There is little question about the importance of title tags when it comes to SEO. While it’s true good content is an important aspect of a successful site, what good is quality content if the title doesn’t catch your attention? How many people would’ve read To Kill A Mockingbird had it been titled Hanging with Atticus and Scout?
Apply that thinking to title tags, meta descriptions and search users. Why would a potential visitor click your site’s link if it had a poorly written description or misleading title? These site attributes are extremely important when it comes to search engines because with search users, you are trying to inspire them to click the link pointing to your site.
Rand Fishkin talked about meta descriptions and title tags at his blog, telling readers to pay close attention to the way these attributes are displayed in search results:
We see a high level of variation because while Ask & Google use the title and meta description directly from Netflix, Yahoo! and MSN are pulling data from the Yahoo! directory and DMOZ (respectively). I’d bet $50 that Netflix could get a 20%+ boost in their CTR at MSN simply by using the NOODP tag?
Fishkin also informs readers to consider their meta description ad copy and when you consider how search engines function, he’s absolutely correct. Would you click a poorly written search ad? If not, then why would you expect a search user to click a site with an ineffective description?
Chris Richardson
Staff Writer | Murdok
