The HEAD element. Do you know what it is, what’s in it, and do you know how it works with your webpage? The HEAD element, by definition, is a container, outlined by the opening <head> tag and closing </head> tag at the top of the code of a web page. The HEAD element tells the browser where to find stylesheets, what, if any, scripts to run before a page loads, provides a title for the webpage, and provides meta information about the page. It can do some other things, but for our purposes, we’ll be focusing on the most important bits for SEO and searchers – the title and description meta tags.
What’s a HEAD element look like? The very basic code of a webpage is below; the HEAD element is highlighted in blue:
<html>
<head>
<title>The Page’s Title</title>
<meta name=”Description” content=”The page’s subject matter is briefly described here.” />
<meta name=”Keywords” content=”Keywords relevant to the page’s subject matter are placed here.” />
</head>
<body>
Page content
</body>
</html>
Your website’s HEAD elements will probably be something like the above example, but hopefully with much more content! In our example, the HEAD element contains a few meta tags as well as a title tag; with one exception, these are some of the most important tags in basic search engine optimization. We’ll take a look at these next.
The TITLE Tag. The <title> tag should be considered one of the most important tags your page can have and what you have in your page’s title can make a lot of difference with search engines. First, the <title> tag’s basic function is to give the browser some material to place in the browser’s title bar. For example, if you look at the top of this page while you’re reading this article, you’ll probably find “What’s In Your Head? Examining An Important Web Page Element” among the text displayed at the very top of your browser’s window, tab, or both (depending on your browser). Second, the title tag serves as a basic descriptor of what’s on the page for search engines and will usually show up on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS) as the lead element in a listing (with keywords relevant to the search request BOLDED to draw attention):
The title tag at work in a search engine result listing (the large blue text). None of our keywords are bolded as this is just a sample of what this article would look like.
What should you have in your TITLE tag? Your company name? Your company’s mission statement? For the maximum impact with search engines, you’ll want neither…unless your company’s name is using keywords relevant to the specific page’s content. The title tag must be short and ideally under 70 characters in length (counting spaces). Why? Search engines will trim off anything over their particular limit and 70 characters is pretty much the average. This means you’re much better off spending that character budget on relevant keywords rather than reminding visitors about your company’s name (which they should be aware of if viewing the page); the browser’s titlebar is one of the least human-viewed bits of a webpage anyway, so you might as well design it to be attractive to search engines.
With the above in mind, design your title tag to briefly and accurately describe the page’s subject while using relevant keywords to do it. Placing the keywords near the front of the title is preferred and will help give the page a much better chance with search engines. Create unique title tags, using this approach, for each and every page on your website; no two page titles should be the same. Doing this will provide an appealing view of your website in the eyes of search engines. Yes, this is quite painful if you have a lot of pages, but you know the saying, “no pain, no gain”…it runs true here.
The Description Meta Tag. Another key tag in the HEAD element is the Description Meta tag. While not a given, the description meta tag, for a web page, is generally used to describe the link being shown in SERPS. Think of the description tag as a billboard for your listing in the SERPS. It’s importance to actual rankings is debated; however, you still want to design this tag to accurately describe the page’s subject matter while doing it in a manner that draws a searcher’s attention like a bee to honey (no, really!). Strategically placing relevant keywords is important (they often get bolded in search results), but keep in mind that your copy here should be easily understood by humans (i.e. no gobbledegook). As with the page title tag, each page’s description meta tag should be unique and limited in size (around 160 characters in this case).
If you forget to place description meta tags on your site’s pages, the search engines will generally pick some text from each page to represent the page in search engine results (they’re looking for relevant content). This is common on blogs and on pages covering a wide variety of topics, and it’s not really a bad thing. However, if you want to control the focus of the page and center it around a few key phrases/terms, it’s better to design your own description tags.
The Keywords Meta Tag. We still hear it often and many people ask about it, so it bears repeating – Google does NOT use the keyword meta tag in web rankings. Your website will do just as well without a keywords meta tag as it would with one. That being said, having this tag on your pages might help with the smaller, less sophisticated search engines out there.
Common Pitfalls With Title and Meta Description Tags. There are a few pitfalls that websites can fall into with their title and meta tags and you should take whatever steps available to avoid them:
- Boilerplating – Boilerplating is our term for title and meta description tags that are duplicated across every page of a website. This is usually driven by a single configuration file, an include file, laziness, or an option in a CMS or e-commerce system. Avoid it like the plague! This practice is common among small sites or custom-built CMS systems where time and resources may be limited. Search engine results with your listings will look bland and rather monotonous, offering nothing of real value to searchers while your competitor, who took the time to give each of their pages unique tags, presents a colorful, interesting landscape that search engines find irresistible. You do want to attract visitors and/or conversions right?
- Keyword Stuffing – Some websites will treat their title and description tags like auxiliary keywords meta tags. This is a sure way to dissuade both search engines and searchers from visiting your site. Strategically use keywords in page titles and description meta tags while accurately describing what’s to be found on the page, don’t overdo it.
- Getting Carried Away – Step away from the keyboard! There’s no need to write a novel in your title and description tags and if you do, it’s not helping. Take that creativity and direct it to the page’s content where your site’s visitors can enjoy it.
We’ve only covered a few of the tags you can find in the HEAD element of a web page that matters to SEO. There are some other important head element tags; however, they are topics in and of themselves and not all of them have to do with SEO. The key here is that you should ensure your website is at least using the basic tags within the HEAD element to their fullest as they represent some of the most important and simplest to use SEO tools for any website. If you don’t know what’s in your site page’s head elements, there’s a good chance you’re not seeing the results you expect or demand.
By the way, if you want to get your head examined (your page’s head elements that is), be sure to check out our SEO programs; we can get you on the right track!
