ranking purposes then whilst exceeding the 65 character limit.