Optimizing title tags for local SEO is a great way to start your company. They’re almost identical to the titles of your articles or videos. Many website owners ignore this low-effort, high-impact optimization.
You’ll get easy-to implement tips, examples, stories, and (if appropriate) information about the performance impact these title tag optimizations have.
Be aware that title tag updates won’t make up for weak areas in your SEO. Search engines may not be ranking your pages well for a variety of reasons, including: Poor performance, low-quality or inaccessible content, etc., are all possible reasons why search engines don’t rank your pages highly. It is unlikely that an optimized title tag will change this.
The data below is only for illustration purposes. The data shown below represents real performance gains. However, other factors can affect the results (e.g. Your results will be affected by how competitive your industry is. You should also know about the old SEO and new SEO.
What are title tags?
Title tags are HTML elements that indicate the title of web pages. The title tag can be seen in search engine results and social media feeds.
- Website owners and SEOs use optimizing title tags for local SEO to tell users and search engines what the page is all about.
- Optimizing title tags for local SEO is a great way to encourage users to click on your content in search results or social media feeds.
- They can do this by providing them with information about the page, encouraging them to take action through a CTA and giving them additional relevant info, etc. As I will explain in the following sections, title tags can be used to encourage users to click through from search results and social media feeds by giving them an idea of what the page is about, encouraging them with a CTA, providing additional relevant information etc.
- Google has approved optimizing title tags for local SEO as a ranking factor. However, they are not as important as content quality.
- The Wix SEO Learning Center title tag can be seen in the search results below for the keyword [learn SEO].
- Wix SEO Hub.”
Google can rewrite title tags (also known as “title links”) in some search results. Here is a link that will guide you through Google’s best practices to influence your title link. This is the foundation for all of the optimizations we’ll discuss later.
You can edit the title tag by using the menus and options available depending on which platform you are using to build your website. Consult the documentation.
Tip: Users of the Chrome browser can install Marketing Syrup’s SEO Pro extension in order to check title tags on individual web pages. This extension is great for checking title tags on your website and comparing them to those of your competitors.
Optimizing Title Tags for Local SEO: Best Practices & Examples
Title tags are important for your local business pages.
- Include your main services and offerings
- Include where you operate
- Include the main queries on the page
- Include the date you updated or published the page.
- Showing your unique selling point
- Include a CTA
Your business, products and services, industry, etc. will all influence the right tactic or combination of tactics.
Consider bookmarking this page as a future reference.
01. Include your business’s main offerings/services
Problem: The first title tag on the homepage was not informative. Visitors wouldn’t know at first glance which products/services were offered by the website.
The original title tag of the brand’s homepage was:
Home – [Brand name]
Jack Chambers Ward, Candour’s Director of Marketing and Partnerships, says: “Because the client was not ranking for some of those biggest terms in the business, we felt that the homepage would be the best page for them to rank on.”
He added, “These keywords cover a large number of products for the client, and since the homepage has the most links, it is also the page which can compete with the most competitive terms.” This optimization was based on other SEO concepts, i.e. How backlinks function, changing the title tag is simple.
Wholesale Dried and Preserved Flowers UK-[brand name]
Chambers-Ward stated that “this, along with adding basic promotional text to homepage, changed performance of homepage”.
Impact on performance:
Ahrefs estimate of organic traffic for the homepage.
In the 12 months between October 2022 and October 2023, average organic traffic on homepage increased by 393%. From less than 400 visits per month to almost 1,900 visits per month.
From #3 to #41, the ranking increased from #1 to #2 by more than 1,200%.
02. Add locations where your business operates
This is an opportunity: Some SEO publications suggest a title tag of between 50 and 60 characters. Moz claims that Google supports this length on desktops and mobile devices, resulting in a minimal amount of title tag retyping.
Joel Headley is vice president of SEO for Rio and Leadferno. He conducted a test to determine if longer titles tags would affect search visibility. The initial study was designed to disprove this suggestion and prove that longer title tag had a positive effect on rankings.
Headley’s approach: To conduct the study on title tags, Headley added unique neighborhoods (located around the primary zip code of the company) to thousands of web pages.
This is an example of how this could look:
Evergreen
San Jose’s metropolitan area includes Evergreen, Silver Creek Little Saigon Willow Glen and Japantown.
“The locations were in area codes. It’s a little surprising that most people want to increase their reach. This was improved by doubling the current zip code.”
— Joel Headley, VP, Rio SEO product management
Headley, at the Whitespark Local Search Summit shared that the test had resulted in an 16% increase in ranking.
Joy Hawkins of Sterling Sky Inc. advises local businesses to not worry about the character length. You can go beyond that limit and it will be fine.
03. Include homepage queries
The Opportunity: According to Ryan Jones, SEOTesting’s marketing manager, “This isn’t necessarily an ‘issue,’ but we thought we might be leaving traffic on the table if we didn’t include the queries that the page ranks for in its page title.”
Google can rank queries that you didn’t expect when it indexes your page. These queries may be the result of linguistic differences between what is being said on a page and what users are searching for.
This tactic is not appropriate for every type of page (it depends on its content and purpose), but including these queries in the title tag will help you increase traffic.
