There have been continuous claims that you can improve your ranking on Google with title tags. We try to know whether these are exaggerated claims. There is a connection between page titles and Google ranking these days. It has also been like this even when SEO was newly discovered. All types of SEO users agree that you can increase your Google rankings by optimising your page titles.
People usually think that page titles improve web page ranking because of their high visibility on search page results on Google. However, excess optimisation forces Google to devalue your ranking. There are lots of uncertainties about page titles and Google searches. This post looks at various claims in this regard.
The claim: Improving page ranking with title tags
The title of a web page appears in the web title tag that is contained in the HTML head of a web page. During a Google search, the most visible and prominent element is the page title. The browser tab also has the title of the page after you click a web result.
The prominence of the page title in Google SERPs has led to claims that they improve website ranking. How possible it is that the claims are exaggerated?
The evidence that title tags improve Google page ranking
Google certainly depends on the HTML title description of a page to understand their contents. This helps with page ranking in search engine results. Experts have recommended distinct, precise, short, and descriptive titles for all web pages. However, it appears that these page titles have a mild effect on their rankings.
John Mueller from Google reported that the page title is not as important to the main content when ranking is involved. Page titles are essential SEO elements and matter for search engine ranking. But, they are not so important that you will have to overhaul your website. According to Mueller from Google, adjusting your meta tags and page titles helps us to understand a page’s content. However, it does not affect the general visibility of your website.
Our verdict: Your web search engine result is improved by title tags
It has been confirmed that you can improve your Google ranking with page titles. The degree of efficacy ranges from weak to average. With a page title tag, you can communicate a page’s content to Google. This way search engine algorithms understand the right category of a page. It also helps understand what queries it should answer.
Subsequently, Google applies essential factors like the main page content to determine the ranking of a page. Indeed, it is important to clearly describe the titles of each page. Without distinct page titles, the websites will struggle to show up in search engine results.
Does an update to a page title help improve search engine rankings?
In SERPs, Google will replace the page title if the title provided has no connection to the query. This is possible of the main content of a web page is more relevant than the page title in comparison to what the user needs. Google will not display the page title in this case. Rather, it will replace this with a piece of content that is more likely to match the search query.
Therefore, this will certainly improve the search result ranking and will not affect the rankings. Also, there is a confirmation from Google that original page titles are used. This is true even when the page titles have been replaced in SERPs. This means that page title optimization has some importance.
Things to know when using URLs to rank on Google
People usually think that a website with a URL that contains keywords rank higher over websites whose URLs are more generic. However, Google has said that this can change over time.
The claim: URLs help improve your ranking on Google
The URL of a website can help improve your Google search rankings as it can be optimised in a similar way to a page title tag. Specifically, this claim has said that a strategic addition of keywords in the URL will help improve a web ranking for queries that have those words.
For instance, if you are trying to rank for a query such as [best players in the USA] will be important to create a URL which has the keywords – best players in the USA somewhere in the URL. ( e.g., example.com/best-players-in-the-USA)? Done people think that websites whose URLs have these keywords tend to rank higher than websites whose URLs are more generic.
Is this true? What does Google say?
The evidence: Does URL help improve web page rankings
Google had directly reported that URLs, contrary to previous claims, do not play a crucial role in search ranking results. In 2016, Mueller from Google announced that URLs were important in getting a page to rank. But he went on to describe the influence as very little. Apart from using URLs to rank, there are many other factors to consider. In 2021, Mueller said that words used in URLs have a very light influence on search page results.
What this means according to Mueller, is that search engine crawlers usually use URL keywords to understand the contents of a site. This is before understanding the contents of the website. He said that as soon as the website has been crawled and indexed, then there is a lot of information about the website. At this point, the URL does not affect web ranking even if it is written in English, Japanese, or German.
Does URL help improve web page ranking: Our verdict
The confirmation from Google is that URLs contribute minimally to web ranking on Google. The first time that Google crawls through a newly-designed website, the keywords will give it an idea of the purpose and type of the website.
This can partially enhance its search engine results. Additionally, some SEO experts think this can help with web page grouping. The moment that the content of a website is completely indexed and crawled, the importance of the URL becomes negligible.