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.
Another important point on title tags is to make sure each page of your site has different title tags. Great tip Lou.
If any of you use wordpress as a CMS you can use plugins that customize the title tags for each post and page. It's kinda nice, I haven't quite figured it out just yet because I don't really know how to change it over without messing with my posts. But for those of you who are thinking of using a blog I would recomend that plugin right away.
Rogan McGillis
www.reversemortgagecity.com
Great post Lou! The title tag is an important element that is often overlooked in SEO.
I wanted to add something to that too. From what the experts are saying, for better SEO, the title should lead with the page description (or blog post title) then follow it up with the company name (or blog title). Even Active Rain might benefit from rearranging their blog post titles. For example, it might be better SEO for this page title to be "Optimizing your title tag - Real Estate Blog". This puts your keywords more toward the front of the blog title.
Rick
Rogan - Thanks for the wordpress tip. I have been wondering just how to do that with my blog. Can you provide a link for us?
Rick -I am not sure adding the company name to the title tag is such a good idea if that is what you meant. The title tag is valuable real estate and adding your company name is redundant unless your company name includes a term you are trying to rank for.
Hi Lou,
Yeah, I just wanted to point out the fact that if you used a company name, it is better suited to the right.
Now, I've had one agent improve her traffic to her website by moving the company name (Remax) from the start to the end. She wanted it in the title and who am I to argue with her. I just told her the best place to put it. This is why I wanted to add to your post.
Now my personal suggestion is this. If you are an agent with a company that advertises a lot (TV, radio, etc.), I would put it in the title...at the end of course. Because, people do see those commercials and will search for "Relocating Phoenix AZ Remax". Or, if buyers or sellers have worked with and like a particular company, they will add the company search term.
Now my advice above is just general advice for all websites.
I did come across a good example of what I'm trying to say.
Let's take Target.com
If you click on "Men", the title is "Men : Target".
Next, if you click on "Clothing", the title is "Clothing : Men : Target".
Next, if you click on "Dress Pants", the title is "Dress Pants : Clothing : Men : Target".
Do you see how the company name is moved to the right? This is the good practice that SEO experts are talking about. Keywords left, company name right...if you use it.
Look at this page from JCPenny. Do you see how they have their company name first? Now do a search on Google for dress pants, clothing, men. Or click here. On my search, Target came first and the third down was JCPenny. Coincidence? Who knows? Probably? But you get the idea.
And, as mentioned above, the same thing goes for blogs. Post Title first, then Blog Title.
I do want to state, I'm not in SEO, but I try and keep up with it to give the agents that I work with the best advice for their website. Especially if they are doing it themselves and not paying to have it done.
Rick
Rick great comment and I see your point. You should probably open that up on a new blog, I am sure that will get a lot of activity.
Thanks for the comment
Good info. Thank you Lou. Very helpfull.
Tommy
Yes, proper title tags will definately help in your rankings.
Another frequently missed opportunity is the page name.
Don't just use: YourDomainName.com/contact
It will help your indexing to use something like: YourDomainName.com/contact Phoenix-Real-Estate-Pro
The dashes help the crawlers parse the keywords for maximum effectiveness.
There a few more tims on my site here: Search Engine Optimization
Stick with it Carol, call me if you have any questions.
Bob, page name is a biggy. My next blog will be on the effectiveness of using blog commenting as an SEO startegy : )
Thanks for the comment
We have had some interesting lsucces lately with targeted domain names. I now have clients in multiple cities ranking # 1 - #3 across the 3 major search engines for geo-targeted foreclosure and fix & flip webistes. They are just well optimized static sites designed to feed back to their main site (not a redirect) but wow, we are capturing the rankings !
We are willing to take on clients in selected cities where we are not currently working with other brokers.
Great input. Title and description are both so important. Thanks,
Mary "B"
Austin, Texas
Good info. You are right about the importance of the title tag and making sure similar info in on the page. Good tip on having the title match an H1 tag. Thanks.
I find all of this overwhelming and want to sell real estate not make websites. Now, if I could just find someone good to do all of this..