Meta titles are nothing new to the world of SEO.
We need them because crafting interesting titles can improve clicks and sales. They help readers and search engines alike understand what the page is about, and are factored into Google’s ranking algorithms.
Even new website owners are working on their titles for these reasons.
However, when you’re working on an enterprise site and publishing massive amounts of content, meta titles become increasingly complex.
Meta Title Challenges That Enterprises Face
Enterprises combat two main issues when writing meta titles:
- Cannibalization.
- Uniqueness.
Your titles should revolve around keywords that don’t compete with one another on different pages of your site.
Amazon is an excellent example of a site where cannibalization is easy because many sellers sell the same thing.
Search for “dove deodorant men” on the site, and you’ll find dozens and dozens of products – and many are the same.
Automation or advanced algorithms can help, to some extent, to make titles unique, verify that the same title exists, and make subtle changes to make titles unique.
However, it’s often best to use human input and tools (such as backend scripts that check for the same or similar titles) to ensure that titles are unique and cannibalization doesn’t exist.
Meta titles may be different based on:
- Content intent.
- Sales content.
- Information content.
- Product pages.
But other than that, general meta title guidelines still apply.
You can still use meta title best practices on enterprise sites.
However, also consider the type of enterprise sites you’re dealing with.
Types Of Enterprises And The Vast Content They Create
Enterprise sites come in many forms.
- Large, global companies love to post news content.
- Some companies focus on blogs.
- Ecommerce stores focus on products.
Microsoft is a good example of an enterprise site with a wealth of content.
The site utilizes many subdomains to help manage its content, such as developer.microsoft.com, to keep content separate and help with meta title issues.
They also have their own “blogs” subdomain.
It may be beneficial to have subdomains from a site structure standpoint, yet many enterprises do not.
eBay is another enterprise example that operates primarily as an ecommerce store, although everything is sold through auctions.
Again, the enterprise has a wealth of information and content:
- Primarily auctions.
- Community section.
- Multiple subdomains.
However, when you search for certain product names, thousands of pages are indexed in Google for eBay for the same item.
Often, subtle differences exist between these titles.
For example, looking up “Makita LXT 18V Li-Ion 1/2 in. Impact Wrench (BT) XWT08Z-R Certified,” there are 32,000 results from eBay.
Meta title differences on the first page include:
- Changing Li-Ion to Lithium-Ion.
- Adding “Brushless” or other descriptors.
- Adding quotes.
- Changing positions of certain words.
But if you’re the one writing 32,000 meta titles for the same product, you’re undertaking a monumental task.
There’s no easy way manually, but with the right approach, it’s certainly possible.
First, you need to make sure every title is written correctly before hacking your way to mastering enterprise meta titles.
How To Properly Write Meta Titles
Writing meta titles is both an art and a science.
That’s why scaling them can be especially challenging.
Therefore, it’s important to know how to write meta titles properly before you think about scaling.
Meta titles should be:
- Between 30 and 60 characters. Longer titles won’t display properly in the search results. Anything shorter than 30 characters won’t be descriptive enough to let searchers and search engines know what the page is about.
- Descriptive and include your primary keyword. What is the page about? It’s important to be concise and honest here. Your title should describe your page and incorporate your primary keyword to help with SEO.
When writing a meta title, follow these rules if you want your page to have a shot at ranking.
If you want to take it a step further and make your meta titles even more effective, you should find creative ways to incorporate:
Trigger Words
The right words or phrases can persuade searchers to click on your website. These are words that trigger emotions or psychological responses.
Here are some effective trigger words for meta titles:
- Get.
- Try.
- Learn.
- Grow.
- Exclusive.
- Limited time.
- Secrets.
- Special offer.
- Urgent.
- Last chance.
- Hurry.
- Free.
- Guarantee.
When you use language that elicits an emotional response, you can attract more clicks.
However, make sure that you add unique selling points.
Your Unique Selling Points
How is your product or service different from the competition?
In other words, what is your unique selling point (USP)?
Incorporating USPs into your meta titles can help generate more clicks.
For example, if I search for “electricians in NYC,” some of the top results include the following words:
- Best.
- Certified.
- 1-hour emergency service.
- Free estimates.
If you’re in desperate need of an electrician, you want someone who is the “best” or offers emergency service. These are unique selling points that attract clicks, but they can also help your SEO by incorporating keywords and describing your page’s content.
So, to sum up, a proper meta title:
- Is brief (up to 60 characters) and describes what the page is about.
- Incorporates your primary keyword for the page.
- Includes trigger words and USPs.
It may sound like a lot to include in a small amount of space, but it’s easier than you think.
Let’s look at some tips and tricks to make meta title writing easier and faster.
3 Hacks To Master Enterprise Meta Titles At Scale
1. Automate The Process
Automation has come a long way, but Google recently said AI-generated content is against their guidelines.
Would this include meta titles? I’m not sure, but you also don’t want to risk AI making thousands of page titles unreadable.
Instead, automate through:
- Searching for similar or exact titles.
- Offering advice to incorporate unique information (more below).
- Recommending synonyms for words.
- Using Python and Javascript to automate title creation.
If you use even minor forms of “automation,” it will help you generate titles faster.
2. Find Unconventional Ways To Incorporate Unique Information
One major challenge of writing meta titles at scale is that eventually, you run out of ideas.
In addition, if you sell similar products or variations of the same product, it may be challenging to create unique meta titles.
If your meta titles are too similar, look for unique information in unconventional places.
For example, your titles can include:
- Model numbers or names.
- SKU.
- Colors and size combinations.
- Review stars.
3. Authors, Dates, and Categories
If your enterprise posts a lot of news or blogs, you can easily add three things to make titles unique. The three we recommend are:
- The author’s name to the title.
- A publishing date.
- A category.
Since these are news and blog pages, no one will mind seeing this information at the end of the titles, ideally after a dash or pipe.
If you have an ecommerce store with third-party sellers, you can add in the seller’s name at the end to keep things unique.
Enterprise meta titles are challenging to write, but you can create unique titles that promote clicks and avoid cannibalization if you use these tips.
More resources:
Featured Image: treety/Shutterstock
