The SEO Girl

Yes, yes, and a thousand more yes’s to this question! The page title, or meta title, are the words in the blue bar at the top of your Internet browser, or the words engulfed by <title> in the source code for a website. Including one or two keyword phrases that are relevant for your site in your page title is a common SEO best practice, and as long as it’s not abused, actually does contribute quite well to a website being ranked for those keyword phrases, particularly the keywords in the homepage page title.

I recently heard an SEO say that they prefer not to put the site’s name in the page title. I strongly disagree – creating a page title similar in structure to: Keyword Phrase 1 and Keyword Phrase 2: Site.com, is a must for the following reasons:

• Reinforce Branding – In an age where searchers want to find the lowest price product, and want to find it fast, you need to do everything possible to instill your brand name in their minds. Adding it to your page title keeps it right in front of their eyes as they flip through your website.

• Search Result Listings – A search engine will typically pull your site’s page title as the title of a search engine results page listing. Imagine seeing a slew of search results, all with relatively generic, keyword-rich titles. Then, you spot one that includes keyword phrases, but also has the site’s brand name. Wouldn’t you be more inclined to click on the one with the brand name?

• Bookmarking – Whether it’s social bookmarking or simply bookmarking a site to your Internet browser, the bookmarked listing for a site usually is pulled from the site’s page title. Once again, branding is everything, and when the person who just bookmarked 10 relatively similar sites goes back to look at their list, their eye, and mouse, is going to be attracted to the one that has a brand name listed.

Including your website’s brand name in your site’s page title is a practice that only makes sense. When you’re at the mall, do the stores have “Clothing Store”, “Clothing Store 2″, “Bath Store”, “Bath Store 2″, and “Shoe Store” on their marquees? Nope. They distinguish themselves from each other by highlighting their brand names wherever they can, and that’s what sticks in our minds and has us stepping into their stores again and again.

Q: Hi SEO Girl, I’ve been starting to work on my site’s SEO, and was wondering what I should focus on more, content or getting more links? – Andy, NC

A: Hey Andy, great question! My answer isn’t exactly as black and white as you’d like, I’m afraid. Both are, in my opinion and SEO experience, very important. The mantra of SEO in the past was that “Content is King” – I don’t believe this as true anymore. Yes, your site should have homepage and section page SEO copy, as well as an “Articles” or “Resources” section where you can craft interesting content that would propel a site owner to actually want to link to your site.

A synthesis of great content  that your readers can actually use, such as “how to” articles or advice is very important, but seeking out quality links is just as important. When I say “quality” links, I typically mean a link on an established site that receives a solid amount of traffic each month. You can seek out newer sites, too – just stay away from anything spammy looking. Look for non-competing sites and blogs in your industry and give them a call – show them you’re an actual person, and genuinely take an interest in their site. Taking the 5 minutes for a phone call will likely impress them beyond belief. Embracing social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and interacting with other users can help attain more links to your site, as well.

Hope that helps! Ask The SEO Girl your SEO question by emailing theseogirl@gmail.com

I’m all about change and constantly looking to the future, and I firmly believe in the quote “Change is the only constant”. You’ll start to see a few new recurring features at The SEO Girl blog:

• Ask The SEO Girl – I often get emails from readers with SEO and social media questions. I’m still always available at theseogirl@gmail.com to answer questions, but will now be sharing some questions and answers right on the blog. Email your SEO or social media question to theseogirl@gmail.com with “Ask The SEO Girl” in the subject line!

• The SEO Girl To The Rescue – I’m always wondering around online, and as a happy SEO geek, often spot ways to improve a site’s SEO. I’ll be randomly choosing a web site to review and making a few SEO and social media suggestions for the site. Sure, I may annoy a webmaster or two, but constructive criticism should always be welcome. Want your site reviewed? Email theseogirl@gmail.com with “The SEO Girl To The Rescue” in the subject line.

• SEO For Your Industry – I believe there is no “one box” style to SEO, and although the core SEO strategies are relatively constant, there are different SEO and social media techniques for every industry. I’ll be chatting about SEO/SMO tactics for different industries in this feature.

Have any features you’d like to see? Leave a comment and let me know!