When it comes to online content marketing, SEO strategy is undeniably important. However, some marketers focus so much on conforming to SEO that titles lose their personality. It can be tough to think of a blog title that is catchy and interesting while conforming to SEO best practices. Marketers that find a balance between the two can more effectively leverage online content to meet their goals and drive engagement.
Make Your Titles SEO Friendly
When it comes to determining titles, the best ones are both SEO friendly and drive click-through-rates. For those unfamiliar with SEO, ranking is important but as with any marketing effort, it’s important to focus on users rather than numbers. SEO focuses on increasing visibility in organic or non-paid search engine results. Effective SEO improves search rankings which in turn drives traffic to websites and/or blogs and increases conversions on e-commerce sites.
People use search engines for three primary searches: transaction, information, and navigation.
SEO is tied to keyword usage and when users search for keywords contained in your posts, you want to appear high in the search engine rankings so that your site can be easily found. A good title that is also SEO friendly will contain keywords that are relevant to the content in the blog post and interesting to your readers. Using the correct keywords requires some research into keywords to ensure that you are leverage keywords effectively. There are a variety of keyword research tools available for marketers – many for free.
Keep Titles Accurate
While a catchy title is important for attracting readers’ interest and gaining clicks, be sure to steer away from clickbait titles. The internet is flooded with content from thousands of different sources. Strong titles set high quality, relevant content apart from the rest.
Titles should set clear expectations for readers that will be fulfilled by the content in the post. Setting clear expectations improves link performances since readers know exactly what they will be getting. Be sure to respect the reader experience – don’t overpromise in your title if you do not deliver on that promise in your content.
Make it Memorable
Accuracy should not prevent your titles from having some splash – depending on your core audience. Your titles should still have personality no matter the audience, but be sure that it corresponds with the overall tone and voice of your brand. Choose language that resonates with them and make your titles appeal to what they value.
Spice up your titles with one or more of the following:
1. Alliteration: Alliteration is a device that not only makes things pleasant to read but also has a strong, yet subtle impact in the repetition.
2. Strong Phrases: Don’t be afraid to include strong language, but use it in moderation. If everything is strong, it loses its impact.
3. Clear Value: Presenting the content up front in the title will grab your reader’s interest.
4. Focus on Who: While it may seem like you need to explain the why of your article in the title, headlines that included the word “who” had a 22% higher click-through rate than those without
Keep it Short and Sweet
The length of your headline ultimately depends on what your goals are for the post and where it will appear. However, shorter titles function better – especially on mobile devices. Try to keep titles under 70 characters to prevent cut offs by search engines. If you’re planning to share on Twitter, titles that are 8-12 words long get more shares and have a higher click-through rank.
Optimizing titles for mobile not only ensures that you will grab readers’ attention and increase engagement with your posts, it also helps improve the performance of your content – especially on mobile. Make sure to optimize your content for mobile to see the most success out of your online content.
Articles with numbers in the title see a high performance rate – this doesn’t mean every article needs a list, but if it fits with your content and style, consider adding numbers to your title. This can be anything from “15 Habits of Successful Marketers” to “8 Fun Facts About SEO” – whatever is accurate to your content and voice.
Conclusion
Blog titles that are catchy and optimized for SEO are not mutually exclusive. Marketers that focus too much on SEO and rankings can forget that a title needs to have punch. Conversely, catchy titles that are irrelevant or don’t perform well with SEO prevent effective content marketing. Optimizing headlines to correspond with SEO best practices doesn’t mean titles shouldn’t be intriguing for readers. Focus on titles that will grab your readers’ attention, inform them of the value in the content, and accurately reflect what the post will deliver.
What are some awesome titles you’ve seen lately? Share with your peers in the comments below!
