Forum Moderators: phranque
I've read and searched about a gazillion different posts on the why(s) and wherefore(s) of Title Tags. They've justified a miriad of reasons for cramming them full of keywords and the like.
In reading those many posts, I saw no comments regarding the human end of this scenario.
Here are some examples:
<Title>Name of the Site</Title>
Simple enough.
<Title>The Name of the Site</Title>
Now I have to re-position the site or risk appearing ignorant (with respect to proper alphabetizing). So, this one goes in with the other 'T's now.
<Title></Title>
Uh, that's for those that don't put _anything_ between the Title Tags. Naturally, those don't get listed with me.
<Title>#########.Net - TEACHER RESOURCES - The most active teacher chatboards & teacher chatrooms, featuring 25 teacher mailrings and over 55 teacher chatboards, live 24 hours a day. #########.Net lesson bank offers over 1000 free lesson plan and curriculum and teacher project ideas. Our reference desk and library and teacher tools help teachers fully embrace today's opportunities. Lesson plans and teaching tools, searchable teacher job listings and teaching career resources, reference desk and curriculum tools. Make #########.Net YOUR Homepage today</Title>
Whoa! This is but one of those to which I speak.
Why is it so important to put all that verbiage in the Title Tags?
Should it be my position to change/alter what the webmaster puts between the Title Tags because now the Title takes up seven lines of text and looks soooo, so...bloated? Do I have that right? Do I want that right?
I would think not.
I'm the type who views the Title Tags from the ethical perspective. It is not my place to change/alter those tags. It is the webmasters job.
When I annotate/title a page/site/domain, I utilize what lays between the TTs to 'tell' me what the 'name' of the site is. Tells the viewers too.
The point I'm trying to make is - every time a change in the Title takes place, (replacing 'The' with 'Welcome to' is another favorite of mine <Yikes!>), this requires me to re-position that newly named/re-named site in order to present valid and factually accurate text links, to the Destination URL.
(Of course, the flip-side is to use the actual URL in place of the Title, but I don't see that happening.)
Some of us out here are dedicated to providing clear, concice and up-to-date pathways to point our visitors to. Constantly changing the TTs is not conducive to that end.
Just last weekend, (while on the prowl removing sites who've gone popup/over/under/delayed crazy) I spent nearly seven hours just changing Titles.
Let me ask this seemingly redundant question...
What are the rules/laws regarding the true Title of a site, and why do sooooo many decide to ignore them?
Appreciate whatever responses you give.
[useit.com...]
