This is a sweet little table to have handy when tidying up the onsite SEO stuff. Getting these basics right will go towards supporting that 15 or 20% that Google takes into account when ranking you for relevant keyword phrases.

Of course there’s more to a title or description than the number of characters!

My first rule is to keep the keyword as close to the front of the sentence as possible (proximity) and to keep the number of words down (density)

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Second, you want the title to make sense and press the right buttons. Too many SEO’s focus on stuffing keywords in titles even if they don’t make sense and neglect the fact that the title is what the searcher sees in the results page. You can boost your conversions massively just by treating this tag with the same respect you would give a pay per click advert.

Something similar goes for the description and I often include a telephone number just to show that the site is totally transparent and means business. Telephone numbers create a sense of trust even if the searcher has no intention of using it.

The URL is again important as it shows up in the search engines helping towards your relevancy score in the eyes of the customer. The keyword in the URL has less of an impact on rankings than it once had due to SEO’s abusing it but from a marketing and information organisation sense it is a smart move.