So if that’s the case, how do you leverage that power? Our 5 essential title tag tips should do the trick…

1) Keep it short.

It’s worth bearing in mind that search engines only display a maximum of 70 or so characters of any page’s title tag in their search results. So, if your title tag is longer than that, remember that it will be cut off at the 70 character point and the rest will be replaced by an ellipsis (…). So, try to stick within that 70 character limit, otherwise you risk compromising your the readability and relevancy of your title tag. In other words, it might not make much sense.

2) Keywords are… well… key.

Don’t forget that the whole reason for improving your title tags is because you want your page to rank for certain keywords. With that in mind, it’s essential to use those particular keywords in the tag – and the closer to the start of the tag, the better. Why? Because it will give you an extra boost in the rankings, and users will be much more likely to click on a link that displays they keyword they’re searching on in the most prominent way.

3) Brand it!

If your brand is well-known in your industry or field, then make the most of it by mentioning it in your title tag. Users who skim down search engine results pages will see more of an incentive to click on your link if there’s a company or brand name they recognise, or one they already have some kind of relationship with.

4) Emotional impact.

Try to think beyond what the content on your page is about, and focus on what makes it relevant to the reader. For example, what can the content on this page do for your reader? Will it help solve a problem? Will it help them make money? Will it change their lives? If you can tug on the emotions of your reader inside your title tag, you’ll give them a huge reason to click through to your page.

5) How does it look?

Finally, remember where the content of your title tags appear. Most people know that you’ll see them in search engine results… but the fact that they are displayed at the top of the browser window is often overlooked. So, make sure that your title tags maintain their readability and relevancy in both places – and a good way to check this is to keep an eye on other sites’ title tags and find out what works visually and what doesn’t… and use that (combined with our other 4 tips) to your advantage.

The research on CGDESIGN was conducted confidentially and we would like to say a big thank you to all our clients who took part and contributed to this achievement.

For more information go to www.recommendedagencies.com

One more thing you’d notice back then is that people were mad about swapping reciprocal links. In fact, if you had a website, it was perfectly normal to receive emails almost every day from other website owners asking you to place a link to their site on your site, and offering to do the same on theirs.

It didn’t matter whether either of the sites had similar content. Or even whether they were from the same industry. Reciprocal links made any site look busier, and way more popular than they probably were. But above all, they kept websites topped up with that all-important Google Juice – the not-so-secret ingredient that drove them up the search engine rankings, increased traffic, and ultimately generated revenue.

And it really did work. At least until the search engines wised up and realised that some links were a lot more valuable than others. Which is why, if you fast-forward back to today, you’ll see a very different story has evolved. Thanks to Google’s (and other search engines’) algorithms, swapping links with any old site no longer does the job. In fact, reciprocal links with non-related sites can often have the opposite effect, and send you hurtling back down the rankings.

But it’s not all bad news. Reciprocal links can still offer traffic-boosting benefits, as long as they’re done in the right way. By that, we mean only swapping links with sites that offer content that’s relevant, or complimentary, to yours. That’s because modern search engines rank sites by the importance – and the relevancy – of the sites that link to them. It’s the golden rule to remember when it comes to reciprocal links. And it’s also why, 5 or 6 years down the line, reciprocal links are still one of the most common and effective forms of website promotion.

Below are some helpful tips to improve the content on your website:

1. We recommend that each web page should have at least 150 words of text on it. There are some cases where this may be difficult, but the search engines really like it so you should do your best to increase the amount of text where you can.

2. The text on your web page should include your most important keyword phrases, but should always remain logical and readable.

3. Always use the phrases that you have used in your other tags (i.e metas, alt, headings, titles, etc.) during the optimisation.

4. Use your most important keyword phrases about 4-8 times per 100 words.

Things that search engines do not like:

1. Sites that use frames in the design.
2. Sites that use dynamic URLs.
3. Sites that use flash.
4. Sites that use image maps for navigation.