My Site's Title Options

[ctodd]

Hi Everyone! Great forum! I have seen this site recommended from a couple of different resources.

Question: How on earth do you go about deciding on a title for a forum? I bought a one month subscription to Wordtracker and what I learned is "widget forum" is not a very popular term. (I am not sure if we can use specifics in here so I will use 'widgets' to describe my site.) What I did learn, however, is that "widget certifications" is a VERY popular term. (Not so much so that I could never get a first page position in the SERPS.) The problem is, my forum encompasses so much more than just "widget certifications." Should I just rely on my internal pages (posts) to drive traffic? Not sure what I am supposed to do. The way I understand it is if you add lots of keywords to your title then your title gets watered down. I was told it is best to stick with one keyword or phrase.

I would be very grateful if someone could give some advice/direction.

Thank you!
Christina

[Randy]

Welcome Christina ! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hi.gif)

Yes <title>'s are important. And they're every bit as important to real people as they are to the search engines. Probably more important since they show up as the linked title in SERP pages and also are the default text used when someone saves a page to their favorite places or links to a page of your site.

Given what you've described I'd suggest using the more general term (eg Widgets Forum) along with some enticing call to action text that will cause people to click through to your site for the main title. Then simply make sure your forum prepends the Post Title into the Page Title like the forum here does. (See how the title above includes your post title above?)

That'll get you the best bang for your buck with users and the search engines alike.

[Jill]

If you make one of the forum categories be the widget certifications, then that page should have a chance at showing up in the engines.

Remember, you don't need to do everything with your home page. Every page of the forum has the ability to show up for what it's about.

[Randy]

Remember, you don't need to do everything with your home page. Every page of the forum has the ability to show up for what it's about.

Too true Jill. And something too many forget, including yours truly from time to time.

I actually climbed back in ye' olde blogging saddle again last week and this subject was the focus of a post. Namely the fact (yes, it's a fact Henrietta) that in the real world you don't have a home page. Because each user can enter at a different point, each can also have a different "home" page in their mind. So in the real world you effectively have lots and lots of home pages, not just one.

More for marketing purposes than strictly SEO, but it still applies to both.

[ctodd]

Thank you! I am new to SEO (obviously) and I find all of this overwhelming. I am not overwhelmed because I don't know what to do, I am overwhelmed because I NOW know WHAT I need to do! It is easy to let the competitive, irrational side of you to take over and forget about your audience. I am sure this is especially true when you are first learning SEO techniques.

Randy, yes, each post's title shows up in the page's title like this forum. I will take your advice and add "widget forum" to each page's title. (It actually used to be like this until I removed it.)

Thanks again!
Christina
PS - Jill, in case you keep track of these sorts of things, your site was recommended in a tutorial on Lynda.com and in the book Search Engine Optimization for Dummies.

[Randy]

You may also want to have a read of our Tips for Newbies as well as pay special attention to the posts you see pinned to the top of each section of the forum Christina.

Those resources will help you to start off with a very good foundation, understand what's important and what's not and help you to keep from getting sidetracked. It'll take some time to get through the info, but it's a good investment since it'll save you mountains of time going forward.

The main thing to remember is to always apply your common sense. If you read something somewhere that just doesn't make sense and/or hasn't actually been tested, it's almost always wrong.

[Jill]

Welcome, Christina, thanks for letting me know where you found us from! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bye1.gif)

[ctodd]

Thanks! Randy, I have already read Tips for Newbies and I am in the process of reading a ton of other stuff on this site! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I am very happy to have found this place!

Christina