I think we all agree that creating a “Caption” for a text (blog-post or other web copy) is much more than winging a quick title including a couple of keywords. I would like to conclude (not suggest) – that when creating a “Caption” you have to take the following upper level related elements into consideration – as they all derive from the same thought – but most certainly have different usage:

• Title Tag (Writing caption focussing on: SEO and Conversion)
• Heading Tag (Writing caption focussing on: Usability, SEO and Conversion)
• File Name and Folder (Writing caption focussing on: SEO, Conversion and Systems)
• Document Name (Writing caption focussing on: Analytics)

N.B. Please note than when I talk about “Caption” – there is no relation to the deprecated HTML tag of the same name – it was simply the best word I could find describing all of the above four elements (me being Danish and all)

The reasoning for doing this post is that most of the comments read so far (by me at least) – tend to focus on the HTML Title for SEO purposes only – leaving out the fact that there is an instantly related Analysis task at the same time – creating a “Document Name” for your Web Analytics Tool.

I will not go into details on how to write your Title Tag, Heading Tag or File Name (plenty of good posts out there about this) – but I would like to comment on why you should use the Document Name feature in your analytics tool and incorporate that into your procedures when creating Captions. Find a quick bulleted list of some of the basics you have to take intoconsideration:

Title Tag (Writing caption focussing on: SEO and Conversion)
Example: VisualRevenue.com – Web Analytics and Affiliate Marketing Blog

• The searchers intent
• Branding your traffic
• Incorporating your keyword phrases (shorter vs. longer phrases)
• Your use of dividers
• Click-through rates and thus conversion in mind
• Character limitation (about 65)
• Being consistent with the rest of your site’s titles
• Have your Heading in mind
• Have your file-name in mind
• …

Heading (Writing caption focussing on: Usability, SEO and Conversion)
Example: Web Analytics and Affiliate Marketing Blog

• Click-through rates and thus conversion in mind
• Incorporating your keyword phrases (shorter vs. longer phrases)
• Make the phrasing of headings self-explanatory
• Scanability if heading is long
• Highlighting of important words
• Avoid exaggerated promotional words and phrases
• Have your Title in mind
• …

File Name and Folder (Writing caption focussing on: SEO, Conversion and Systems)
Example: /blog/default.htm

• Click-through rates and thus conversion in mind
• Incorporating your keyword phrases (shorter vs. longer phrases)
• Have your Title in mind
• Be aware of Systems limitations on file name length
• Cases do matter (I recommend using ONLY lower case)
• Avoid parameters if possible
• …

Document Name (Writing caption focussing on: Analytics)
Example: var DOCUMENTNAME=’Blog Homepage’; (IndexTools Java-script example)

• Have your Title in mind
• As Title, Heading can change for SEO purposes – choose a broader permanent name for the document
• Be aware of Web Analytics tool limitations on Document Name in length and characters (including how much is shown in reporting)
• Decide for grouping (matching names are typically grouped) – this can also be pitfall and it is very hard to diagnose and cure later on, should you by mistake have named two pages the same
• Be consistent with the rest of your site’s analytics naming convention
• …

Conclusion….. and Why all the fuss?

Most sites today, and specially in the affiliated marketing space, are SUPER aggressive on SEO and have implemented heavily Search Engine optimized titles and headings. The results of this is in most cases that you end up with useless and changing naming in your Web Analytics tools – I would even go as far as to say worthless per page data, as it is not grouped correctly due to changing titles. Therefore one must look at caption as a four point task – and not just a title task!

Looking at my own blog… hmmm – I can see it’s time to take my own medicine! :-) however; tomorrow there is a new day. :-)

Off to Search Engines Strategies in Munich (sitting at the Hotel with my Red Bull breakfast)