I know that the alt text in img tags get picked up by search engines. Is this also true of the <a title text? Like, would a Search Engine pick up the text "Membership Information and Requirements" below?

Easy and inexpensive web hosting is also available:[/b] </FONT>
<A title="Membership Information and Requirements" href="http://www.carrscorner.com/membership.php">
Member Information</FONT></A>

TIA!

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Agnes Smith Keys Home Furnishings, Inc. Tropical Vacation Rentals
Professional Upholstery Group

Yes, they do. :)

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"Being an expert isn't telling other people what you know. It's understanding what questions to ask, and flexibly applying your knowledge to the specific situation at hand. Being an expert means providing sensible, highly contextual direction." Jeff Atwood
SEO Workers - Search Engine Optimization Consulting Company | SEO Analysis Tool | Webnauts Net SEO

Great!!! Thank you!

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Agnes Smith Keys Home Furnishings, Inc. Tropical Vacation Rentals
Professional Upholstery Group

2-3 years ago, I tested the title tag text.

It was at the time mr. big G did spider everything on daily basis.
I did not see any difference for either page placement in serps nor
the benefits other than the info you get when mouse over the link.

This might be changed to day but, I do not think it will do much for
your page rank. Just tell your visitors what is behind the link.

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Certificated Professional Search Engine Marketer (6+ years online)
13+ years experience in (offline) marketing, b2b – b2c

SEOSEM,

I am not sure what you are trying to say there. Are you saying title tags don't make a difference? If you are saying this it is untrue.

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KBK Marketing | Search Marketing Blog | Cheap Web Hosting

SEOSEM did I get that right? I hope not. :)

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"Being an expert isn't telling other people what you know. It's understanding what questions to ask, and flexibly applying your knowledge to the specific situation at hand. Being an expert means providing sensible, highly contextual direction." Jeff Atwood
SEO Workers - Search Engine Optimization Consulting Company | SEO Analysis Tool | Webnauts Net SEO

Incrediblehelp


2-3 years ago, do you remember when G spider every site almost daily? It
last only for some 2-3 weeks.

At this time I had few pages on top 10-30 in Google for highly competitive
"high end" KW's. I both tested the pages with and without the title tag. The title
tag didn't make any difference, those pages didn't move up or down in serps.



As I said, I don't know if it has any meaning to day or not but, I still use
the title tag to inform my visitor what is behind the link.

As you said it is untrue, can you tell me how it does matter?

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Certificated Professional Search Engine Marketer (6+ years online)
13+ years experience in (offline) marketing, b2b – b2c

Many websites I deal with get spidered daily still and if not daily then almost always every 2 days.

Well first off it is obvious that backlinks are the most important ingredient in Google, but the title tag is very high up there when computing the weight fro ranking on Google, Yahoo and MSN. Simple looking at the results will tell you this.

Remember their are hundreds of variables when ranking and the more you adhere to the better you will rank and the title tag is definitely one of them.

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KBK Marketing | Search Marketing Blog | Cheap Web Hosting

What I was saying is, ones, Google found the need to spider sites on is own,
not from any link on other sites. Just come and spider the site, if the
spider spotted any change, it was updated the next day or so.

This webmaster dream last only for 2-3 weeks or so, and has nothing to do
with links pointing to your site.

I test lot of things and I am telling you, title tag stuffed with KW's or
title tag with normal description or no title tag at all. Did not change
anything in serps at this time.



Have you tested this with and without the title tag?

As I said, I do not know if this is still true to day, therefore I can't
tell if it does matter or not. I use the title tag without knowing the fact
if it will help in any other way than telling my visitors what to expect.

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Certificated Professional Search Engine Marketer (6+ years online)
13+ years experience in (offline) marketing, b2b – b2c

It sounds like we are talking about both the <TITLE></TITLE> tag found in the <HEAD> and also the 'title' which displays some text a little like the ALT tag does for images like: What a great page!

Which?

__________________
Jabbs
"The More I Know, The Less I Seem To Know!"
Anything IT & Support Forums

I am talking about the one in the head and it is fact that it helps describe your page and has an effect on SEO.

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KBK Marketing | Search Marketing Blog | Cheap Web Hosting

I usually try to stay with the first post subject! If not, I will make it
clear if I am talking blue color while others talk red!

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Certificated Professional Search Engine Marketer (6+ years online)
13+ years experience in (offline) marketing, b2b – b2c

From my experience, title tag are definitely one of the big three on-page factors as far as the algorithmic weight given to them; they are equally as important as your visible text copy and the links pointing to your pages.

