First impressions matter. When a user searches online for something, the first thing they see is a set of results. Without us even realising it, each of these results has a load of information that users use to decide on which result they are going to click on. The results consist of a Page Title, a Description of the page and the pages Headings. Search Engines use these components to rank pages, so getting this right will massively optimise your SEO.
Meta tags are chunks of text that describe a page's content; the Meta tags don't appear on the page itself, but also impacts in the search engines rankings. Meta Tag Scanner helps you get instant and accurate information about the quality of the tags used on a web-page. Analysis in additional includes the ease in analyzing your website’s tags such as page title, description, headings and much more with just a few simple clicks.
Nobody wants to have to work to interpret what they are seeing. They want to understand the meaning immediately and, once they have an idea so to what the content has in store for them, read on.
Search engines subscribe to similar principles, looking for headings, descriptions and titles that give a comprehensive explanation of a page’s content. But there is a difference between a title, a heading, and a description. Let’s take a look at some of these important differences:
Page Title – Also known as the title tag of a web page. This is an important HTML component and one of the core ranking elements for SEO. This title tag is defined by the text in the top line of your Web browser. Often, a user will look at the contents of the title tag before even clicking on the link. As such, the title tag needs to be as accurate and concise as possible, describing the page's content. In Google search results, this is the most prominent line in the result, often in a blue-coloured font. Title tags also remain at the top of your web browser when you follow the link or share it – once again reminding us of how important it is to get this right.
Headings – Also known as heading tags (H Tags for short). This element indicates sub-topics and assists with readability. By breaking down the content slightly, this allows the user to gather a little more information on the webpage, but, more importantly, allows search engines to get a better idea of the content on the page. Headings can be broken down into different categories in order of importance. H1 headings (the most important), H2, H3 and so forth, describe each descending degree of importance.
Description – This is the “summary of the webpage. It tells us what the page is all about and gives a brief description of what the content entails. Rich in keywords, the description does not contribute to your ranking as much as titles and headings do, but they are important in ensuring that a page’s content is authentic and relevant to the search, increasing click-through rates from users, thus further boosting Googles impression of your ranking.
Search engines are machines and your data needs to be machine-readable. Google’s spiders read the text and consider first if the content is relevant to the user search (ie. By matching searched keywords with keywords in your title and heading text) and then by determining if the page is relevant for specific search phrases. Using this gathered data, the ranking is determined by the Google Search algorithm.
Accurate, well-written and descriptive meta-data ranks higher. In optimising your SEO, consider two questions: “Can Google understand what my page has to offer by reading the title and headings?” and “Can users understand what my page has to offer by reading the title, headings AND description?”.
Great titles and headings boost your SEO with Google and good, comprehensive descriptions generate higher click-through, further boosting your ranking.
When you click on a search result link, the very first thing that you would have looked at are the page titles, headings and then their descriptions. Most users will scroll through a webpage paying attention only to these large headlines, formulating an idea of the rest of the content before actually starting to read what the page has to say. So, what do we need to do in order to optimise SEO here?
Let’s begin with that Page Title. Start by making it relevant and unique. It needs to be accurate, honest, and brief. Google generally displays only the first 50-60 characters. If you keep your title within that range, expect at least 95% of your title to display properly. Here, your primary keywords come in, so get your most important keywords into your title, while keeping it coherent. Follow the basic guideline: Primary Keyword – Secondary Keyword - Brand Name.
Next, perfect that Heading. Here, you’ll want to best describe the purpose and the content of the page to those spiders. Keep it simple, but relevant. Remember we spoke about those H1, H2, H3 etc. headings? Well, there should only be one H1 heading per page – any more than that and you’ll confuse the spiders, hurting your ranking. You can use the title of the page here, as well as a keyword, but keep it plain and readable. Keep your H1 unique and make sure each page has an H1 heading, or the spiders won’t find it.
Finally, get to work on your Description. While it’s recommended to use limited keywords in your title, here, you can get to filling up the description with a couple. Sometimes, search engines will actually highlight these keywords for the user to spot with ease. An exciting description, relevant to the content also works very well, and different descriptions for each page will boost that SEO. Remember, descriptions are mostly reserved to 160 characters. You can also monitor click-through rates in Google Search Console – a helpful tool to make sure they’re working.
Don’t forget, keep the information in your Titles, Headings and Descriptions and brief and relevant as possible. Using the right keywords in the right places, observing character limits, and making sure that your content will work to boost your SEO and get you that all-important top ranking!