WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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Re: Good page titles - friendly SEO

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From: Simius Puer
Date: Jan 21, 2010 1:51AM

Hi Jared

Search engines do not favor page titles that are poorly written (e.g.
key-word stuffed or use techniques such as ">>>>> OUR BRAND <<<<<").
Thankfully the people who create search engine algorithms are a little more
educated than that.

Of course, no algorithm is perfect but as I tried to explain to Steven there
is no real difference between the needs of SEO and accessibility (and SERPs,
and bookmarking, and browser tabs) when it comes to page titles.

Putting key information (i.e. accurate and specific page descriptions) *
before* the generic brand/company has the following beneficial effects:

1. SEO - the earlier in the title the keyword(s) is/are the more weight
they will get. Note: the keyword should be an accurate descriptor for the
page and not 'marketing-speak', e.g. "Antique" not "Beautifully aged
relics". This will boost your *rank* for given terms.

2. Accessibility - Putting the unique information first is essential to
avoid having to listen to long repeated phrases - just cut to the chase.
The brand can still be there at the end if the user wants to listen to the
whole thing. Think of this the same way as a "skip to content" but for
titles. This allows users of AT to 'scan-read' pages easier as most regular
users do.

3. SERPs - Key word stuffing is ugly, does not boost your SEO
significantly and it will dramatically lower your SERPs click-through. It
is not a matter of 'standing out' by shouting your message at people. Well
written, clear titles (and descriptions) are easier to read, less aggressive
and far more likely to attract that click.

Steven - SERPs are a little different to a newsagent stand selling
women's mags! The user controls what they want to see in terms of search
criteria and the search engine controls how they are to display...and 'other
data' (URL, description etc) is displayed (not sure why you feel titles need
to be taken out of context!) enabling better selection choice. Trying to
stand out by being bolder or louder or more in-your-face simply does not
work. Well written, quality titles do.

4. Bookmarks / browser tabs info - easy one this...do you want to see

[brand xyz123...]
[brand xyz123...]
[brand xyz123...]

as your bookmark text or

[Mens clothing]
[Womens clothing]
[Sports equipment]?

Anyone still thinking 'what about my brand' at this stage needs to go and
look at favicons!


Writing good page titles is a tricky business and does require quite some
considerably thought, but its role in SEO does not clash with its role in
accessibility.