__________________
"Being an expert isn't telling other people what you know. It's understanding what questions to ask, and flexibly applying your knowledge to the specific situation at hand. Being an expert means providing sensible, highly contextual direction." Jeff Atwood
SEO Workers - Search Engine Optimization Consulting Company | SEO Analysis Tool | Webnauts Net SEO

I think we can all agree that the TITLE tag in the HEAD is VERY relevant - but the title attribute to the A tag? What about that? I think that is what A. Smith is referring too as SeoSem pointed out.

__________________
Jabbs
"The More I Know, The Less I Seem To Know!"
Anything IT & Support Forums

There is an interesting experiment about the title attribute, posted at Search Engine Watch forums http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/...ead.php?t=3652

Have a look there and come back to discussing this issue further. :)

Side note: I believe that the title attribute is worthy, - since it is beneficial for usability best practice. That can make your SEO potential more appealing. Here some light reading about Usability and SEO: http://www.sitepronews.com/archives/.../dec/7prt.html

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"Being an expert isn't telling other people what you know. It's understanding what questions to ask, and flexibly applying your knowledge to the specific situation at hand. Being an expert means providing sensible, highly contextual direction." Jeff Atwood
SEO Workers - Search Engine Optimization Consulting Company | SEO Analysis Tool | Webnauts Net SEO

I was answering the first poster about the LINK TITLE TAG. As he didn't
mention the HEAD title tag, I thought I didn't need to refer to which tag I
had in mind (HEAD) :)

HEAD title tag and link title tag is a two completely different things.
Just as BMW and Benz!

Title tag used in link tag is used to tell you what to expect, when you
mouse over the link. I learned this fact years ago. So far, I have not seen
if it make any difference.

Go and search for anything you might think of. The BLUE TITLE in serps is
the same as the title written in the HEAD title tag on that page.

As you might know, when you do a search for stuff, the description you write in
the description HEAD tag is usually not the same as displayed in serps.
Google will pick up text from your page that fits best to your search words.

Have you ever seen different TITLE text displayed on Google pages and the
one found in the page HEAD title tag?

If nothing is written in HEAD title tag, all you will see is a ____________
empty line. So far, I have not seen any SE that will pick up text from the
page, to put in the HEAD title tag if it is missing.

Also, have you ever seen where Google fill in the HEAD title tag if there is
only 40%, 55% or 99% of the space used? Google will fill up the space for
the description tag but, not the HEAD TITLE TAG.

It is the first text the spiders will read when they enter the page and it
is the first thing you will see about the website, when you search for it's content.

Now, I think everyone should agree about the importance of HEAD TITLE TAG?

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Certificated Professional Search Engine Marketer (6+ years online)
13+ years experience in (offline) marketing, b2b – b2c

I think we should explicit something here. The title included in a link is an attribute, and not a tag. More: http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_title.asp

Benz? Do you mean Mercedes? LOL

I thought we all were aware about the importance of the title tag (element).

Or did I miss something again?

More further reading: http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/global.html#h-7.4.2

__________________
"Being an expert isn't telling other people what you know. It's understanding what questions to ask, and flexibly applying your knowledge to the specific situation at hand. Being an expert means providing sensible, highly contextual direction." Jeff Atwood
SEO Workers - Search Engine Optimization Consulting Company | SEO Analysis Tool | Webnauts Net SEO

Yes you are right, it's sunday and to many "biere" last night!

I knew you would correct me as everyone knows this car manufactor by theirs
first name but, the last name is still Benz.... :)

Yes, we agreed but, haven't you seen the serps where the title is used in very wrong
way or almost all text is missing? I guess someone doesn't agree! LOL

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Certificated Professional Search Engine Marketer (6+ years online)
13+ years experience in (offline) marketing, b2b – b2c

To many biers? In that case, I wouldn't trust you to hire you for my SEM. LOL

OFF TOPIC: Is your quote in your signature true? "Did you know, 86% of marketing directors would prefer to work with Certified Professional Search Engine Marketers?"

I ask while WebCEO have offered me for free their course "Certified Professional Search Engine Marketer".
Is it worth to complete it? :)

What makes your certification better than theirs?

