MappingTheWeb //

As part of an ongoing series, I’m going to post SEO strategies that may be used to increase website traffic from search engines. I truly believe that SEO is the most effective way to drive qualified traffic with no marketing budget. Therefore, I present my first post on title tags:

Simply put, title tags are very important. They are an integral part of any SEO campaign. Among other elements on a web page that can contribute to a higher SEO rank, the title tag may very well be the most important. It should be short (i.e. no more than 6-7 words at most) to maximize the keyword density ratio. The first 2-3 words MUST contain your most important keywords and phrases. This contributes to a higher keyword/phrase prominence which is also very important.

However, you may be penalized for ‘keyword spamming’ if you repeat these words more than once.

An interesting debate continues to arise with respect to page title and branding. Should a company include its brand name in the title? From a purely SEO point-of-view, the answer is absolutely not - especially if the company is very young and the brand is not very well-known. The reason is that the brand name isn’t descriptive and does not describe the content of the page. This creates an inconsistency among the theme of the page. However, some experts argue that a generic page title is easily forgettable and that branding is essential. Arguments can be made and justified for both sides. My take is that both can be incorporated if done properly. Nevertheless, as a general rule, I would say that a young company should focus on SEO, and an older company should concentrate on branding. Here is an example that incorporates both elements in a logical manner:

< title >Keywords and Phrases – Company Name< /title>

A dash is a good way to separate the keywords and phrases from the company name without confusing the user.

One final key point to note is in reference to lower-level pages. These are the pages of a website that aren’t given much attention and rank low in terms of importance. Because little effort and energy are put forth in terms of SEO, a descriptive title tag is absolutely essential when dealing with these pages.

Several business models rely on SEO to operate. These include diversified Internet marketing firms, as well as search engine optimization specialists. However, outside these obvious examples, there are several other types of firms that depend on SEO that may not be so apparent.

Certain Internet websites and web business models, most notably song lyric sites, are nearly 100% reliant on SEO as their number one way to drive traffic. Other similar examples include male enhancement products and home-based business opportunities (although these two examples are more illegitimate and shady). In the case of the song lyric sites, someone searches for say, ‘michael jackson thriller lyrics’, on Google. The searcher will then follow a search result to the desired lyrics without any attachment to brand loyalty. This is the key point I’m trying to make. Any Internet service or site that depends on SEO, usually lacks brand loyalty, awareness, and recognition. Quick… name 5 song lyric sites. I know I can’t. When I’m searching for song lyrics, I just want to find the text - I don’t care about the site itself. I have no attachment, nor do I feel there needs to be one.

Song lyric sites drive revenue strictly from ads. No-one is going to sign up for a subscription-based lyric site when the next site has the lyrics for free. They are simply looking to accumulate as many page views as possible - and cram each page with as many ads as possible.

In other cases, a product (male enhancement pills) or a service (paid e-book dowload) is the end goal. But because there is so much competition, market share is tight and wiggle room is scarce. Achieving a placement among the top organic searches is highly critical in these instances, as search traffic for these terms is enormous. And once again, brand loyalty and recognition is low.

Other popular sites that rely on SEO a great deal, but do harness a certain level of brand loyalty, include Wikipedia (I think we all know this), IMDB, and About.com. Also, the YellowPages and other local directories and listings benefit immensely from the strategy.

My conclusion - any site with a strong hierarchical structure or directory-like listing system will benefit greatly from strong SEO techniques and a well-rounded optimization process.