Creating a Page Title

When I do my Basic Usability and Design Analysis the first thing I check is title of the page. This is my first clue to knowing if the author of the site has a reasonable understanding of site architecture. I look to see if the title is relevant, and I look to see if it matches the main heading that is visible to the visitor.

Looking at the results from my last ten analyses, five of the sites failed to have a decent title. They often made little sense, did not always reflect page content, and typically looked like keyword lists instead of titles. I was asked to take a look at an E.N.S.M., what I call a “Extreme Niche Selling Machine”, and see what I think of their title. The site is www.gadgets4nowt.co.uk. Their title passed inspection with flying colors with maybe the exception to capitalization.

Their title is “Free PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, 3g iPhone & much more – Don’t miss out!” It may appear at first a lot like a keyword list, but really it’s not. The title makes sense, and nearly perfectly matches the sites headline of “Get a Free PS3, free Wii, free Xbox 360 ELITE,Free 3g IPHONE, free iPod, free iPhone, & more..” Now that part appears more like a keyword list, but in their defense, that is what the site is about. It is a E.S.N.M. after all.

Their main page title was done well, but looking around they did need some work for the other pages. If you look at their Free PS3 News page you will find they used the same title as the home page. This will offer no help in regards to search engine optimization, and it could also confuse the visitor.

Tips to Creating a Page Title

When creating a page title here are some tips I like to offer:

• Page title should closely match the main content heading title
• It should be under 70 characters
• It should make sense when read out loud
• It should be properly capitalized as a title
• It should be designed specifically for the one page it is on
• It should closely match menu titles that link to it
• Page identifiable, descriptive words first

Sometimes I get the feeling that a site author has no understanding of the title tag. This is when I give them my basic title advice. I tell them to pretend they are titling a book, and their picture will be on the front cover. This usually improves the title quality drastically.