How important are title tags and description tags?

How important are title tags and description tags?

Answer

Title tags, in general, are currently, in theory the most important on-page SEO element.

However, none of us work for Google so who really knows? It is proven through thousands of websites testing the theory that the title tag has a significant impact on search engine placement. You'll want to make sure the identical keyword phrase and the important variations of that phrase are in the title tag (for each page on your website)

Placement of the title tag within your code is also questionable. What if you put the Title Tag in the last meta position, below keyword tags and description tags and all of that good stuff? Is it less effective? Is it more effective as the first meta tag? We're not really sure but your best bet is to have the important elements as high up on the page as possible.

The word on the street is description tags have no value other than helping searchers find the most relevant website for their search query. In other words, its a way to advertise your website and may have no impact on your search placement for specific keywords. We, Qi, disagree with that approach. We tend not to look at specific on-page elements or choose only the elements that are "KNOWN" to have an impact on search placement.

The idea is to generate a page of code that is as relevant and unique as possible for the keywords you are targeting. Generate a great overall theme through ALL of your code and you are almost guaranteed to win top placement.

Focus on generating useful content that your readers would find useful. In doing that, Google will recognize the value of your content and "NATURALLY" rank you high for the keywords it feels will best suit the searchers/phrases. You'll need links to back you, of course, but in terms of "on-page" optimization, the above is our standard approach.

Have something to say?