Augment Your Title to Improve Click-Through Rates
Most of the time Google will utilize the merchant’s title tag in the anchor text of the link on their Search Engine Results Page (SERP):
On product pages, most merchants will enter the product name in as the title tag value. This is a great basic strategy from a search engine optimization perspective because you are telling the search engine what your page is about. Today’s tip encourages you to think beyond just including the product name in the title tags of product screens. Are there other words that you could append that might improve click-through rate? If so, your number three listing may actually get more clicks than the number one listing in the SERP!
Let’s take a look at an example which assumes a query for the term “Balance Max Golf Bag”. Which of these two listings would you be more likely to click on?
- Balance Max Golf Bag
- Balance Max Golf Bag – Read Reviews
If you are like many consumers, you’ll select option #2. Who doesn’t like to read customer reviews before committing to a purchase? Of course if you do this, make sure you actually do have reviews for that product (review reminder emails are a great way to build reviews). Let’s take things one step further comparing these two title tags:
- Balance Max Golf Bag – Read Reviews
- Balance Max Golf Bag – Read Reviews – On Sale Now
Now which listing would you click on? Option C has customer reviews and it’s on sale right now – wow! Of course, you should only try option C if the product truly is on sale (and has reviews). These are just two ideas that you can consider trying when appropriate. If you have other clever ideas for augmenting a title tag, please post them in the Comments section of this blog article.
Note to Nexternal Clients: The Nexternal eCommerce Platform allows you to customize product title tags and meta descriptions. From the product detail screen in the OMS, scroll down and edit the “Search Engine Options”. You can also modify them via the Excel Import.
After receiving a degree in Industrial Engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Alex began his career as a technology consultant with Accenture. In 1999 he left Accenture and founded Nexternal – a cloud-based eCommerce Platform company. Alex is passionate about eCommerce and online marketing. He is now a Senior Vice President of HighJump, managing the Nexternal business unit.