Jones explained the approach: “We used SEOTesting to find out what queries were ranking for this page.” SEOTesting includes a report that can be used for this. You can find the same information using Google Search Console, and you do not have to be a customer of SEOTesting. The page in question was ranked for queries that were not directly mentioned in its title tag. The title tag was changed to include these queries. Everything else on the webpage remained unchanged.
The original title tag of the page was:
Premier Inn Deals: Rooms starting at PS19
Title tag optimized: Premier Inn Deals & Discount Codes for 2023 (Rooms starting at PS19).
Impact on performance:
Jones explained that after running a test on a single page, where the title of the page was changed to include the top queries only and nothing else, they were able see a significant improvement in the performance of the webpage.
The number of daily clicks has increased by 59.65%. Daily impressions have increased by 34.8%.
The average page position has increased from 18.07 pages to 15.51 pages. The click-through rate has increased from 1.8% up to 2.13%.
04. Include the year you published or updated the page
Problem: Each year, the client’s site hosts a large event. To correspond with this event, it creates new pages on its website. The title tag contained the name of the event, but did not include the date or year. A Google search for the event name would return more results. The original format of the page title tag was:
[Event name] [event location]*
To protect the privacy of our clients, we do not display the actual title tag.
Claire Carlile is BrightLocal’s local search specialist. She explained the approach. “Since this event has been on the website for many years, we wanted Google and users to be able to clearly demystify any ambiguity that may have existed on these pages.” “We saw that the search volume was also high for event name + year modifier, and previous years were also driving queries (e.g. [Event name 2015 ]).”
Carlile’s team updated the title tags of 15 pages to reflect the following structure.
Carlile’s team did these things as well, since this optimization was part and parcel of a larger project:
The text of the page is updated to reflect changes made in the title tag
Users can now read more about past events by clicking on the internal links.
Addition of information about past events (events photos, assets focused on design, and listings of artists)
Changed the URLs of past events to be placed in a subfolder for past events.
Carlile offered this tip: “In certain cases, you might choose to only keep one URL and update both the page title and content in accordance with that.” This is a common practice for eCommerce pages that are updated annually (e.g. Black Friday, Cyber Sunday, etc.). Carlile explained that in this situation, the URL can be made “evergreen” and the date removed. This is suitable for events with less historical relevance or significance, when people might not want to or need to read previous iterations.
Impact on performance:
The overall website traffic did not increase, but this optimization of the title tag was not intended to achieve that. This change made it easier for users (by searching the event name plus year modifier) to find pages for previous years.
Carlile stated that “we also saw an increase in visits to older historical events pages, because people were able to navigate more easily between these historical occasions.”
05. Include your unique selling points
Opportunity: If you want to differentiate your business by offering niche products or services, then it is a good idea for your title tag to include these USPs.
You can target specific customers and have them click directly to your site, without having to send them to a website.
In the example below Optima Pet Care emphasizes its USP in its title tag by mentioning 24-hour veterinary services and emergency care.
The title tag can be even more informative, for example by mentioning what types of animals are served at the clinic. It also serves to differentiate the clinic from other search results. Here are some examples that local businesses could highlight in their title tag:
- Emergency, urgent, or 24-hour service
- Remote services
- Delivery
- There are many different diets (e.g. vegan, gluten-free, etc.). vegan, gluten-free, etc.)
- Free estimates
- Value (accessibility).
- Expertise (e.g. A mechanic who is specialized in electric or imported vehicles
06. Add a CTA
An opportunity: A CTA that is well written can show potential customers that you are able to meet their needs and understand them. This can increase conversions.
CTA] is a great foundation,” says Blake Denman, president and founder of RicketyRoo.
The Approach
Here is an example of a Phoenix 24-hour emergency plumbing service: Phoenix 24/7 Emergency Plumbers | Technicians Standby
It’s usually a good idea to use some kind of separator in the title tag to make it easier for users to understand the ” character.
If you find that every ranking result has a similar CTA, try something different to speak to your ideal customer. Blake Denman, president and founder of RicketyRoom.com says: “If you have trouble coming up with ideas for your call-to-action, look at Google’s results for inspiration or to eliminate any ideas.” Blake Denman is the president and founder at RicketyRoo.
Tip: Add variations of your keyword, other locations, “nearby queries”, etc. Denman says he adds another separator to the CTA.
He said: “Going from 50-62 characters to 250+ looks spammy but you are relying on Google to redirect the H1 tag or that it will be removed.” If you are going to test this, ensure that your H1 tag is not only the main keyword, but also reads as a title tag. This will add excitement to your brand.
Denman explained the impact on performance: “We have tested this numerous times and we always see a good lift when you add the keywords after the second separator.” The lifts are different depending on the factors involved, but they always exist.
In this example, there was no data specific to the customer.
Conclusion
Optimizing title tags for local SEO is a simple yet highly effective strategy for improving search rankings and increasing click-through rates. By incorporating best practices—such as including relevant keywords, specifying location, highlighting unique selling points, and adding compelling CTAs—you can enhance your site’s visibility and attract more targeted traffic.
While title tag optimization can contribute to SEO success, it is not a standalone solution. A well-optimized title must be supported by high-quality content, strong site performance, and a solid overall SEO strategy. As search engines continue refining their algorithms, testing and refining your title tags will help you stay competitive in local search results. Implement these strategies today and monitor your performance to maximize your SEO efforts.
