Another edition of basic SEO for those real estate professionals just starting out.
What is a title tag?
Most of you know what title tags are, if you don't read on, if you do read on and tell me if I have left anything out. A Title tag is the group of words that appear at the very top of your web browser (in I.E. and Fire Fox the title bar default color is blue), the main purpose of a tile is to communicate to users and to search engine spiders what the page is generally about.
Here is how it looks if you were to "View Source""
<html>
<head>
<title>ActiveRain Real Estate Network</title>
<meta name="description" content="ActiveRain real estate network allows real estate agents, mortgage professionals and brokers create a customized profile." />
<meta name="keywords" content="Washington, WA, ActiveRain, Real Estate, agents, Network, Real Estate Agent, Mortgage, realtor, social network" />
</head>
OK, I know what it is, now how do I optimize the thing?
Title tags are important, in fact they are the most important meta data on your page, SO ALWAYS INCLUDE A TITLE. Many think it is the keywords but that simply is not the case. As some search engines spider your page not only do they use the title information to learn about your content, they use it as a measuring device to calculate relevance and sometimes use it to display the "synopsis" that is usually included with your link in the search engine results. With this being said, contribute a good amount of thought before writing your title. One thing to keep in mind however is that you user comes first. I frequently use the phrase "write for humans not spiders".
Writing your keywords into the title.
Like I mentioned before, the title tag is often used as a measuring stick by which the rest of the content is gauged so do your best to include keyword in your title but do it in a way where it reads clearly and makes sense. Keep it concise, informative and relevant to the content. Using your company name in the title is not necessary unless the page is written about the company. Last but not least don't repeat your titles across multiple pages.
Try to use some form of your title early on in your content area and wrap it with an <h1></h1> tag. This will tie the user content in nicely with the meta data and will help with keyword density as well. There is a lot more to title tags, meta data and relevant content but keep this in mind and you should see some improvement in search engine position.
