Comments on: SEO 101: DIY Tips For Small Business Owners – The Page Title

By: Alysson

Alysson — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:47:42 +0000

@Donna – thank you! I hope you glean something useful from my posts. I love helping small business owners like you learn more about SEO and work to successfully optimize their own sites. YOU keep up the good work and I’ll continue doing my best to give you the information you need. :)

@June – while Google may index titles longer than 70 characters, those titles are never seen in the search results by users, so it is optimal to keep titles under 7o characters. Not to mention that optimizing a single page for more than 2-4 terms is not a good idea, so having wildly long titles with a large number of terms – whether indexed by Google or not – is not wise, nor constructive.

You might find the Web Developer’s Cheat Sheet and Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide (which specifically suggests using “brief, but descriptive titles”.

By: June

June — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:12:58 +0000

I liked the article, but what I don’t agree with is 70 characters max. Experiments show that google reads beyond that. Have they said otherwise recently?

By: Donna Hamilton

Donna Hamilton — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 08:43:38 +0000

Hi Alysson, as a small business DIY SEO-er, reading tips from experts such as you is vital to our learning. It’s great to read your comments as they are easy-reading! Thanks for that…keep up the good work & I look forward to the series.

By: Alysson

Alysson — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 22:13:32 +0000

Thanks, Hjortur. You’re absolutely right…the more a small business owner understands about SEO prior to working with us, the easier it is to work with them.

I’ve always been of the mindset that I’ll share whatever knowledge I have with a client and answer whatever questions they may have. 99% of the time, the more they know about how incredibly involved the process is, the less likely they are to have the time and willingness to do it themselves.

On the flip side, if someone is willing to learn all that is involved with search marketing in order to do it themselves, I’d prefer they have the right information from the get-go!

By: Hjortur Smarason

Hjortur Smarason — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:46:12 +0000

Nice article, Aly. Look forward to the series. I think DIY is an excellent approach in todays economy. And we don’t have to worry about it taking away business from us. It will only help small business owners realize the need for a professional. Them having basic understanding on SEO makes it easier for us to work with them. Good work.

By: Alysson

Alysson — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:11:32 +0000

While there are exceptions, that’s a good general recommendation – especially when targeting long-tail keywords with individual blog posts or pages.

By: Yuka

Yuka — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:01:45 +0000

I would suggest not more than 3 keyword phrases for a main page and main categories. 1 keyword per every other page.

By: Alysson

Alysson — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 01:11:34 +0000

You’re absolutely right, Steve. One thing that seems to get lost in all the technical jargon and industry buzzwords is that the many of the on-site aspects of SEO, like having great content and well-planned internal link structure, are supposed to improve the visitor’s experience and increase a site’s usability.

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 00:33:42 +0000

Great info for small business owners wanting to do their own SEO. I find that alot of small business owners don’t really know where to start with SEO, but the Page Title is a great place to start. I think the real art in SEO is getting something that works for both users and search engine robots.

By: Alysson

Alysson — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 16:43:30 +0000

You’re absolutely right, Zack. Optimizing a site is a bit like playing a game of Chess with Google – knowing the rules and having a strategy are very important.