web.design.courses - Page Titles for Search Engines

Resolved · Low Priority · Version Standard

Tue 13 Mar 2007, 14:10 Delegate Joanna said...

Joanna has attended:
Dreamweaver MX Intermediate course

Page Titles for Search Engines

Hi All,
When I first started using Dreamweaver (at that time it was MX but I have today started using 8) each page I created could be titled individually at the top of the page (on the layout it shows - Code - Split - Design - Title - and so on) which I believe is what shows on the titles on search engines such as google and so on. A few weeks ago I noticed that it wouldn't let me change the title in this box, i could type in anything I wanted and then the second I clicked out of the box it changed back to the old text that was written. At the time I ignored it as I didnt have the time, but now I am looking at search engine optimisation and meta tags etc and when you type 'KME' into google, the first thing written down is 'KME Template' which is what the title was set as when I created the index page from the template.
Have you got any suggestions? Also, how do I assign meta tags and descriptions to the pages and should I do meta tags to each page or just the index page?
Thanks, Jo Stephens.

Tue 13 Mar 2007, 14:55 Delegate Joanna said...

RE: Page Titles for Search Engines

Having asked this question and searched around a bit, I'm almost positive the problem is to do with my index page being created from my template page as if you go in to add html keywords etc, it says it is locked by a translator. How do I fix this without having all my pages un-linked to the translator pages? Is the answer going to be to unlink each, then change the keywords, then re-link them again, because this I can do, but if I have to leave then all as individual pages not linked to the template then I have a problem as my drop-down banner runs across the top of every page and is vital that I keep it in the template page or when i change it I will have to do 50-odd pages individually!
This is starting to really confuse me!
Jo :{

Tue 13 Mar 2007, 15:45 Edited on Tue 13 Mar 2007, 15:45 Trainer David said...

RE: Page Titles for Search Engines

Hi Joanna

Basically if you have created a template page, you will have selected which areas are locked into this template and thus cannot be edited. It sounds to me like you need to change the template page so the the <title></title> tags are an editable region, this will let you specify a separate page title for each page you create. This will be the same for meta tags.

With the meta tags, you can include them for every page within your site, but make sure that they are tailored for that page. Some search engines still use meta tags, however the main search engines don't really take them in to account that much.

Hope this helps

David

Tue 13 Mar 2007, 16:56 Trainer Rich said...

RE: Page Titles for Search Engines

I agree with David.

Dreamweaver usually creates two default editable regions named 'title' (for the TITLE tag) and 'head' for any amount of head tags you require.

Each new page you create based on the template will default to the template's TITLE. But if you change your template's title and then update all pages, it won't touch their titles, because that's the whole point of editable regions, the updating process leaves them alone. You'll need to go and update each TITLE on all pages individually.

Meta tags aren't as important these days, but I'd still recommend putting a few keywords and a description for each page. It may be a small factor of SEO, but it's still a factor, nonetheless.

One other reason Dreamweaver might not be updating the TITLE of the page when you mouse click somewhere else: try pressing Enter afterwards, instead. Dreamweaver may think you're trying to cancel updating the title when you click away. See how you go with this one. Otherwise, check your code view and ensure an editable region exists around the TITLE tag.

Rich

Mon 19 Mar 2007, 09:37 Delegate Joanna said...

RE: Page Titles for Search Engines

Hi David,
As the template was not created by me, I have simply taken it over, I missed that part on website creation i'm afraid! The first 4 lines of script on the template page are:

<html>
<head>
<title></title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">

and so on from there.
How do I change this to an editible region?
What other options would you suggest for SEO as well as the meta tags? As always, my boss would rather I could get the best return without cost, but otherwise what do you suggest?
Thanks for your help,
Jo.

Tue 20 Mar 2007, 15:35 Trainer Rich said...

RE: Page Titles for Search Engines

Jo,

To see what your <title> editable regions should look like, simply create a brand new template and have a look at the code it creates.

It would be something like this:


<title>Your Title Here</title>


And then also an editable region for any additional HEAD tags:


<meta name="description" content="">
<meta name="keywords" content="">


SEO is a very broad topic. I suggest searching for SEO tips on search engines etc. There are many web sites dedicated to SEO. There is a range of software you can buy (usually as downloads online) that will check all of your pages and compare it with your competitors for keyterms that you specify.

SEO can be a full-time job, and some companies employ one or more people to only tune and maintain pages on their web site. So to give you specifics here is not feasible I'm afraid.

However, the best tip I can give you is this: The main objective is to make your page(s) the absolute number one source for your product. If you make bath tubs, your web site should be a one-stop-shop for anyone who wants info on bath tubs. Styles, colours, where to buy, what to look for, maintaining bath tubs, how to clean them, bath tubs throughout history... you name it, your site should have it. There is a phrase in the SEO world: 'content is king'. In other words, have lots of fantastic content, and your site will get a lot of attention.

Good luck.

Regards, Rich