Selling with just a few words – Designing Google search results (part 2/3)

How do Google search results get their heading?

As discussed in the first part of our special, every Google search result is made up of three elements: Title, description and link. While the origin of the link may be clear, this is not clear at first glance with the title and description. Where does the information come from?
The blue title of every search result at Google is fed from the title of the website. In your ePages rental shop, you have the option of giving both the home page as well as every category and product page its own title. This title is then used both in the browser header and by Google to create the title line of the search result.

How to give your home page a title

In the "Settings" menu, search for the "General settings" menu item.

On the "Status" tab that now appears, you can enter the name of the website as well as the slogan under the "Presentations" item. Both entries are stored in the title of the home page and thus appear in the header of the browser as well as the title of the Google search results.

Individual titles for every category page

The title changes of the individual category pages are changed at a different place: In the "Content/Categories" menu, search for the "Data sheet view" menu item. Then select the category whose title you would like to change.

Under the "General" tab that now appears, you can specify an individual heading for each respective category. This appears in both the browser as well as in the Google search results. In addition to the title, the name of your shop is always attached by the system.

Take this into consideration. Don’t just give your categories a short generic term like "Nike", for example. Instead, make use of the character length of 60 characters. An example: "Nike – shoes and sneakers – all models and sizes"

Two small tips:

A category title with up to 60 characters might not always fit in the front layout of your shop. Therefore, you can additionally enter a short form of the category title on this tab in the "Labeling in the page element" field. The short form is then used in the store front for the category listing.   You can also enter keywords on this tab that describe the content of the category page and help Google to classify them correctly.

Last but not least: Title for product pages

Select the "Products" entry in the main menu to get an overview of all created products. Search for the one that you want to change the title of and click on the corresponding entry. In the tab that now appears, choose the "General" entry. You can change the name of the product in the "Name" field.

In addition to the correct product description, you should again add typical search phrases here and present your shop. An example: Instead of simply naming the product "Nokia N97", you could write "Nokia N97 – Online shop for mobile phones – free shipping"

Don’t forget that you can enter additional keywords for improved indexing on this tab – as you can with the category pages.

After we have given our shop, all categories, as well as the product pages an individual title, we now take care of the descriptive text in the Google search results. What options do we have here to have an effect on the display?

Read more in the third part of our special "Selling with just a few words – Designing Google search results“.
 

Volker Schwarz

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Volker Schwarz studied German, History and Politics at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. From 2004 to 2009 he worked as a freelancer for several marketing and communications companies in Hamburg, including e-commerce companies. Between August 2009 and December 2011, he worked as an online editor at ePages.

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