__________________
"Being an expert isn't telling other people what you know. It's understanding what questions to ask, and flexibly applying your knowledge to the specific situation at hand. Being an expert means providing sensible, highly contextual direction." Jeff Atwood
SEO Workers - Search Engine Optimization Consulting Company | SEO Analysis Tool | Webnauts Net SEO

I do not work for others in my own time, and weekends, It's my time too! LOL

Let me ask you this. Assume you are a manager in your firm, your job is to make things happen, and you own a luxury car like this one or this one All you know about these cars is how to open the door and drive the car! On your way to work your luxury car break down. You have three chooses, try to fix it your self, stop someone and ask if they could fix it or have your car taken to Certified garage?

Which option will you choose? My guess is you would pick up the phone and call the garage.

I cannot tell if the percent is right but, every job ad I see, require some kind of degree, BA, BS, MBA, or Master is required along with years of experience. Why should they hire someone with all that knowledge and then, go to an open market and purchase services from some shop where no one has confirmations on their knowledge? I guess the percent should be 150%!! LOL

Depends on things. I don't know how much you know about SEO/SEM or marketing in general. Do you SEO/SEM for yourself or you dream of open your own shop and offer your SEO/SEM service on the market? The German market is huge (about 2/3 of US SEO/SEM market) and not so many I know of in Germany that offer SEO/SEM! But, I do not speak German so how would I know!

I have been online from early 2001. My whole live, I have been around all kind of marketing. I do not agree to every SEO/SEM technique WebSEO teach but, every SEO/SEM-ers or qualified marketer out there is different and what works for one does not mean it will work for others!

What I like about WebSEO is it has 12 tools in one control panel. There are other tools and services out there but, only one other course I know of, Robin Nobles and John Alexander that offer confirmation such as Certified SEM and/or a Diploma in the use of their SEO/SEM tools. But, you have to show up in some workshop for their course!

I cannot see any confirmation offered for SEO/SEM on these sites and I wonder why? Not like it is cheep to join and what for? Anyone, for which reason should I join any of them?
Web Analytics Association http://www.webanalyticsassociation.org
USA SEM Association http://www.sma-na.org/
EU SEM Association http://www.sma-eu.org/
SEMPO http://www.sempo.org

If you can get it free, it is worth it as long as you will use it.

My ex father in law and grandfather of my children is a Doctor (one of the best) he spends about 4-8 weeks a year on new education and training.

If you want others to take you seriously, then it is something for you (everyone) to think about!


Will you also get the tools for free?

Mine is from WebSEO and yes, I use other tools too!

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Certificated Professional Search Engine Marketer (6+ years online)
13+ years experience in (offline) marketing, b2b – b2c

No comments. I am speechless! :)

__________________
"Being an expert isn't telling other people what you know. It's understanding what questions to ask, and flexibly applying your knowledge to the specific situation at hand. Being an expert means providing sensible, highly contextual direction." Jeff Atwood
SEO Workers - Search Engine Optimization Consulting Company | SEO Analysis Tool | Webnauts Net SEO

omg, I didn't realize that you all had so much more input here. I saw the 1st answer, to which I replied, and for some reason never got an email about any other replies to this post. I apologise for not getting back on this thread, I'm usually not this rude!

Ok, you guys are going over my head in some of those posts, admitted freely :). However, I have done some research and some of the info given here is not quite in line with what I found. Keeping in mind that I'm not a pro SEO or even a real webmaster, I hesitate to disagree, but... I looked at a number of sites and compared the way google showed them to their title and description tags. (Yes I do mean the ones in the HEAD section). The first line that google showed was identical to the title tags, and the second line that google showed was identical to the description tags.

I don't know if it is permissible to post those here. If it is, I'd be glad to do so.

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Agnes Smith Keys Home Furnishings, Inc. Tropical Vacation Rentals
Professional Upholstery Group

Yes go ahead and post here please.

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KBK Marketing | Search Marketing Blog | Cheap Web Hosting

Great! Here are a few examples. And maybe we could expand the discussion to be not just about the title tag, but also the description tag since it seems that Google uses both.

