Title-Tag Checklist for Text-Based Documents (Web Pages)

Ten important guidelines to consider when optimizing your (X)HTML title tags for search/retrieval. This checklist helps website owners to optimize (X)HTML title tags for both search engines and human users.The title tag is very important in terms of search engine visibility because it serves multiple functions: (1) Title-tag text is considered primary text by all the search engines, meaning that all the search engines index this text and use it to determine content aboutness and relevancy. (2) Title-tag text is usually presented as a hyperlink on search results pages. This hyperlink is the call to action—it’s letting searchers know there is a link to information pertaining to the words they entered in a search query.(3) If keywords are present in the title tag, searchers are more confident that a search engine has delivered the best results when they see their query words displayed as a hyperlink. Searchers also believe clicking a keyword-focused link will lead them to desired content.(4) Title-tag text is the text shown in Bookmarks and Favorites in web browsers.Text-based documents with clearly labeled titles supports the text component of search engine optimization (SEO). The foundation of successful SEO consists of four fundamental building blocks: the text component, link component, popularity component, and searcher behavior component. Websites that use this core in synergy tend to gain increased search engine visibility over time.