Thread

I was looking at an SEO screencast that offers the choice between a custom field for an SEO-optimized title and the default title.

Why have an {alt_title} for SEO; why not just use the default {title} field to create the SEO-qualified title you want? Custom fields for meta description and keywords make sense to me for data which would be used site-wide if not specified per entry, but each entry has a unique {title} by default, so why not SEO the {title} from the start?

Thanks.

<title>{if embed:alt_title}{embed:alt_title} — {if:elseif embed:title}{embed:title} — {/if} Site_Name</title>

The reason is sometimes you want to have a title that the end user in the control panel can understand or is shorter than an SEO title would be. Usually “SEO Titles” have more keywords OR rearranged words for maximum value, while a more READABLE title is sometimes slightly different.

In the perfect world, it’d be one and the same, but sometimes it isn’t.

The reason is sometimes you want to have a title that the end user in the control panel can understand or is shorter than an SEO title would be.

Hello Lealea,

So if there is an {alt_title} value present then the only purpose of the {title} field is to serve as a ‘note’ or ‘reference’ for the entry’s author to remind him/her what the preferred title would look like if SEO wasn’t a concern?

And functionally, if the author writes a superb title that is creative and SEO then {alt_title} would be unnecessary and the SEO objective met ... is that right?

And ... I enjoy and benefit from the excellent EE Podcast you and Ryan produce.

Thanks.

Ramone

Hi Ramone: yep, more or less. The main {title} should really be your preferred title, and {alt_title} is anything that you want to maximize SEO. And you can use conditionals to JUST show {title} if nothing is in the {alt_title} field. So yep, correct again.

Glad you enjoy Ryan and I’s podcast! 😊 Let us know if you have any show suggestions or questions: http://5by5.tv/contact (choose EE Podcast in the dropdown)

Cheers!

So if there is an {alt_title} value present then the only purpose of the {title} field is to serve as a ‘note’ or ‘reference’ for the entry’s author to remind him/her what the preferred title would look like if SEO wasn’t a concern?

And functionally, if the author writes a superb title that is creative and SEO then {alt_title} would be unnecessary and the SEO objective met ... is that right?

It’s not just about “SEO”... Sometimes having two titles for a page is useful for accessibility purposes.

An example:

You need the page title <title> to be descriptive, but the main page heading <h1> to be short and sweet.

You’d use the entry title as the page heading, ie “Products”
You’d use a custom field for the page title, ie ““ACME products list”

And of course, if the custom page title is blank you can add a conditional to pull in the entry title instead.

Interesting technique, BlueDreamer ... do you have a url to a page where you’ve done this?

Thanks.

Not “exactly” what I suggested but http://www.picc.co.uk/events/ uses different page titles and main page headings. Basically the site owner can add different titles if they wish, on http://www.picc.co.uk/news/article/sony-ex3-camcorders/ they have chosen to use the same for both page totle and page heading.

I also find that bluedreamer’s technique works well for controlling the length of links in navigation menus… For example, if a client wants “Case Studies and Our History of Success” as their page title, the navigation link might be far too long to fit on the menu. Thus, the official {title} might be “Case Studies” so that the navigation still works well and looks good, but the headline (e.g. <H1>) of the page might be the full length title.