TAG, You're It! How Title Tags, Heading Tags, Meta Tags Can Impact SEO

Your content is obviously the most important part of your content strategy. But any good SEO knows that it isn’t the only thing that goes into making sure your content is ranking, converting, and succeeding. 

One crucial element of any good growth marketing strategy is using tags. For SEO, meta tags, title tags, blog tags, and more, make sure your readers (and Google) can make sense of your content. 

Let’s look at five tags that can uplevel your content strategy. 

SEO Title Tags

Think of the title tag like the name of a movie or a book — it needs to get the reader's attention and make them want to click. And more so, it also needs to let the search engine know what to expect from the article so it can prioritize your content accordingly. The SEO title tag is what appears first and foremost on the SERP. 

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Title tag tips:

1. Include your target keyword in your title tag and aim to have it at the beginning of the tag.
2. Generally try to keep your SEO title tag characters to 60 or less.
3. Use this title tag checker to make sure your whole tag will appear on Google.
   
   

Meta Tags

If the title tag is the title of a book, the meta tag is the excerpt to get you even more interested. Meta tags for SEO are succinct descriptions that give the reader a clear idea of what they can expect from your content. Usually, these are little teasers that keep the reader interested without giving too much away. 

Meta tag tips:

1. Include a target or longtail keyword in your meta tag.
2. Ensure it's concise and meets the user intent.
3. Make sure meta tags are unique for all pages on your site.
4. Consider adding a CTA to increase click-through rates ("Read more" or "Find out now").
5. Keep your meta tag between 150 and 160 characters. 
   
   

Heading Tags

Heading tags separate each section of your blog post by content. These tags help guide readers to the knowledge they’re looking for or at least give them a preview of that section’s content.

You might see these tags referred to as “H2s” "H3s" or “section headers.” They’re important for articles where your reader might be looking for a specific answer that they can find by reading your heading tags or longer articles where you need to break up content by section. 

Google looks at your heading tags to figure out the context of your page and determine whether or not to show your page in search queries.

Heading tag tips:

1. Include keywords when applicable — but don’t over-optimize by repeating the same keyword over and over again. 
2. Consider matching H2s to a table of contents at the top of your article to help readers find what they need.
3. Use H2s for main points and use H3s as subsections of the main points.
   
   

Canonical Tags

Canonical tags help make sure the right content is prioritized. If you have duplicate or near-duplicate content, you’d use a canonical tag to signify which one should be indexed so you don’t run the risk of cannibalizing your own content or reducing your page value. 

Canonical tag tips:

1. Use the entire URL in your canonical tag so Google knows exactly which page is the right one. 
2. Use only one canonical tag per page or Google will ignore both. 
   
   

Alt Tags

Alt tags are a win-win. They help optimize your images for SEO while also making them more accessible for those who are visually impaired. Alt tags — also called alt text — describe what an image is showing to both optimize it for Google and allow screen readers to convey it to visually impaired readers. 

Close to 23 percent of Google's search results show images, so you don't want to miss out on getting more traffic via your site images. Alt text will help get your images into the SERPs.

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Alt tag tips:

1. Be succinct. Your alt tag should give a short description of the image without flowery language. 
2. No need to include “image of” or “picture of,” as this is self-explanatory. 

Without looking at the content above, what's the difference between a canonical and a heading tag? Did you get it right? We know: It’s a lot to remember. That’s why a growth marketing partner can keep track of your content for you, helping make sure it’s optimized and ready to rank. 

Contact us to see how we can help your blog.