With SEO (Search Engine Optimization) it’s important to make sure your website content is set up correctly. Google (and other search engines) will use page titles and descriptions in search engine results.

This help article includes the following information:

  • An overview of page titles
  • An overview of page descriptions
  • How to add or edit page titles and descriptions
  • Best practices for writing page titles and descriptions

For detailed information on SEO please view our [Free eBook] A Complete Guide to SEO for Musicians.

Page Titles Overview

A page title is a description of the content found on that particular web page. The page title can show up in three separate places:

  • Browser tab
  • Bookmark list
  • Search engine results page (SERP)

Page titles appear as a list on the search engine results pages for the search phrase entered by someone using a search engine. Search engines place a very high ranking value on descriptive page titles that accurately convey the page content. Page titles are often the main piece of information used to decide which result to click on, so it's important to use high-quality titles for your individual web pages.

Page Descriptions Overview

The page description is used to summarize the content of the web page. This description also provides search engines information to display in search results pages. The description should use key phrases from the page content and entice the user to click through to your site. Search engines rarely use meta tags in determining PageRank, but providing attractive page descriptions can increase the click-through rate for your page.

Add or edit a page title or description

A page title can be different than the page name in your navigation menu.

How to add or edit your page title or description

  1. From the ‘Edit Content’ tab, click ‘Pages’
  2. Click ‘Add a page’
  3. Select a Page Type (note the ‘more page types’ link to see additional options)
  4. Name your page in the ‘Title’ field (defaults to the page type if unchanged)
  5. Adjust your page options (see the ‘Adding Pages’ help article details below)
  6. Click ‘Advanced settings’
  7. Next to ‘SEO Options’, click ‘Custom’
  8. Add or edit your page description and page title
  9. Click ‘Create my page’

Notes:

  • You can add custom page titles and descriptions for each page in your Pages tab, with the exception of the intro page.
  • Adding keywords to your custom page descriptions or titles does not result in higher ranking in search engines. Search engines index the actual content of your site pages to feed searches. Google noted that they no longer use this data to determine PageRank, and Bing has stated that meta keyword tags are only used in their search algorithm as a means to flag spammy sites - something to be avoided!

Best practices for writing page titles and descriptions

Titles

Descriptive titles increase the click-through rates of pages. Here are some tips on creating good page titles:

  • The ideal format for your Page Title is: Project Name, Primary Keyword, and Secondary Keyword
    • Examples:
      • MyBand | Show Dates and Upcoming Events
      • MyBand | Booking Form and Contact Information
  • Use unique titles for each web page. Duplicate titles might lead to duplicate content issues.
  • Page titles should be descriptive and concise.
  • Avoid vague terms like "Home" for your home page, or "About" for a Bio. Those terms are great for your navigation menu, but should include more context when a custom page title is being set up.
  • Avoid long page titles; it is likely that search engines will truncate them in search engine results, which ends up looking unprofessional. Google has a maximum title length of 64-70 characters.

Descriptions

Brainstorm all the relevant search terms a fan might use for your music. Then include the most important ones in a short paragraph page description. Here are some tips on creating a good page description:

  • The description must reflect page content. If you aren't sure, it is best to select "Automatically generated from your page content" for each page instead of using custom SEO options. You can see examples of meta descriptions by searching for any topic in Google. The page description will appear under the page title in search results.
  • Keep it short and to the point using 5-24 words. Google displays 156 characters on normal searches.
  • Write a catchy, but objective, description of the page content - and write it for people, not for search engines.
  • As with page titles, it is important that page descriptions on each page be unique.
  • When quotations are used in a meta description, Google will cut off the description. To prevent meta descriptions from being cut off, remove all non-alphanumeric characters.

Note: With these and other tips, you should have success with Google ranking and SEO. Ultimately though, we here at Bandzoogle have no control over where your site ends up in the search engine results; and Google uses a complex algorithm to determine your PageRank.