Blogger / Blogspot default setting defines that in search results, your blog title will appear first then followed by your post title. It is not effective because people tend look for specific contents, which is located inside one of your posts and not represented by your blog title.
Our website is also not alone in search results, there are others’ too and we have to compete healthily for traffic. Also, the last part of our title might be omitted if search engines consider that our title is too long. It is a big problem if the blog title appears in the beginning, and the post title that represents the contents appear last (and omitted partially). Therefore, it will be great if the title introduces the contents directly (first), and show the blog title later (and omit-able).
For example, if you have a blog named “Computer Hardware Reviews” and you wrote a post titled “Top 10 Best Processor of 2008”. Then someone uses search engine and types “best processors 2008” in the search query, normally, your site will appear in the search results as:
Seems OK? Nope, it is a disaster if the search engine consider the title too long and omit some part of it like:
"Top 10 best what??" is what your potential visitors will say before clicking another title, which contains more clarity.
Relax, with a little modification, we can set the title to appear as:
And if search engines think that the title is too long and then omit some part of it, don't worry. The title will still be representative enough as:
This second type of title appearance pattern certainly performs better in introducing its contents in search results. Contents are first, and blog title later, so that potential visitors can get clear information about the contents fast and effectively.
Interested? Here is how we do the trick:
First, we need to access “edit HTML” from “Layout” section of the dashboard. Leave the “expand template widget” un-checked, since we do not need to alter any elements of the widgets. Then we need to find these bold codes (located in the upper part of the codes; head section), which is responsible in setting the title of the pages in our blog:
Then we need to change them with these codes:
Therefore, the resulting codes will look like:
Then save the template, and the next time a search engine crawl your blog, the new setting will be applied handsomely.
Options: the character ~ are shown directly in the title and does not represent any code, so you can change it with another characters like @, -, |, #, etc if you wish.
You can check whether the codes are working or not by opening one of your posts, and observe its title on the upper part of your browser. For example, in Mozilla Firefox (that I use myself), we can view the title of the page near the upper border of the window (with dark blue background).
Having any difficulties? Feel free to use the comment box.
Our website is also not alone in search results, there are others’ too and we have to compete healthily for traffic. Also, the last part of our title might be omitted if search engines consider that our title is too long. It is a big problem if the blog title appears in the beginning, and the post title that represents the contents appear last (and omitted partially). Therefore, it will be great if the title introduces the contents directly (first), and show the blog title later (and omit-able).
For example, if you have a blog named “Computer Hardware Reviews” and you wrote a post titled “Top 10 Best Processor of 2008”. Then someone uses search engine and types “best processors 2008” in the search query, normally, your site will appear in the search results as:
Computer Hardware Reviews: Top 10 Best Processors of 2008
The description of the blog
http://www.the-complete-URL-of-the-blog
Seems OK? Nope, it is a disaster if the search engine consider the title too long and omit some part of it like:
Computer Hardware Reviews: Top 10 Best...
The description of the blog
http://www.the-complete-URL-of-the-blog
"Top 10 best what??" is what your potential visitors will say before clicking another title, which contains more clarity.
Relax, with a little modification, we can set the title to appear as:
Top 10 Best Processors of 2008 ~ Computer Hardware Reviews
The description of the blog
http://www.the-complete-URL-of-the-blog
And if search engines think that the title is too long and then omit some part of it, don't worry. The title will still be representative enough as:
Top 10 Best Processors of 2008 ~ Computer...
The description of the blog
http://www.the-complete-URL-of-the-blog
This second type of title appearance pattern certainly performs better in introducing its contents in search results. Contents are first, and blog title later, so that potential visitors can get clear information about the contents fast and effectively.
Interested? Here is how we do the trick:
First, we need to access “edit HTML” from “Layout” section of the dashboard. Leave the “expand template widget” un-checked, since we do not need to alter any elements of the widgets. Then we need to find these bold codes (located in the upper part of the codes; head section), which is responsible in setting the title of the pages in our blog:
<head>
<b:include data='blog' name='all-head-content'/>
<title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title>
Then we need to change them with these codes:
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "index"'>
<title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title>
<b:else/>
<title><data:blog.pageName/> ~ <data:blog.title/></title>
</b:if>
Therefore, the resulting codes will look like:
<head>
<b:include data='blog' name='all-head-content'/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "index"'>
<title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title>
<b:else/>
<title><data:blog.pageName/> ~ <data:blog.title/></title>
</b:if>
Then save the template, and the next time a search engine crawl your blog, the new setting will be applied handsomely.
Options: the character ~ are shown directly in the title and does not represent any code, so you can change it with another characters like @, -, |, #, etc if you wish.
You can check whether the codes are working or not by opening one of your posts, and observe its title on the upper part of your browser. For example, in Mozilla Firefox (that I use myself), we can view the title of the page near the upper border of the window (with dark blue background).
Having any difficulties? Feel free to use the comment box.
