Title and Description tags

Title tag length

There are several SEO factors to focus when optimizing title tags for Joomla! websites:

  1. unique titles
  2. title tag length
  3. keywords in title tags

Examples of short and uninformative titles (usually one word title) that do not reflect the content of the page: "Home", "Frontpage", etc.

Seo tips:
  • Search engines value the user experience, so extremely lengthy titles and stuffed with keywords may not reflect the page content and may not be useful for them.
  • A title tag must be informative and give a summary of the page content.
  • A short title might be uninformative.
  • A long title might be stuffed with unnecessary information for user and search engines may truncate it (generally if it exceeds 70 characters).
 
Duplicate title tags

Unique title tags are a must for Joomla! websites.

Though Joomla! generates an insignificant number of pages, it is best to avoid using the same title to entire website or on large groups of pages.

For example, the "Home Page" content is different than the "Contact us" content, so should be the title tags. All duplicate title tags are displayed in RSSeo! under the Pages tab, after crawling your Joomla! website.

Seo tips:
  • the title tag is the most important on-page Seo factor, so focus on writing good title tags that will accurately reflect the content of a page. Search engines value the importance of the title tag;
  • choose carefully the targeted keyword; use research tools that suggest keywords like Google Suggestion Tool and Trellian keyword discovery that will return results based on area and search volume, ppc campaigns;
  • when you decide what will be the targeted keyword for a page, include it in the title tag;
  • to increase the keyword prominence use it at the beginning of the title tag.
 
Meta description tag length

Meta descriptions are short snippets that search engines use in search results besides title tags to inform the user about the page content.

A meta description tag must be informative and give a summary of the page content.

Best practices for meta descriptions:
  • a short meta description might be uninformative and may not convince the user to click on the page.
  • though it is not a rule, a long meta description might be stuffed with unnecessary information for user and search engines may truncate it.
  • write an unique meta description for each page; search engines will decide what content to display in results if the meta description is missing.
 
Seo tip:
  • avoid using too many keywords in meta description or keywords that aren't relevant for the page content; search engines value the user experience, so the meta descriptions stuffed with keywords may not reflect the page content and may not be useful for them.
 
Duplicate meta description

As default all Joomla! pages have the same meta tags: meta description and meta keywords.

RSSeo! crawls the website and displays all duplicate meta tags and overrides the default ones: Joomla! - the dynamic portal engine and content management system and joomla, Joomla.

The meta description tag is important for search engines because it is used as snippets in the results page.

Write an unique meta description for every Joomla! page, otherwise search engines will display the same description.

 
SEO tips:
  • focus on writing good meta descriptions that will accurately reflect the page content because it could increase the users click-trough rate;
  • a well written meta description will decrease the user click-back rate;
  • choose carefully the targeted keyword and use it in meta description;
  • use research tools to find the appropriate keywords like Google Suggestion Tool and Trellian keyword discovery that will return results based on area and search volume, ppc campaigns;
  • avoid repeating the title tag in the meta description;
  • avoid stuffing the meta description with too many keywords.
 
 

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