Practical SEO for Every Blogger
At the top of the list and the top of your template are your blog title and the description of what it’s about. Here’s how to write ’em and how to tag ’em.
Title Tags
Call It What It Is. Snappy titles are fun and clever, but they often don’t communicate. If you choose to go that route, know that you’re asking people and search engines to process more. Music Marketing Blog might not sound exciting, but it communicates more clearly and more quickly than Razza-Jazza ever could. If you’re set on a funky title, consider a subtitle. Always make your description explicitly clear and straightforward.
On my writing blog I have a nondescript title, Letting me be . . . random wandering and philosophy with a subtitle, Storytelling that Makes Memories, on the blog to explain it. Eric’s title includes a subtitle–a phrase with three keywords: free, blog, and promotion. (He’s recently edited it to better reflect his blog content. The keywords now are funny, blog, promotion.)
How do you write that?
- Keep the title short and clear.
- Include keywords.
- If you go Eric’s route–space 2 colons space–know that a direct hit listing will show that way.
How do you tag that?
Here’s how it looks for Eric’s blog.
< head >
<title> Teh Blogfather :: Free Blog Promotion </title>
Which in Google looks like this.
Description Tags
Keep It Short and On Target. The description tag is the <meta> tag that we all agree still has use. I use mine as dual promotion–not only as search engine data, but also to entice readers to visit once the listing does come up. My description tag is packed with keywords that are relevant–words that people look for, words that reflect themes that I write about. The description evolves over time. I tighten it, true it up about every six weeks.
How do you write that?
- Keep it short, tight, and accurate.
- Use keywords to describe your blog.
- Tell readers what to expect.
- Be sure you can deliver on what you promise here.
How do you tag that?
Here’s how it looks for Liz’s blog.
< head >
<title> Letting me be . . . </title>
< meta name=”description” content=”ME Strauss skews the world slightly wondering about crayons, conformity, feelings, friends, idiosyncrasies, imagination, heroes, yo-yos, and that person reading the paper at Starbucks. Take a second to let yourself be.” />
Which in Google looks like this.
Title tags and description tags–two tags at the top of your template–keep them relevant, accurate, and attractive to your readers. They are your blog’s name and personality. They’re the first things that people know about your blog.
ME “Liz” Strauss, Eric Mutta