It is hard enough coming up with a topic for your blog post, and once you have figured that out, you still need to come up with a title.
And on top of that, a blog used in content marketing needs an SEO title.
For some, writing titles for blog posts or page titles comes naturally. However, it can be hard to be creative and keep SEO in mind.
Your blog post needs to engage people; it shouldn’t only be about a search engine optimization strategy. While you need to pay attention to the content and how readily it will draw an audience so that your business can grow, you still need to pay close attention to SEO.
To learn what makes for a good SEO title and the best practices for writing one, check out this article below.
What is SEO, and Why Is it Important to Have an SEO Title?
SEO is a form of marketing that focuses on optimizing the visibility of a web page in search engines.
With the help of SEO, websites can get higher rankings and more traffic. The importance of SEO is growing because it helps increase the visibility of a website on search engine results pages. The more traffic it gets, the higher ranking it will be on Google and other search engine result pages (SERP).
Business owners often overlook a search engine optimized title as they spend more time and energy optimizing their content. Yet, a well-chosen title can explain your website’s purpose and help users find exactly what they’re looking for.
It’s essential to keep your SEO in mind when writing a title.
Your page title should be descriptive and answer a query that would bring in traffic.
There are a few best practices for writing your titles. To be successful in your niche, you will want to keep these in mind when writing. Let’s take a look at what they are below.
Mistakes That Kill Your SEO Titles and How To Avoid Them
You can make some mistakes that will cause your blog to become an invisible search result to search engine crawlers.
While your title won’t do this alone, it is vital to keep these in mind when you are writing. The first mistake is keyword stuffing throughout your post. Keyword stuffing is using too many keywords on a page with the hope of ranking higher for that term in search engines. This outdated practice can lead to unreadability, resulting in a Google penalty.
One of the primary mistakes people make when creating a title is adding a keyword that has no relevance. It’s ok to have a keyword in your title to direct readers but ensure that it is pertinent. Using a keyword in your title that doesn’t translate into relevance for your article can frustrate readers and drive them away from reading any further.
In addition to this, you need to hit all of the other SEO basics for website management. This includes adding an SEO title tag, including a meta description, having proper headers in the blog (like H1 tag, H2 tag, etc.), and following any local SEO guidelines (if applicable).
We also encourage you to follow the title recommendations from your Yoast SEO plugin (although we don’t recommend following Yoast completely for the rest of the article).
Creating a Compelling SEO Title and Getting More Page Traffic
The title is the first thing people see when looking for your content. And it is made possible through the HTML title tag option on your website backend. It can be a huge opportunity to capture visitors, so creating a compelling title that will get you more traffic is crucial.
A good SEO title should be descriptive, catchy, and relevant to your article. You can use keywords in your title, but make sure they don’t overshadow the article’s main point.
Our content marketing team uses the following best practices SEO tips for coming up with an SEO title:
Write the Content First
We find that it pays to write a post before you decide on a title for the post. Writing a blog post before you decide on a title can be helpful because your focus is on creating engaging and informative content that will benefit your audience by over-stressing keyword usage.
Once you’ve written your content, you’re much more aware of what it’s all about. This allows you to create catchy and attractive headings, meta titles, and titles that also search engine-friendly.
Try a Unique Title
Boring titles like ones that are over-exuberant, “The Absolute Best Most Amazing Coffee Ever!” or boring, “How to Make Coffee,” can turn readers away (and not speak to SEO guidelines). Try to come up with a unique title, something that stands out from other blogs related to your topic. Remember that these titles will also need to draw attention on social media!
Research
You need to ensure that you’re using the right keywords to attract traffic and show how your product or service can solve people’s pain points. This is why keyword research will help you formulate an SEO-friendly title. But, how does one research keywords when it comes to a title?
Researching keywords can be as easy as a simple Google search (but Google Analytics and SEO search tools like SEMrush can tell you how feasible these keywords can be).
Try searching for some of the main points of your article—then check the results. The first few results should be relevant to your post. If they aren’t, you may need to tweak some of your keywords.
Add Your Primary Keyword
You should include your primary keyword in the title. It can help search engines find you and searchers who may not have been familiar with your brand. Plus, it eliminates any guesswork when people are looking for content for a specific topic.
Consider putting it at the beginning of your title (although this is not a dealbreaker). It should also be included in your meta description.
Using the keyword more than once increases your chances of being found in a search, but too many times in a title doesn’t make sense. It also has to be readable to humans. Try using a phrase that represents the same intent as your primary keyword. For instance, writing a blog about why your coffee maker is best should include ‘coffee maker,’ but it would be even more powerful if the word ‘coffee’ is used— something like, ‘How to Make the Ultimate Coffee with Your Coffee Maker.’
And, since we added the word ‘ultimate,’ it brings us to the next step.
Remember the Reader
It’s important to remember that content is written for readers, and search engines are a means to an end – they should not be your primary concern. While search engines are essential for attracting and finding a target audience, the user experience is much more important. You want to write the text that does more than satisfy an algorithm. So be sure to consider reader search intent.
Including words that entice your reader by providing solutions, entertaining, or informing will make your titles rise above the rest. Try emotional language and solid keywords to pull in your audience. Try words such as:
- Ultimate
- User-friendly
- Free
- Fast
- Easy
- Secret
- Insider
Choosing solid words in your title, combined with SEO, will help you draw readers into your sales funnel and give you the upper hand over your competitor.
Watch the Title Length
Too long of a title is an SEO no-no, so your Yoast SEO plugin and Google search crawler might not like a title longer than 60 characters and should stay in the range of 50 to 60 characters long.
A longer title can help you include your keyword phrase more organically, and it can better describe your web page. So you’ll want to find the right mix of title length.
Don’t Miss Out on the Traffic & Promotion of an Effective SEO Title
The title is one of the first things visitors see, and it’s also one of the most critical factors in determining how many people will click on it. A well-written title can increase your conversion rate and improve your search engine rankings.
okwrite is a personalized content writing service that helps businesses stay up-to-date with their content marketing strategy. Our writers are SEO experts, so we use the latest techniques to get your message across.
How do you come up with SEO-friendly titles for your content? Add your own below!
