How to write item titles that get more sales (and rank in Google too!)

Want more sales?

Want more people to view your items?

Want more enquiries?

... read on!

In this article we'll be going over:

1. Including words that will be searched for
2. Why the item title is so important to Google, and how to pick the most relevant titles
3. Grammar & capitalisation
4. Don't put spaces where you don't need them
5. Make sure it does what it says on the tin
6. "Front loading" your item name
7. Tips on the detailed descriptions

It isn't always easy coming up with titles and names for your stock, especially if you are in a rush, however it is really important for things such as SEO (Google Search Engine rankings) and Multi-Language websites. So it is essential that you put some time, effort and thought into how you write them as it will affect your sales!

What aspects of your website does this apply to?

This applies to:-

• Product/item names
• Category names
• Blog/news article titles
• Press article titles
• Any other names or titles

1) Be specific and include words that will be searched for

A lot of the time you will see very generic stock names/descriptions with nothing much more than 'Oak table' in the item name. A BIG no no!

You should be specific with your item titles and names in order for them to be more likely to be picked up by search engines as it's much easier to get ranked for "long tail" searches than "short tail" searches (eg more specific searches vs less specific ones).

Put yourself in a customers shoes and look at the way you would use a search engine to shop. You would be as specific as possible with what you're looking for, because you don't want to have to trawl through loads of websites or pages on Google to find what you're looking for.

Example

In the shoes of an antiques dealer / website owner...

• You have a grey antique trumeau mirror, and you were in a rush so you've listed it on your website as "Grey French Mirror"
   

In the shoes of the buyer searching for an item...

• Let's say you're a buyer looking specifically for an antique trumeau mirror (a mirror which is placed on a pier or a wall between two windows)
• So you might search for "antique trumeau mirror" in Google
• The following item won't show up! Because it hasn't been listed with the necessary keywords!
• In this case the buyer won't find the antique dealer's item :(

This can be simply rectified by using a detailed item title when listing the item on your website.

Image Credit: Pure White Lines

2) Why the item title is so important to Google, and how to pick the most relevant titles

If your website has been built properly (ours are, see our portfolio at www.antiqueswebdesign.com), then the title / name of the item appears in really important places for Google, such as:-

• Page title
• H1 tag
• Body content
• Page web address (URL)
• Link text
• Image file name / URL
• Alt tags
• Title tags

These are key places that Google uses to work out what the "subject" or "topic" of a web page is, so it's really important you give it as much information as possible so Google can pick it up!

If you want to specifically optimise your item titles for what people are searching for on Google, you can check for what is popular and what is trending by using Google Trends, or plan keywords using Google's Keyword Planner.

As above, think about what sort of wording and phrases people will use to search for the item, maybe it's from a specific period, place or has a specific feature e.g 18th century, Italian and Gilt. Also include the size, the colour and what it's made from.

3) Grammar & Capitalisation

A lot of people like to capitalise all of their item/product name for aesthetics when ideally, you should only really capitalise the first letter of each proper noun. This is especially important when it comes to multi-lingual websites, as if you capitalise the first letter of every word, or capitalise everything, often it won't get translated.

So words you would capitalise the first letter of:-

• Derby
• Gustav Becker Clock Company
• Henry Pelham

Words you would not capitalise the first letter of:-

• table
• chair
• mirror
• from
• and

Make sure Google can translate your titles

• If you have a multi language website with automated translation, Google Translate needs to know which words to translate, and which words not to
• So for example, "derby" could either be a derby, or the place Derby. With a capital D, Google won't translate it as it is a proper noun, and the name of a place. Without a capital D it is a noun rather than a proper noun and Google will translate it.
• Likewise, if you have a chair, it should be "chair", and not "Chair", otherwise Google won't translate it
• For definitions of what is a proper noun vs a noun, please see:-
  • https://www.grammarly.com/blog/proper-nouns/

Credibility

Whilst we don't profess to being grammar experts, many visitors to your website will spot these kinds of mistakes and it reduces your credibility as a professional business / organisation.

4) Don't put spaces where you don't need them

Don't hit that space bar too hard!! Sometimes we see clients put several spaces in between words where they aren't actually necessary. Avoid doing this if they aren't necessary.

5) Make sure it does what it says on the tin

This is especially important for products/items and categories. Ensure that they are descriptive and "do what they say on the tin". So a can of baked beans would be called "Can of baked beans".

Sometimes we see website owners try and get too clever (creative??) with their item names, but all it does is confuse people, and results in people leaving their website.

Image Credit: Room 8 Interiors

6) "Front load" your item name

By "front load" we mean putting the most important keywords as close to the beginning of the item name as possible, and the least important afterwards.

When people view are searching on a mobile device (eg with a smaller screen) there is only so much room, so you want the most important words that will grab their attention and make them think "ah, I've found just what I want!" to appear first.

7) Don't be lazy with your detailed descriptions either!

We've covered a lot about the item title, but how about the more detailed description you see when you click to view an item?

Here's a few key tips:-

• Have bullet points with the key details in your descriptions, as skim readers won't read chunks of text
• Put the interesting & important stuff at the top
• Don't forget to include dimensions!
• Write about things like the materials used, situations and rooms a piece would look good in, and other items you have for sale that it would work well with
• Don't make visitors read through lots of boring text to find out the important stuff about an item, otherwise they will leave!

Image Credit: Alex MacArthur Interiors

Summary

a) Don't be lazy!

b) Use keywords that people are searching for

c) Use the correct grammar

d) DON'T USE CAPITAL LETTERS WHEN YOU DON'T NEED TO

The more effort you put in, the better the results you'll get, and the more likely hood you'll be found on Google too!