Handpicked Search Industry Headlines And Posts
Issue #114: Google Backlinks
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"Understanding Internet Search Technology"
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February 06, 2007 SearchReturn Issue #114
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.....IN THIS DIGEST.....
// -- FEATURED POST -- //
"Title Length"
~ Terry Van Horne
// -- NEW DISCUSSION -- //
"SearchReturn Tips"
~ Ron Walker
// -- ESSENTIAL NEWS -- //
"Google Backlinks"
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// -- FEATURED POST -- //
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==> Title Length
From: Terry Van Horne <>
Hi All!
Often less is more, however, lets consider also that SE's are not
the only users of your title. The <Title> is not just important
for ranking. When I put my marketing hat on I change focus and
the title, in many cases, is now my CTA (Call To Action). The
Title is the element that stands out most in the SERP ie is the
most visible CTA in your listing, is often used by reactive
linkers (someone links to you unsolicited).
So yes the title length is important for ranking; but, as most of
us know when you make that your chief concern you may not get the
full value from the title elsewhere ie: from directories that
index the site and display the title as the text in the link and
reactive linkers so you've degraded the back link text indexed by
SE (they may not weight it all, but... no one but a SE engineer
knows that for sure). So, if you only consider SE's then you've
cheated yourself elsewhere with shorter CTA's written ***only***
for SEs. SEO is all about trade offs. Know what your goals are
for the page and adjust the title to fit the goal.
I would also like to share some research that Bob Gladstein
(Qwerty) did (a year or two ago, so maybe not so relevant now)
that indicated Google actually weighted more than what it
displays. To the best of my knowledge this still seemed to be
the case last time I checked. Bob's research indicated it
wasn't a character count algo but perhaps one based on the number
of words. His research seemed to indicate the first ten words
were weighted heavier. Those after the first ten words were
still weighted but less than the 10 preceding them but likely as
heavy as other words found elsewhere in the page.
If that is the case then it is entirely possible that the short
concise title is not utilizing the title fully. IMO, the <title>
is the Father in the SEO Holy Trinity so... when you put less in
it then... Unless you're doing the Titles with |, > and other
SEO over-optimizing techniques, then, getting all the terms you
want to optimize a page for is complicated because the title will
be longer than 65 characters. Remember being in the top ten is
useless if you don't get clicked! If you don't get clicked all
you've really got is bragging rights and nobody can take that to
the bank.
How compelling is:
Gibson electric guitars > Gibson acoustic guitars > Gibson dealer
in a SERP with:
Gibson Electric & Acoustic Guitar Dealer: All Models In Stock!
If SE's actually do weight **only** the first 55-65 characters in
the title differently then... All your bases are covered and
maybe you can avoid a trade off because you've got the best of
both worlds.
Which gets clicked or stands out more? The SEO's keyword centric
unimaginative <title tag> or the marketers compelling
<title CTA>?
As to the problem of truncation of titles by SE's... simply make
the first 65 characters be the message/CTA. It's not like your
title will be the only truncated listing in the SERP and I rather
doubt a user cares whether the link text ends with ... or . as
long as it is **coherent and readable** I doubt it matters much
if at all. That just seems like a bit of a stretch to me. IMO,
users just aren't paying that much attention and don't give it a
second thought. SEOs may, but... we make our living from
noticing the little things in a SERP that go right over a users
head...
Best Regards,
Da' Tmeister
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// -- NEW DISCUSSION -- //
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==> SearchReturn Tips
From: Ron Walker <>
Disa,
Love the idea of including informative texts and tips in
SearchReturn.
There is way too much information on SEO available today, since
much of it is uninformed speculation. We don't have the time for
that anymore. Our team concentrates on information from credible
sources like you.
Thanks for all your help.
Best,
Ron
---------
Ron Walker
http://www.AllAboutVision.com
Media kit: http://www.AllAboutVision.info
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// -- ESSENTIAL NEWS -- //
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==> Google Backlinks
http://searchengineland.com/070205-165836.php
Essentials: Partly resolving a major issue for the search
marketing community, Google via Webmaster Central now supplies
verified webmasters with truer backlink reference reporting.
Danny has an excellent post up about how it works, and if you've
verified to Google's Webmaster Central, you will now have access
to much more backlink info than available before.
Webmasters long wished for Google to report this information,
which to those in the search marketing community find invaluable.
As a practitioner, you have greater incentive now to recommend
that your clients sign up for - and verify - for Google Webmaster
Central aka Sitemaps. They can export data for your review, or
you may even have permission to access it directly.
Comment? mailto:digest@searchreturn.com?subject=Google
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