A question about the usage of Keywords in the title tag Keyword 1 and in the body of the content is always making forum threads, blog topics that I frequently visit. I got way too involved in one thread and took matters into my own hands.
The Hypothesis: Keywords in Title tag are Important!
I decided to run a test for 2 weeks. One of my websites ranked on the 3rd page for “Widget services and products” but the title tag of the website was “Products and services for Widget”. Notice that the main keyword, “Widget”, was at the very end of my title tag. I rearranged it to “Widget Services and Products” in which case my keyword was at the beginning.
Next, I looked at my content. The word “widget” was used to often and sometimes out of context. When I read my own content, I realized that I would not even buy my own products and services. The content felt way too spammy. I took the content, took out all the “Widget” terms and rewrote it with proper use of “Widget” term.
To me it made sense to place the keyword at the very beginning because of emphasis. It is no point putting general words before your main keyword because google will look at the title tag first to get a sense of your website.
So I sat back for 2 weeks amongst a lot of anxiety. With search engines you never really know anything. You can always have a hypothesis that can be true but with algorithms changing faster than Paris Hilton’s b/f’s, it becomes evident that anything can hurt your search engine rankings.
So……..Voila! I made it to page 1. I only changed the Title tags and change my content to become more relevant.
Some key points:
1. Keep you content clean
2. Think and read like a visitor
3. Keywords in Title tag are important!
