Introduction
When first learning how to develop websites, it is easy to overlook some basic information. In this tutorial, I will cover page titles and the importance of selecting good page titles for your web pages. Your page titles will be your first impression on your readers and is essential you give some thought to your page titles and how they appear in your browsers.
What are Page Titles?
Page titles are the brief phrases that appear in your browser tabs and relevantly describes the content of that particular webpage.
Page titles appear in:
- the window title bar in many browsers **
- browsers’ tabs when multiple webpages are open
- Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engine results
- used for browser bookmarks/favorites
- read by screen readers which are assistive technology devices used by individuals with disabilities
Image of how Page Titles appear in Google Chrome:
** Browsers work differently. Firefox and Google Chrome will work differently. Thus, some of the material presented here may or may not apply to you depending on your browser.
Page Titles in HTML Markup
Page titles appear between the title tags within your <head> tags. The HTML markup looks like the following:
<head>
<title> THIS IS WHERE YOUR PAGE TITLE APPEARS </title>
</head>
For more information about HTML, refer to my FREE Quick & Easy HTML Tutorial.
Good Page Titles
Good page titles are essential for orientation and navigation. If you design your website with good page titles, you are helping people know where they are within their computer screen and allows them to move between pages open in their browser. Keep in mind that your browser may appear differently than others.
The page titles are the first thing screen readers say when the user navigates to a different webpage. For more information about screen readers and how individuals with disabilities navigate the web, refer to my tutorial on Web Accessibility: Yes it Matters.
What You Can Do
- Review the page title.
- Review what the browser tab displays. If it displays % page -title % or something similar that means that you are missing a page title.
- Examine the titles of your other webpages within your website.
What You are Checking for
- Check that there is a title which relevantly, briefly and adequately describes the content of the page.
- Use proper SEO to select a relevant keyword to use as your page’s title. For more information, check out my tutorial on FREE Keyword Tool or for more expert help, read my review of Jaaxy Pro & Jaaxy Enterprise.
- Check that the title is unique from other webpages on the website and adequately distinguishes the page from other webpages.
- Do not duplicate your page titles.
Examples of Effective Page Titles for Webpages
There is much flexibility on what makes a good page title. Best practice is for titles to be front-loaded which refers to the important and unique identifying information displayed first.
Examples of Poor Page Titles:
- Here are examples of poor page titles:
- Welcome to home page of Legitimate Online Opportunity
- Legitimate Online Opportunity | About Me
- Legitimate Online Opportunity | Tutorials
- Legitimate Online Opportunity | Product Reviews
- Legitimate Online Opportunity | Resources
- Reasons the above examples are poor page titles:
- They are too long.
- The user will only see the first portion of the titles.
Examples of Good Page Titles:
- Here are examples of good page titles:
- Legitimate Online Opportunity Home Page
- About Legitimate Online Opportunity
- Tutorials from Legitimate Online Opportunity
- Product Reviews from Legitimate Online Opportunity
- Resources from Legitimate Online Opportunity
- Reasons why the above examples are good page titles:
- The essential point of the webpage is displayed first.
Thank You & Questions?
Thank you for reading my post today. I hope you have found it helpful. If you have any questions, please leave them below and I will be happy to answer them shortly.
14 thoughts on “Creating Effective Page Titles for Webpages”
Hi Steph, thanks for this very helpful post. It can be very challenging – creating a page title that has good keywords, is catchy, a good length and interesting enough to make people want to read what comes next. Thanks for making it a little easier.
Hi Hindy:
Thank you for leaving a comment on my most recent post regarding creating a page title for your website. It can be very challenging as you said to use a page title that has SEO advantages as well as good length and intrigues people to want to check it out further. Have an awesome day and I hope to see you again soon!
Steph
Very informative post! Well done! I liked how you gave examples of good page titles and also poor page titles. Keep up the good work!
Hi Becky:
Thank you for reading my post today. Make a great day.
Steph
Hey Steph, thanks for this useful information.
Just out of interest have you got any information about writing page titles that convert.. or perhaps attract visitors?
Hi Lynne:
I am glad you found it useful. You have asked a very important question regarding how to make your page titles convert and attract visitors. In addition to being relevant which I stress much in this website, you want to state a possible solution or answer to a problem that users are struggling with. You should also use SEO to try and get your titles to convert. One of the places that I can recommend looking into to learn more about conversions, SEO and website creation is Wealthy Affiliate. You will learn much by following the step-by-step training and it is free to join with no credit card required. You can upgrade if and when you are ready. I hope that helps a little.
Steph
I should go check my site out. thanks for such great information. I have enjoyed reading all of your tutorials and have learned so much. Where did you learn everything you know?
Hi Samantha:
If you are interested in improving your website, and to answer your question, I learned about affiliate marketing and SEO from Wealthy Affiliate. You can check them out, because you have nothing to lose as they are free to join.
Steph
Steph,
this is a great set up and I love the amount of detail that you used! Keep up the good work!
Hi Theresa:
I am glad you enjoyed reading this article. I hope you also take a few moments to review some of the other information I have posted on this website. Thank you for visiting.
Steph
Hi Steph,
Thank you for this informative discussion about good page titles. Clearly, bloggers have to attract readers, and readers are attracted by clever page titles.
A good page title will let the reader know what you page is all about, but a clever one will attract them to read and perhaps even leave a comment.
So bringing this issue to our attention is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Hi PJ:
You are absolutely right. It takes some time and some creative thinking, but coming up with a clever title is important and the other thing you want to be careful is being relevant in your page titles and put the most specific information first in your title. Thank you for visiting. I hope you come back soon.
Steph
Hi Steph!
I had never really thought about how much can go into choosing a page title. But you are right, it is what people see first on your site (as well as whatever is on your home page). I personally like short and to the point titles. No run on titles, get to the point! Longer titles also make your menu look crowded and personally I then lose interest.
Hi Emily:
Thank you for visiting my website and reading my article on Creating Effective Page Titles. Your page title is indeed your first impression you make to your article. I too do not like long-winded titles, because they should be brief and to the point, but relevancy and consistency are critical. I hope you come back and visit again soon.
Steph