Sites that provide extensive dictionaries and thesauri have gone through painstaking efforts to hone their data facets to optimize the user’s search and site experience. These efforts need to be further extended into common code sections in order to dynamically drive SEO content and keywords.

Ideally, the taxonomy will have been created with optimization in mind. Meaning keywords are well defined through a process of competitive analysis and keyword opportunity tracking. A simple example would be that of an ecommerce site offering thousands of sku. These skus can fall into a hierarchy such as:

  • Category : Video Games
  • Sub-Category : Wii
  • Facet1 : Sports
  • Facet2 : Tennis
  • Product : Wii Tennis

In this manner, the user is working from general to specific as they navigate to the specific game they want on a chosen system. The site hierarchy has been developed to classify multiple elements of the game so users can easily find what they seek.

Since the taxonomy is in place, the site dynamically creates a list of games as the user gets more and more specific with their choices until they end up at a choice of Wii Tennis. In order to extend the use of these dynamic parameters and taxonomy, the same practices can be used in generating optimized HTML elements and code.

We know that site pages need unique, keyword-rich titles. In my above example, we have all we need to generate a unique title on each dynamically generated page. Examples (<> signify elements that can be dynamically driven):

  • Auto-generated Category Page Title = <Video Games>, <Wii>, <Playstation>,  <Xbox 360> Games
    Here we are using the Category Name followed by Sub-Categories (in this instance types of game consoles). Because we are at a top Category level, the Title tag can dynamically generated by inserting common factors (game consoles) into the title.
  • Auto-generated Sub-Category Page Title  = <Video Games>  -  <Wii> Games
    At the sub-category level, we simply dynamically append the Sub-category name to the Category
  • Auto-generated Sub-Category Page with a Facet Title  = <Video Games>  -  <Wii> <Facet1> Games
    We are getting more granular in the titles as the user navigates the site. Here we have added Facet1
  • Auto-generated Sub-Category Page with 2 Facets Title  = <Video Games>  -  <Wii>  <Facet1> <Facet2> Games
    We are now down to the level of specific sports games (tennis) the user is seeking
  • Auto-generated Product Page with 2 Facets Title  = <Video Games>  -  <Wii>  <Facet1> <Facet2> Games | <Wii Tennis>
    The end result of the user’s navigation is that she has landed on a specific product page. In this case, Wii Tennis. The title now appends | Wii tennis to the page title for a unique title at the product page level

There are a title limitations imposed by search engines of course. Google, for example, will evaluate the first 70 characters of your page title. Analyze your page titles to see what variance in length you have. If you find that your site is missing keyword opportunities because top keywords are appearing later in eth title tag, create dynamic rules to address. For example, if you see that that Wii Tennis will not be read by Google because it is after the 70 character limit, adjusting your product detail page may be in order.

  • <Video Games>  -  <Wii> <Facet1> <Facet2> Games | <Wii Tennis>
    NOW BECOMES
    <Wii> <Video Games>  -  <Wii Tennis> – <SKU> | <Facet1> <Facet2> Games

For this example, we re-arranged the dynamic elements, added the dynamic SKU and moved the facets to the end of the title all in the name of getting the Wii Tennis game name inside the 70 character limit. Depending on the importance you place upon your keywords, you can adjust titles any number of ways to suit your needs. As always, you can test different variations to see which results in higher rankings or conversions.

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