Should Title Tag and Internal Link Reflect All That a Page Is About

[gouri]

I had a question about the title tag of a page (Page C) and the anchor text of an internal link from the body text of another page (Page B) to that page (Page C).

I have created an example that shows what I am trying to determine.

Suppose someone has stomach surgery to lose weight. On Page C, I have before and after pictures of the person. I have as the title tag something like After Operation Pics. Should I make the title tag Before and After Operation Pics because both pictures are on the page? Should the title tag indicate both? If the title tag is After Operation Pics, could that be seen as not representing what the page is about and could that affect rankings for phrases that this page is targeting and/or have an overall impact on the site?

From Page B, I have a link in the body text going to Page C and the anchor text is something like body after operation. Should I make it body before and after operation? I don't think that the anchor text has to reflect all that is on the page that it is linking to, I think that it can reflect some of the content that is on the page, but I would appreciate your thoughts.

Thank you for your help.

[tedster]

The title element should indicate the overall theme of the page. It doesn't need to use all the keywords because Google does crawl the entire page. In the example you created, you could use something like "Pictures before and after the surgery". If there is more content than just the pictures, maybe even take the word "pictures" out of the title.

[gouri]

@tedster,

Thanks for the response.

It doesn't need to use all the keywords because Google does crawl the entire page.

That's true. I think that Google can analyze what a page is about by looking at the other areas of a page, in addition to the title tag.

In the example you created, you could use something like "Pictures before and after the surgery".

I think that this would be a good title tag to use. It indicates what is on the page. Even though Google can tell what a page is about if something is not indicated in the title tag, it is good to include it there.

If I used Pictures after the surgery as the title tag, do you think that this could have some sort of negative impact on the page and/or site?

What kind of benefit in the SERP do you think that you can see by using Pictures before and after the surgery as the title tag instead of Pictures after the surgery?

If there is more content than just the pictures, maybe even take the word "pictures" out of the title.

That's good advice. If I include more than pictures, I think that I will do this.

[tedster]

What kind of benefit in the SERP do you think that you can see by using Pictures before and after the surgery as the title tag instead of Pictures after the surgery?

You might pick up two different search queries, [Pictures before the surgery] and [Pictures after the surgery]/

[gouri]

You might pick up two different search queries, [Pictures before the surgery] and [Pictures after the surgery]/

@tedster,

Yes, I agree with what you are saying. I am getting queries that are similar to [Pictures after the surgery]. By changing the title tag, I think that I can increase the range of queries that the page ranks for.

I also want to change the h1 tag on this page. Do you think that I should change it when I change the title tag or should I change the title tag, wait for the change to show in the SERP, and then change the h1 tag?

Would one way be considered the better method for making these changes than the other?

[Zivush]

@gouri,

Here I am again to give your my advice :-)

1. I would go for [ABC surgery: Pictures before and after] that is in case the entire page is about the surgery pictures.

2. More ideas? - Check if there's any search volume to [ABC surgery pictures], [ABC surgery stages], [ABC surgery details], [pictures of ABC surgery], [How ABC surgery is conducted]

3. Replace "surgery" with "operation" to see which term gets more searches.

4. On the page itself diversify keywords based on the topic, and try not to use the same phrase you put in the title tag.

Hope it helps.

[gouri]

@Zivush,

Thanks for the suggestions for the title tag and also the suggestion to see if "surgery" or "operations" is searched for more.

I am also going to change the h1 tag because I want there to be more variety between it and the title tag.

Should I change the title tag and then the h1 tag (after the new title tag shows in the SERP), or should I change both of them at the same time?

I am asking because I am making these changes because I think that it will give visitors a better idea of what is on the page, and I don't want it to appear that the changes are being made for SEO reasons.

[Zivush]

I think it is better to make one time changes and not to make too many stages of changes unless it is absolutely necessary.
The more you play with a page title and headers, the more it looks suspicious to search engines.

[gouri]

I think I'll change the title tag and h1 tag at the same time, then.

Can you tell me what you think about what I have written about the internal link anchor text?

[tedster]

Within your content, anchor text should be about what fits best in the sentence. That might even be "click here" at times.

[gouri]

@tedster,

I agree with what you are saying about "click here" sometimes being the best anchor text to use in a link.

I have many internal links (if I think about it in percentage terms) that have related keywords in them as part of the anchor text. For these links, I could use something like "click here" instead as the anchor text.

Could the fact that many of the internal links contain related keywords in them instead of being something such as "click here" be a reason that I was affected by Google Penguin?

[Zivush]

Could the fact that many of the internal links contain related keywords in them

It could be but you are not different from hundreds of thousands of sites.
There's not even a single thing you can do to escape G updates but to improve the content itself and the way you present it to the users.

[gouri]

I am going to use 'click here' for the anchor text of an internal link. It will be part of a sentence. For the sentence, do I have to mention all that is on the page that 'click here' is linking to or can I only mention some of what is on the linked to page?

Example: Page linked to is about weightlifting and aerobics, but in the sentence I want to say For more information on weightlifting, click here.

Is this okay?

[Zivush]

I think you shouldn't always use 'click here' for the link, but also other alternatives such as - read on, more readings, see here, more to read, [ any key phrase ], continue reading, etc etc.
As for the sentence -
Your main goal is to try being interesting enough so that it attracts the reader to click and continue reading.
I would always put a breath. Something that summarizes the main points in a good way.