Meta-data: Title
Making sure you use the meta-data is correct is crucial. When we talk about meta-data for SEO, we speak of the following 3:
- Meta-title (this article)
- Meta-description
- Meta-keywords
We discuss each of these, first the title:
Title-tag: unique for every page (max 60 chars)
The title is one of the most important items for SEO. Google and other search engines use it to display as the main title in their search results, as you can see in this snippet:
Title in Joomla
Without any configuration, the title is pulled from the title of the article for single articles, or the menu-title for blog-views. This could result in a title of Home for the home page....... Happily there are lots of ways to configure the title. We will discuss these methods.
Important: Make sure the title does not become too long. After 60 characters, it may be broken off when viewed in the search results pages for Google.
Use the Site name
As explained in the article about a readable URL structure you can configure the site name to be part of every page, either before or after. If the site name contains your keyword (which it should), it could be wise to include it.
Use Page Display Option
It is possible to override the title using the Page Display Options in the advanced options of menu-items:
Using this option, you have full control about your titles. It is a little more work, but the result could be very beneficial.
Use a Joomla extension
There are Joomla extensions that can help you to set up your titles. A famous SEF extension (SEF = Search Engine Friendly) is SH404SEF. It has a panel where you can easily see all your titles in one overview. Using this extension, you have a very user-friendly overview where you can easily manage your titles without having to go to the hidden away options in the menu manager:
It also advises you how many characters are left for an optimal length of the meta-title and meta-description.