Writing for the Web
Page titles
The page title is the band of text you see at the top of your browser window. The page title, or <title> tag, is one of the most important pieces of copy on your site. It tells site visitors what they can expect to find on the page, and for people with a slow Internet connection, it’s often the first text they see.
The title of this page is “News, Blogs, and Tools for Living Green | Yahoo! Green.” The text is entered into the HTML code making up the page, inside the <title> element, which looks something like this: <title> News, Blogs, and Tools for Living Green | Yahoo! Green</title>. (To learn how the <title> tag and other HTML elements make up a webpage, see “Coding Basics.”)
The page title will appear in many places, such as:
- The title bar of most browser windows
- The label of a browser tab
- A list of search results, as the link text
- A Favorites or Bookmarks menu (consider how the title will look in a long list of bookmarks)
- A browser’s Back and Forward menus and History panel
- The Windows taskbar
- The program-switching Alt+Tab interface on a PC
Because it can appear in so many places, the page title is a key component in building an informative user experience. The page title also carries weight with search engines—and it’s often ignored or forgotten by site creators. Take this snippet of text seriously.
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Web designers call the page title “required text” because the HTML <title> tag must be included to form a webpage. But computers won’t know whether you have written text in the tag or not. So, even if you forget to write the page title, some sort of default text will appear. That’s why it’s possible (and not uncommon) to see webpages with nothing but hyphens or placeholder text in this essential area of the page. When you review your pages online, begin by checking the page title.
Follow these page-title guidelines:
- Make the first 65 characters count. Most search engines index the first 65 characters, which can become the linked headings on search-results pages. Put the most descriptive words about your webpage first in the title, and don’t waste a single character.
Example
Before
YouMe – The Most Fabulous Website in the World for Inside Information About You and Me
After
YouMe - Inside Information About You and Me
- Use the words that people will most likely type into search engines when they’re seeking content like yours. If your product or company name is well-known and will probably be part of people’s search queries, use the name in homepage and other top-level page titles. But if people are more likely to search on words other than your product or service name, make those words prominent in your page titles. You may even want them to precede your site or company name.
Example
Before
Me-Yow! Inc.
After
Me-Yow! Hats for Cats and Other Cat Apparel (People are searching on “Me-Yow!” but also on “cat apparel.”)
- Give each page a title that reflects its specific content and purpose. Don’t just paste the same title onto every page. Deep-level page titles, such as product detail pages, should communicate distinct, descriptive content and use words that people may search on.
- Use consistent syntax (such as site name - section title - page name) for titles on pages of the same level.
- Orient the user in multipage processes, such as the checkout process on a retail site. Use the page title to communicate location as well as progress within the process.
Example
Checkout - Enter Shipping Information - Step 1 of 4 - Me-Yow!
Checkout - Enter Payment Information - Step 2 of 4 - Me-Yow!
Checkout - Review and Submit Your Order - Step 3 of 4 - Me-Yow!
Checkout - Order Confirmation - Step 4 of 4 - Me-Yow!
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Some special characters, including the em dash, may not always display correctly in the page-title area. That’s why it’s standard in page titles to separate phrases with a colon or a hyphen. For more on special characters, see “Special Characters.”
