Title tags in a href tags
 

I'm very curious to know if this helps with search engine placement or if they disregard it.

An example (extra spaces added to make sure it shows up)




I prefer going as streamlined as possible with my code so I'm really interested in people's insight to this, of course if there's some major benefit in it.. I'd want to take advantage of it.

Positives and Negatives Tart... :)

Negatives:
- adds code to your page - affecting file size
- coding/adding links takes longer

Positives:
- adds relevance to the recieving page.
- adds "those" keywords to the 'text' within your page
- give the surfer a mouseover preview in most browsers

Like most things you should use it wisely and sparingly.

DD

I use it in all my pages but I don't really worry about a few extra lines of code on a page.

On my thumbnail preview TGP I used to have the title="free porn" on each and every thumbnail, plus the individual link description in the alt tag. Until mid 2003 I was able to clearly credit this for being on page 1 Google results for "free porn" - BLISS!

It lasted for about 8 months and then I got harshly penalised = dropped down to ~800 - LESS $$$!

So be careful!

Another aspect: if you're using both, title and alt tag, all Modzilla based browsers display the title before the alt (meaning they don't display the alt on mouseover)! Worth considering because I usually write heaps into the alt for graphical paysite links.

DD and George, thanks for the info.. I also had no idea about that happening in Mozilla.

Cleo, have you always used it on your pages; and if not; do you think it has had a significent impact on your SE listings?

Whenever you can take advantage of alt and title tags, you should. Just don't keyword spam like what George described. Just vary your keyword phrases and make sure that the keywords are used in text on the page as well. I tend to name photos and banners with my keywords to help add relevance.

UW.. we also name our pictures instead of the usual ds582976.jpg, even when using sponsor content we change the name to be revelant to the pictures.. but we are in the process of redesigning some of our templates, banners, recepts etc.. and just wondered if it was worth adding in the extra code and IF it really made a difference or would we be hung out to dry by google.