* Complicated menu systems *

Search engines spiders that crawl through our pages are a relatively primitive bunch. They find in hard to navigate complicated menu systems implemented for example in JavaScript or as a Java applet. Just because it is easy for a human to navigate through site never assume it will be as easy for a search engine spider. A menu system using simple textual links will be easier for a spider to understand and it will be able to successfully navigate your site. A lot of time complicated menu systems can be replicated using textual links and CSS.

If you must use a complicated menu system be sure to provide a site map that is clearly accessible from homepage of your site and contains only textual links to your pages. This ensures that even if spider cannot understand your menu system that it will be able to find pages on your site.

Make your title enticing to eye:

Although this point does not make a lot of difference to search engines it can help to get people to click on your link in search results.

Which is easier on eye?

1. XYZ COMPUTER HARDWARE 2. XYZ CoMpUtEr HaRdWaRe 3. XYZ Computer Hardware

I imagine that most people would say that (3) is most pleasing. (1) and (2) are harder to read because of improper captilization. In (1) you see that using all capitals detracts importance of any words you actually want to draw attention to and also some search engines may penalise this practice. (2) is simply a nightmare to read.

Try to keep title tags as unique as possible:

As each page on your site should be unique so should your title tags. Not only do unique title tags make site more descriptive and navigable to a person they help search engines answer queries more accurately and allow more penetration of your site's pages in their databases.

Common title tags mistakes:

* Do not leave your title tag blank, ever!

* Do not use 'Untitled' or default text in your title tag. If you are using a web page editing application it may place some default text in title tag. Make sure you always check your title to make sure this doesn't happen.

* Do not write title tags that are not relevant to content on page. Search engines compare text in title tag against actual textual content on your page to rate relevancy. If two are not related this will decrease your ranking. Also it is annoying to a person who visits your page when title tag they saw going into your page does not relate to content on page. This will ensure that this person leaves your site and maybe never comes back.

* Do not stuff your title tag with repeating keyword phrases. This may be looked upon by search engines as spamming and they may penalise your ranking.

Summary:

Ignoring title tags is definitely a mistake if you aim to achieve high rankings. Although it takes a lot more than title tag to propel you to top of search engines it can be very effective in making a search engine more secure that your site's content is more relevant than a competitor's.