<title>World Upholstery, Carpet, tops &amp; seat upholstery for collectable cars Mercedes BMW Porsche Jaguar Fiat Ferrari and Saab</title>
<meta name="Description" content="Manufacturer and sales of convertible tops, door panels, sunvisors, sun visors, carpet, soft interior trim, seat upholstery kits, rubber parts for foreign cars. Alfa Fiat BMW Ferrari Jaguar Mercedes Porsche Saab Hot Rod">

World Upholstery, Carpet, tops & seat upholstery for collectable ... Manufacturer and sales of convertible tops, door panels, sunvisors, sun visors, carpet, soft interior trim, seat upholstery kits, rubber parts for foreign ...
www.worlduph.com/ - 13k - Cached - Similar pages

<Title>Jacobs' Upholstery sells discount upholstery fabrics & upholstery supplies including upholstery services.</Title>
<meta name="description" content="Jacobs' Upholstery is an upholstery store selling discount upholstery fabric and upholstery supplies. Discount prices on Kravet, Duralee, Robert Allen and Norbar upholstery fabrics. We upholstery furniture, airplanes, autos, boats, RV's and carrie upholstery supplies for the do it yourself or professional upholsterer.">

Jacobs' Upholstery sells discount upholstery fabrics & upholstery ... Jacobs' Upholstery is an upholstery store selling discount upholstery fabric and upholstery supplies. Discount prices on Kravet, Duralee, Robert Allen and ...
www.jacobsupholstery.com/ - 19k - Cached - Similar pages


Yikes, some of the formatting got stripped/messed up! Well, for each business, the first paragraph is from their source code, and the 2nd is how Google shows them.

Now for our own site, it looks like since our description tag (an unfortunate repeat of the title tag) is short, they used the beginning of the first alt tag on our first graphics.

<title>Professional Upholstery & Soft Furnishings Group</title>
<meta name="description" content="Professional Upholstery & Soft Furnishings Group">
alt="Professional Upholstery & Soft Furnishings Group: The premier website for Modern and Antique Furniture Upholsters, Marine Canvas Fabricators, Automotive Upholstery,... (it goes one, but you get the idea ;))

Professional Upholstery & Soft Furnishings Group Professional Upholstery & Soft Furnishings Group. ... Professional Upholstery & Soft Furnishings Group: The premier website for Modern and Antique Furniture ...
www.carrscorner.com/ - 20k - Cached - Similar pages

So, what do you pros think? Surely, it can't be a coincidence... I only posted a few, I looked at many more sites.

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Agnes Smith Keys Home Furnishings, Inc. Tropical Vacation Rentals
Professional Upholstery Group

Wait a minute. So your question doesn't have anything to do with title tags, rather why the search engines are not using your description from your meta tags?

Google rarely uses the description you put it your meta tags. They mostly use a snippet of content on your page or your DMOZ description, if you are listed there.

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KBK Marketing | Search Marketing Blog | Cheap Web Hosting

No, my question was whether Google (and other SE) use the title tag. Webnauts said they do, plenty of others said they didn't. You just told me that "Google rarely uses the description you put it your meta tags" but it seems that they do use them.

Maybe I'm confused?

No, we're not in dmoz... yet :(

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Agnes Smith Keys Home Furnishings, Inc. Tropical Vacation Rentals
Professional Upholstery Group

As incrediblehelp said:

"Google rarely uses the description you put it your meta tags. They mostly use a snippet of content on your page"

This means, Google find the most relevant text on the page that best fits your search words. If you go back and make few searches with different keywords, you will see the text that Google shows, isn't the same when you use different keywords.


My understanding is as follow. If I am wrong, someone will correct me.

<head>
<title>Marketing</title>
<meta name="keywords" content=" Marketing ">
<meta name="description" content=" Marketing ">
</head>

<title>Marketing</title>
The title text is what you will see at top in your browser, on SE's pages and is the first the SE spider read when they visit your site. This is your page first impression.

<meta name="keywords" content=" Marketing ">
Here you add your keywords like this:

<meta name="keywords" content="world upholstery,carpet,tops,seat, ,upholstery for collectable cars,mercedes,bmw,Porsche,jaguar,fiat,ferrari, saab</title>">

Yahoo said ones they use the keyword tag to better understand the page content and that is what the KW's tag is for. Help the SE's to understand the key points about the content on your pages.

<meta name="description" content=" Marketing ">
Here is your description:

<meta name="Description" content="Manufacturer and sales of convertible tops, door panels, sunvisors, sun visors, carpet, soft interior trim, seat upholstery kits, rubber parts for foreign cars. Alfa Fiat BMW Ferrari Jaguar Mercedes Porsche Saab Hot Rod">

There are still few search engines that still index your site by reading the meta tag. If anyone still uses them, they might bring you a sale or two in the future.

Like the KW tag, the description tag helps the SE's to stay on track about your page. If the page has little or no text, (flash) the SE's will use the description tag as there isn't any text that best fit your search query.

I hope this answer your questions. If not, just ask again!

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Certificated Professional Search Engine Marketer (6+ years online)
13+ years experience in (offline) marketing, b2b – b2c