If your goal is to increase the traffic to your website, search engine optimization will meet that goal. But, is ranking high in the search engines for the chosen keywords enough to get the searcher to click into your web site?

Once your site is ranking high in the search engines â?? you are given only a small amount of content to convince the searcher that they should visit your site. The web page title is one of the most important factors in your sites’ search engine rankings; and it is one of the most important factors in getting visitors to click on your site. The search engine shows the title of the web page and a description in the results. Here are some tips for creating title tags that will encourage clicks; and then some mistakes that will cause your site to be passed over in the search results.

Title Do’s

• Use compelling words in your titles-words that will entice the searcher to click on your site.
• Use a question when creating title tags. When you ask a question â?? this mentally forces a searcher to answer the question and increases the chances of a visit.
• Use your most important keyword phrase near the beginning of the title, but in a way that will pull in the visitor.
• Write the title in sentence case â?? start with a capital letter, but continue with all lower case letters. This is easier to read.
• Make your titles short and snappy. Make it a quick advertisement for your business.
• Write your title so that the visitor believes your site will solve their problem or answer their question.
• Create a sense of urgency in your title tags, when possible.
• Make certain that the title is the first piece of information in the site code.
• Every page on the site should have a unique title.

Title Don’ts

• Don’t stuff your title with a string of keywords. It’s difficult to read; looks spammy and it’s unprofessional.
• Don’t use all caps in your title tag. Don’t yell at your potential visitors!
• Don’t use a boring title. Create an effective online marketing ad for your site.
• Don’t use your keyword phrase more than once in your title tag â?? this is bad for optimization AND it doesn’t read well.
• Don’t use your company name in your title tag unless you use your important keyword phrase as well AND put your company name at the end of your title tag if you must use it.
• Don’t use special characters when creating titles in an effort to get to the top of the rankings in sites or directories that rank in alphabetical order. For example, don’t add a “!!!” or “AAA” to the front of your title to try to rank higher.

It takes some time and work to rank high in the search engines for keywords that will be beneficial to your website. There is usually a great deal of competition for most keyword phrases. Once you achieve your desired position in the search engines. Make sure you make the best use of the title that the search engine will display to entice the searcher to visit your website.