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Q. I have few queries about the SEO title tags:
- What should be the ideal length, punctuation concerns while writing titles?
- Whether title tag is always displayed in search results?
- Additionally, is it possible to get a list of un-optimized title tags?
A. Title tags are an integral part of any SEO professional’s strategy and it is very important to have your facts right about writing them and estimating their impact on your SERPs. To begin with your queries.
Title Tag Length – There is a sort of consensus among SEO experts about the optimal title tag length of less than 70 characters (with spaces). This length is based on how much the search engines display in their results.
Writing Title Tags – While you are writing title tags, many are confused about using punctuation marks like dashes or pipes. To take a decision, you must remember that Google takes both dashes and pipes as separators. Now this may not impact your rankings, however, you must run an A/B test to gather the effect on your CTR.
Title Tags Showing Up In Search Results – You are wrong if you think your title tag is always the one picked up by the search engine bots. In fact, many times the engines construct their own listing title by picking up content from the page. Another place from where they can grab content is from the DMOZ listing of your site.
List of Un-Optimized Title Tags – You can get a list of un-optimized title tags by signing up with Google’s Webmaster Tools. Then verify your site and you will be provided with a list of pages that have un-optimized title tags. You will know of title tags that are:
- Missing
- Duplicate
- Long
- Short
- Non-informative
