Compelling Titles vs Keyword Titles
Titles and meta descriptions are 2 very important factors in terms of search engine optimization. There is currently a lot of debate in the SEO community on whether having a compelling title that makes you want to click on it is better than your standard SEO optimized title. My head is still a little bit up in the air on this one too because I can see the benefits to both sides of the story.
Compelling Titles
Take a look at the example above. I did a Google search for “Houston Web Design” and these are the 5th-8th positions on the front page. You can see that 3 of the 4 use the same methods. But we have the one guy, or “4 Guys” I should say. Notice they didn’t keyword stuff their title tag, or even their description meta tag for that fact. How are they ranking on the front page, missing what most would say is one of the most important SEO principals? They have created a title that entices searcher to look at their site, because people want websites that work apparently… Who knew? The main key to take away from this, is they’re doing something different from their competitors. But this method is not perfect, as you can see. They’re not ranked number one, but they are on the first page.
Keyword Titles
Keyword stuffing in titles has been a common practice longer than I can remember, that’s not saying a whole lot because my memory is just awful. Many SEOs will tell you “Put your most important keyword at the front of your title” and I don’t disagree with this, it is a proven method. The problem with this method is, as shown above, EVERYONE is doing it. When you see a SERP that, for the most part, has the same content, there’s nothing to distinguish the sites apart. It’s just a list:
- Houston Web Design | Company Name
- Houston Web Design, keyword, Keyword, Keyword
- Company Name | Houston Web Design, Keyword, Keyword
- Houston Web Design | Keyword | Keyword
It’s all the same. It’s like how people around the world write dates differently. Here in the US we go MM/DD/YYY where as Military and the UK might go DD/MM/YYY, and China goes YYYY/MM/DD. It’s all the same in retrospect, just in a different pattern. You’re going to have the same numbers just in different places. Keyword stuffed title tags are no different.
Marketing, for me, has always been about what is it that you do that makes you stand out? My good friend and somewhat mentor, Ronald Wilsher, told me something a long time ago that really hit home to me. He told me, “Same is lame, Jonathon. You are not a drone, you’re an individual with special traits and characteristics. That’s what set’s you apart, your individuality. Don’t try and do what every other marketer or web designer, or whatever the heck it is you are is doing, go out there and express yourself as only you know how, as yourself.” Since then I have tried to set myself apart from everyone else, and it’s working out pretty good.
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