Your website’s title tag is by far one of the most important elements when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO).

SEO is just fancy talk for all the ways you hone, tweak and adjust various elements of your site to give yourself the best chance of popping up in the search results for the terms your clients would use to find you.

Google, along with the other search engines, places a lot of weight on a page’s title to determine where it shows up in its search results. Get it right and you’ll see a steady flow of potential new clients.

The title tag is what’s displayed in the top bar of a user’s browser. It’s also what search engines display in their search results. You know, that big blue text you click on to visit a site.

While your browser may display over 100 characters of a page title, Google, for example, will only display the first 70 characters of your title tag.

A quick browse through the net shows some title tags that miss the boat.

Here are some examples of title tags that do your site little to no justice:

• Home
• Cindy’s PetCare
• My Pet Services
• Template 32
• Best Pet Sitting
• Welcome to my website

Why are these titles not ideal? For a few of reasons.

1) They are not keyword-rich. You want to include keywords in your title tag that potential clients would use to find you. “Pet sitter in Chicago” or “Florida dog walker” for example.

2) They do not take advantage of the 70 characters that search engines display. There is a fine line between formatting a good quality title and looking a bit ‘spammy.’ You don’t want to overdo it and try to include every variation of your keywords, but you do want to get a handful of appropriate descriptive keywords in there.

3) Your title is what appears in a user’s bookmarks. By creating a highly descriptive and appropriate title of your website, a visitor will have an easier time finding it among their bookmarks.

Is your title tag used correctly so that your site appears in the search results and attracts visitors to click through to your site?

Here then are some examples of good and appropriate title tags:

• Pet sitter, dog walker, Pinellas County, Florida. Tampa area pet sitting services. Professional pet care.
  http://yourdoggonepetsitter.com/services.htm
• Urban Out Sitters – Chicago – Dog Walking, Doggy Daycare, Pet Sitting, Vacation Cat Care, and Boarding Services
  http://www.urbanoutsitters.com/
• Pet Sitting, Pet Sitters, The Pet Nanny of Trinity Florida, Dog Walking, In Home Pet Care
  http://www.thepetnannyoftrinity.com/home.htm

Give your page title some thought. Is it the best it can be? Does it contain just the right amount of keywords that potential pet sitting clients would use to locate your services?

How To Adjust Your Web Site’s Title Tag

Adjusting your title tag is an easy task. Depending on how you first created your website, your title tag can be found directly inside your html code. If you used a website publishing tool, it should be clear enough where the title of your page appears.

Make some educated adjustments to your title tag and I assure you that you’ll see an increase of web visitors to your site.

Not sure if you’re on the right track? No worries, leave a comment below with your title tag and we’ll make sure you’re well on your way.