Comments on: Page Titles and Meta Descriptions: Your Search Calls to Action

By: Kyle James

Kyle James — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:46:29 +0000

Good point. I think you are right about the Student Application issue. I can tell you from past experience the architecture way is used simply because it is easier to manage and you can automate some of that through your templates… that’s why I’ve used it before.

By: wilhb81

wilhb81 — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 06:05:23 +0000

Kyle, you’ve stated out the main points of the Page Titles and Meta Descriptions. You know what, according to the latest survey, there’s up to 53% of website/blog owners didn’t know how to maximize the use of Page Title/Meta description!

By: Paul Prewitt

Paul Prewitt — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:35:37 +0000

Sorry Kyle for the confusion but you hit the nail on the head at exactly what I was saying. In both your cases you utilize the Header element in the title and the title in the Header element. My point was not on writing it one way or the other but rather to make sure you utilize it in both places.

As you mentioned both the “Student Application | Admission | Wofford College” & “Student Application at Wofford College” are both useful titles and as long as the terms Student Application are in the header then you are truly doing what is best for the end users.

Just for argument sake:

FYI, the “Student Application at Wofford College” title is a little vague for the end user as it does not include what the application is for. Although it will probably work just fine as they will probably get it when searching for a school as a prospect. But what if they were searching for the Student Application | Student Leadership Office | Wofford College to get involved on campus? You’ll notice that the architecture approach works a little better there.

P.S. I’m not a fan of architecture site titles I think it is typically done by those that don’t understand or want to put forth the effort to do it well. The only exception is the company structure that has been pre-defined by the blog world with Title | companyName to help you understand where the article if from.

By: Kyle James

Kyle James — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:48:22 +0000

Paul,
I agree and disagree with you. A lot of times we see colleges use an site architecture approach to Page Titles. (example something like: Student Application | Admission | Wofford College) I don’t think this is wrong but for a Header element on the page it should definitely say Student Application but probably not need to include the rest of the architecture elements. Of course the other argument that a page like this should simply have a page title and header of something like “Student Application at Wofford College”. Neither of these are really any more right or wrong than the other they just come down to personal preference.

By: Kyle James

Kyle James — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:44:21 +0000

Eric,
I think the OSU example was so perfect because it was a Higher Ed site at the top “NOT” doing it right but still ranking. Just goes to show you the power of a higher ed site. Now just imagine if all the posts in that newsroom had individual page titles the traffic ranking you could be receiving?

By: Paul Prewitt

Paul Prewitt — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:27:48 +0000

I’ll beg to differ on the “It is way at the top of the page and not actually included in the visual content on that page.” A good design can and probably should include the page title on the page as the visual page title (I reference this blog article for example).

If you write a clear and well thought out page title for the then why should you not utilize that as the on-page title & possibly even for more (aka URL link)?

Keeping the and the on-page title crosses the bridge from search engine to page (most people don’t look at the very top of the browser but do read pages – that is why they are there) allowing them to know that what they clicked on in Google is where they actually went.

So to make a long comment short:
Put thought into your page title = right on the $$
Next use your page title on the page!

By: Will at SEO Keyword Ranking

Will at SEO Keyword Ranking — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:07:55 +0000

I must second the vote for Krug’s “Don’t Make me Think”. You can read it in an afternoon, and there’s just a ton of useful information in a relatively small book.

By: Eric Stoller

Eric Stoller — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:15:33 +0000

Nice to see that an OSU page comes up #1 for that search query…too bad it’s to a 2 year old press release