Title tags are what searchers see in the search engines results page.

Crafting a good title tag increases click through rate, which in turn can increase the ranking for that specific page.

We want to create strong title tags to help the site rank for the right keywords and to make searchers want to click onto the site.

Making it specific

The title tag should explain what the page is about but it should also have modifiers to be more descriptive. For example, use location modifiers or try to work primary keywords into the title in a natural way. Primary keywords should be worked into the title tag at the beginning, because they get bolded in search and won’t get cut off due to character limits. On the same note, keywords on the page itself should be in the first paragraph or first sentence if it works organically. This helps the page rank for long-tail keyword phrases.

Character limits

The current character limit is about 65 – though the search engines really use pixels to determine how much of the title shows up. Each letter has a different pixel weight, like Ws have more than Is, but a good rule of thumb is to keep it around 65 characters.

Keep in mind how the title tag will look on different screens. You’ll have more real estate on a desktop, less so on a tablet, and titles will get split into two lines on mobile.

Separators

We use pipes to break up title tag but dashes and colons can also be used.

• Sunset Hanauma Bay Snorkel | Oahu Tours
• Guided San Francisco Bike Tour | Mission District | SF Bikes
• Affordable Jet Ski Rentals In Orlando – Fun in Florida Rentals
• Perth Pub Crawls – Australian Bars & Brews Tours
• Maui Adventures Blog: Top 10 Things To Do On Maui

A best practice is to pick one style and stick with it. An exception could be a page that needs special attention, like a flash sale or special offer, or isn’t going to be a permanent page.

For a homepage, the company/brand name should come first and then the second piece should explain what they offer and where. Ex: KapohoKine Adventures | Hawaii Big Island Volcano & Zipline Tours

The reverse is true for all other pages or activities. Ex: Big Island Volcano Tour | KapohoKine Adventures

Punctuation and words

Avoid using punctuation in title tag – especially exclamation points!! And ellipses… Use abbreviations for words, for example it’s okay to use the & instead of writing out and.

Examples of good title tags:

• Note The character length is around 160 characters. Google will sometimes show up to 300 characters, but we stick to the limit of 160 as it is the most common.

What are meta descriptions and why are they important?

Meta descriptions are a summary of what a specific page is about. They not only help the search engines understand what that page is about and what information it contains but it also shows up for searchers so they can get a little preview of what the page’s content is about.

A searcher’s query or the keywords they use will become bold in the description if those keywords are already included in the meta description. For example, we search for Maui snorkel Tours

Google automatically bolds our keyword terms in the meta descriptions so we know that page has information about what we’re looking for.

Meta descriptions don’t have a direct effect on how that page ranks in the search engines results page but they do impact the click-through rate (CTR) which indirectly affects how a page ranks. The higher the CTR, the better the page should rank.

Tips on Crafting the Best Meta Descriptions

1. Should include a Call-to-Action – Invitations like Learn more and Book now come to mind.
2. It should match the content – This is important. Google will find the meta descriptions that trick the visitor into clicking. It might even penalize the site that created the meta description. Next to that, it will probably increase bounce rate which lowers rankings. You want the meta description to match the content on the page.

3. It should contain the focus keyword – If the search keyword matches text in the meta description, Google will be more inclined to use that meta description and highlight it in the search results. That will make the link more related already.

4. The meta description should be unique – If your meta description is a duplicate, the user experience in Google will diminish. You’re better off leaving the description empty and have Google pick a snippet from the page containing the keyword used in a search.

H1

There should only be one H1 per page. The H1 should describe the topic of the page and can be as descriptive as possible. H1s are the first thing a user sees when they land on the page, so it needs to capture their attention and should be in line with why they clicked onto the site in the first place.

H1s are one of the most important ranking factors as both the search engines and website visitors see it first. H1s help the search engine crawlers understand what that particular page is about, and can also help the site overall by making connections between this page and the rest of the site’s content.

Examples of good H1s:

• Zipline Tours on the Oregon Coast
• Snowmass Colorado Dog Sled Rides

Examples of H1’s that need some work:

• “companies cute tagline that has no keywords in it”

Secondary headers

H2s and H3s focus on secondary keywords and can be used to break up the page’s content blocks. These should use variations of the main keyword phrase and they should be specific. Instead of just saying “Tour Overview,” it should be, “Pearl Harbor Tour Overview.”

Headers should be related to the title but not a copy of it. If they are exactly the same, we lose out on opportunities to target different keywords.

Examples of good Heading Structure:

H1: Guide to Surfing in Oahu
– H2: Best Surfing Spots in Oahu
– – H3: Surfing in Honolulu
– – – H4: Best Times to Surf in Honolulu
– – H3: Surfing in Kailua
– – – H4: Best Times to Surf in Kailua
– H2: Best Place to Take Surf Lessons
– – H3: Surf Lessons in Honolulu
– – H3: Surf Lessons in Kailua
– H2: Where to Rent Surfboards in Oahu

What is Alt text?

Alternative text is a word or phrase that can be inserted as an attribute in an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) document to tell users on the website the nature or contents of an image.

Why use Alt text?

1. Alt text is key for accessibility purposes so that visually impaired viewers using screen readers can understand the images as well.
2. It is a good opportunity to rank for more keywords.
3. It will also be displayed in place of an image if the image can’t be loaded.

Best practices:

• It is important that it tells users as much as possible about the image, using as few words as possible.
• Place relevant keywords to improve the website’s SEO.
  • However, do not keyword stuff (don’t insert too many keywords). You should be infrequently sprinkling keywords into alt text naturally and only if it makes sense while describing the image. If the keywords do not naturally fit in the description of the image, LEAVE THEM OUT.
• Don’t include “image of” or “picture of,” etc.
• Try to keep it under 75 characters.

Examples

Bad alt text: Rooster tours and tours of roosters in rooster farms

Okay alt text: Rooster

Good alt text: Rooster crowing

Best alt text: Red-crested rooster crowing

Bad alt text: Boat tours and tours of boats in capri italy

Okay alt text: Boat tour

Good alt text: Boat tour in Capri

Best alt text: Boat tour in Capri near the blue lagoon

It’s important to include a paragraph in the all activities page that includes keywords and brings up the word count for the page, helping it rank.

Content:

• It’s best to write it after you have an idea of all the activities so you can easily summarize the offerings.
• Write a few sentences to give customers a general idea of what the activities entail. You can provide a range of the offerings, like “take a one-hour cruise or spend the whole day on the water!”
• Another option is to provide a few sentences about the location, like “you can find an impressive variety of bird species in Oahu.”
• It’s a good idea to end with a CTA, like “choose the cruise that’s perfect for you.”
• If you cannot find or create any content for an all activity page, please ask your account manager to get this content from the client.

SEO:

• Having a few lines of text at the top of a page can be extremely helpful for both users and search engines as it provides an idea what that page is about.
• Try adding a few keywords naturally throughout the blurb (avoid keyword stuffing!) if the page has keywords associated with it in the “keywords” section of the pre-sweep document.