How to Create a Killer Title Tag for SEO (5 Best Practices)


Are you having trouble writing eye-catching title tags for your website? Before a user clicks on your link, the first thing they’ll notice is your page title.

That’s why creating good title tags is important for any website. It not only gets people to click on your page but also sends a positive signal to search engines, making it essential for SEO.

In this article, we’ll show how to create a killer title tag for SEO. We’ll go through some of the best practices you can follow, so writing a title will be easier than ever before.

What is Title Tag in SEO?

A title tag is an HTML element that specifies the title of your post to search engines and users. It appears on search engine result pages (SERPs) as clickable links and as headlines when you share your post on social media.


Here’s how a title tag looks like on Google:


Your title tags are the first thing that will catch the eye of people. It provides users a quick view of what they can expect from your page. So, it’s important to grab their attention and get them to click on your link.

Title tags also play a significant role in SEO and help you rank higher.

How? Let’s find out …

Why are SEO Title Tags Important?

If you can get your title tags right, you’ll increase your click-through rate (CTR). And high CTR means higher rankings.

Among the 200 ranking factors of Google, one of them is CTR. The search engine will improve the ranking of a page for a particular keyword if it gets more clicks.

The second reason why SEO titles are necessary is that they tell the search engine what’s the page is about. By including a keyword in the title tag, you’re telling Google the topic of your content.

A focus keyword also helps to catch users’ attention. It tells them that the post is about what they’re looking for on the search engine.

And the third reason for title tags being crucial is that different websites and social media networks will use it as headlines. You can even customize different social channels meta tags to show even longer titles.

Title Tag vs H1: What’s the Difference?

Now, most people confuse title tags with H1 tags because they are usually the same.

That’s because it’s a common practice across industries to keep them similar as it provides consistency. It reduces the chances of any confusion when a user clicks on the result in the search engine and views the same title.

However, there is a difference between title tags and H1 tags.

Title tags are shown on search engine results and at the top of the browser tab.


You can also view title tags in the source page of any website. They can be found in the head section and they look like this:


On the other hand, H1 is the main heading you would see on the landing page.


Are you ready to create eye-catching title tags? Here are some best practices you follow…

Best Practices for Creating a Title Tag

Many website owners find it difficult to come up with attention-grabbing title tags. But with these tips, you can master the art of creating appealing titles.

1. Place Your Focus Keyword at the Start

The first best practice is to place your keyword at the beginning of the title tag. That’s because it helps in getting your users’ attention when they scan the web looking for a solution to their search query.

A study by Neilson Norman Group shows that people understand the first 11 characters or 2 words in headlines.

So, if you add your focus keyword at the start, the first thing users will notice is the keyword. As a result, it will increase your chances of getting a click.

2. Match the Search Intent in Your Titles

Including a keyword in the title tag used to be an important ranking factor for Google, but that has changed over time.

Now, it’s vital to get the search intent right and SEO titles to play a huge role.

Search intent or keyword intent is what searchers really want. Are they looking for information about a product? Do they want to visit a website? Or do they want to buy the product?

Getting the search intent right is essential if you want to rank high on Google. And you can start to capture the intent through your titles.

To understand what’s the keyword intent, enter a search term on Google and look at the results on the first page. You’ll see a pattern on how the titles are written and then you can write your SEO title tags the same way.

For instance, if you search for the best laptops 2020 on Google, the top results will have a buying intent. The titles for each result also match that intent and helps users in making an informed choice.


Another way of looking at the intent is through SEO tools. These tools will show you the top SERPs for any keyword. You can then use them to craft your own title tags with the same intent.

3. Use Power Words to Add Emotions

Once you’ve got your focus keyword and understood its intent, you can use power words in your title tags to trigger emotions and standout from others.

Power words use psychological responses to makes your titles irresistible for users. You can add words like bargain, frenzy, giveaway, or skyrocket to capture greed.

Similarly, if you want to spark curiosity then you can use words like astonishing, interesting, strange, and unexplained.

And if you want to establish trust then words like ensured, authentic, guaranteed, and certified work well in title tags.

4. Keep Your Title Tags within 60 Characters

When it comes to writing your SEO headlines, we often come across a question – how long should a title tag be for SEO?

One of the best practices for creating a title tag is to keep it within 60 characters (with space), so search engines don’t cut it off from the end.

If you do exceed the length, then the search engine will use an ellipsis (…) at the end. This could make your titles sound incomplete or it could overlook valuable information.


The exact length of titles is usually described in pixels and is generally within 600 pixels. But with different letters taking up different pixel space, it’s recommended that you keep your titles to 50 to 60 characters at max.

Pro tip: If you want to know if your titles are within limit and have the right emotion, you can use tools like IsItWP Headline Analyzer. It’s a free tool and gives you insights about how you can improve your titles.

5. Create Unique Titles for Each Page

Since you’ll have many pages on your website, it’s important to create unique titles for each page to differentiate them from each other.

Unique titles help you avoid any confusion of duplicate content between you and the search engine. By giving each page a different title tag, you’re helping Google give it a relevant name on SERPs.

It also helps with the user experience of your site, especially if you have an eCommerce store. Different titles provide better navigation to visitors, as they can find different products and services on your website.

And that’s it for this post!

Using the best practices described in this post, you can come up with attractive headlines and help boost your traffic.

We hope you liked our article on how to create a killer title tag for SEO. You can also go through our guide on the most important Google Analytics metrics every business should track.

And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more helpful guides to grow your website.

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