Title Tags For E-commerce Sites

[Colan Nielsen]

I've been doing some research into title tags for e-commerce sites that sell products. I've noticed that almost all of the sites I have come across have keyword stuffed title tags.

I'm trying to come up with some creative title tags that have keywords, but also a great call to action.

Does anyone have any suggestions for some creative call to action type phrases that would be great for title tags of an e-commerce site?

One of the sites I'm looking into sells college football jerseys.

 

[MiriamEllis]

Hmm, Colan, let's see. I'm guessing that the title tags might need to be optimized for individual teams, right? At least, if we're talking about inside pages rather than main ones you'd be optimizing for broad keywords. So, your title tags will likely have to reflect both the team names and the product names. If you can find ways to tie that together cleverly, it will be masterly work.

What might that look like?

Football Jerseys To Ride The Crimson Tide In Style

I don't know. That might be a bit vague. It's not a strong call to action, exactly, because it doesn't say 'buy' or 'shop', but it does sort of tie the concepts together.

That's 51 characters. So, we've got room for another word or so.

Shop Football Jerseys To Ride The Crimson Tide In Style

That's a bit better. I think that's the direction to go in. Incorporate a word like 'shop', 'buy', 'get' + your product term + plus your team name. A bonus will be finding a turn of phrase or play on words that sets the title tag apart from its competitors' tags in the SERPs.

Do you think?

 

[Linda Buquet]

You can tell a professional copywriter wrote those title tags!
Nice Miriam!

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Awesome feedback Miriam! You have skills

 

[laurie]

Great ideas Miriam!

---------- Post Merged at 07:15 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 07:07 AM ----------

So, we're talking about title tags that show up in the search results and not necessarily the title of the page? I use wp for my store and I'm thinking you mean the title tag in allinone seo plugin or something similar? It seems like it would be a pretty long page title.

So, let me try my hand at this. I sell gift baskets, so for my Mothers Day gift basket category page:

Shop Mothers Day gift baskets that say "I love you, Mom!"

That was just a quick try, so don't be too hard on me.

Also - it used to be recommended to use your keywords right at the beginning of the title tag. Not true anymore?

 

[MiriamEllis]

Thanks, all! I enjoy writing title tags. It's like a little crossword puzzle or something.

 

[Laustin1878]

Are we talking titles for category pages or product pages? I've used slightly different approaches for each.

I've included the price or "Free Shipping" from time to time or the word "Buy" somewhere in the mix for product pages. I'm not a huge fan of the tacky sales jargon but in many applications, it works. So do the spammy titles for some reason. When it comes to price, you will probably want to do some research to see where your prices stack up compared to other online competitors. Advertising your "overpriced" product (by web standards of course) could shoot yourself in the foot. People shopping by price already know about the product and know what they want. If your product copy is thin, this may be the type of searcher you are targeting.

You could include price in a category page but clearly it will cover a broader topic. You may find "Starting at" fits better here. I'm also a fan of including a phone number. The phone number is great in descriptions too.

So for a product page, I've used: Product Name | Free Shipping | Company Name or a more friendly title as Miriam explained without the bars. I find the separation using the bars breaks down the info better. On the other hand, Miriams example is easier on the eyes and more for the user. I also find it is important to be specific with your titles for products.

For category pages, I've used: Type of Products | Starting at $XX with some luck. Like I said, I'm not a fan of sales jargon but it does work. It certainly is a trial & error thing IMO.

As a general reminder, Google alters the titles and descriptions so what you use may not be displayed in the SERP's. Lastly, many places sell the same products. Using several keywords/terms in your titles will dilute their strength, especially for product pages. Try sticking to one term, two at most so you keep the relevancy on target and diluting isn't a problem. For competitive landscapes, this is crucial IMO.

Hope this helps a little. And Laurie, I still find placing the keywords at the beginning of the title helps. It gets fuzzy when it comes to adding local identifiers to the titles but I always keep the main keyword I'm targeting at the beginning, especially for long titles. The searcher will only see 65 characters. Anything longer will have a ... at the end in the search results.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Are we talking titles for category pages or product pages? I've used slightly different approaches for each.
.

Both, why not

Thanks for the awesome reply. I agree, sometimes the old sales jargon can be a little tacky.

It seems that the best approach is a healthy balance of keywords and human focused descriptors that are designed for the potential customer and not just the Google bots.

 

[Laustin1878]

I fully agree that there should be a healthy balance. I am a firm believer that your titles should be written for your users considering that they will be the ones to be buying your product, not Google. Despite my sentiments, Google doesn't always reward you as such.

That being said, I was always testing titles. One category I would try one method, the next category I would try something different. It's not a complete apples to apples comparison but you can get an idea of how one places and converts over the other. I also believe you have to understand where more of your visitors are in their buying process. The site I worked with did not put a lot of effort into content and healthy category and product descriptions. Their searchers knew what they wanted and their prices were pretty competitive.

One other thing I've also seen was a breadcrumb type approach. This would allow you to capture a broad category along with your main product. Amazon does something along these lines. I know it's a poor example as they are very well branded and rank for a myriad of terms but just for ideas. Sorry for drifting away from the original question.

 

[laurie]

Are we talking titles for category pages or product pages? I've used slightly different approaches for each.


Hope this helps a little. And Laurie, I still find placing the keywords at the beginning of the title helps. It gets fuzzy when it comes to adding local identifiers to the titles but I always keep the main keyword I'm targeting at the beginning, especially for long titles. The searcher will only see 65 characters. Anything longer will have a ... at the end in the search results.

Thanks for your reply, Laustin!