8 of 30 Days SEO: Begin with A Good Search Engine Friendly Headline

Welcome to Day 8 of the 30 Day On-Site SEO Challenge. Today we’re going to be looking at why you need to create a good search engine friendly headline first. 

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The best way to begin writing content is to create a strong search engine friendly headline. Not only will it communicate to the reader what your content is about, but it will give you a framework to stick to. By keeping to the limits of the title, you will stay on track. Let’s explore what you need to know to create an SEO friendly and powerful headline.

Use Numbers

Research shows that people like numbers in titles. The number might be about how many ways or reasons, a percentage or the number of factors and so on.

Examples

* Exercise Health Benefits: 10 Doctors Explain

* 10 Banana Cake Recipes You’ll Love

* 10 Ways to Cook Carrots

* 10 Salad Dressing Recipes You Shouldn’t Be Without

Use Formulas

Some formulas are very effective when it comes to making them clickable headlines. However, if you use them without delivering what the readers are promised, they won’t work for you. Nobody likes clickbait. Here are some examples of what can work:

How to ‘do something’ that ‘gives the result.’
The Secret to ‘something’ that ‘avoids pain or problem.’
‘Do something’ like ‘a celebrity who is very good at it.’
What You Need to Know about ‘doing something that works well.’

Determine the keywords or keyword phrases

Before you start writing your headline, you need to know the keyword that you want the content to rank for. Putting that keyword in your headline and moving it to find the best place for it. Keywords are at their most potent when they’re in the first few words of the headline, but that is not a must. You’ll see in the examples above there-there are occasions when the keyword is the focus of the sentence, but they come last.

Keep it Shorter Than 69 Characters

When the entire headline shows up in the search results, it’s better. If too many words are in the URL or the title, it might be cut off in a strange way that doesn’t make sense. If you’re on WordPress, make use of a plugin like Yoast to help you to create a strong meta description. Then you can see what will be displayed and can adjust accordingly.

Choose Your Adjectives Wisely

Adjectives in your headline can help people to get further engaged with it. It can bring on a curiosity just as long as you don’t overdo it. If you write a headline such as ‘Surprising Marketing Techniques to Grow Your Business’ but nothing inside is surprising, then try a different approach.

Do Not Use Clickbait

Clickbait irritates readers and makes them lose their trust in you. We’ve all experienced it. The headline does not match what’s inside. Sometimes the wrong information is in there, or there’s an exaggeration on it. It’s best to avoid any type of clickbait titles than being thought of as a fraud.

Make the URL Pretty

Unless you adjust it manually, the title of your post and the URL will be the same. Use the keywords in the URL as opposed to the entire title. This way it looks better, and it provides some info to the search engines and your readers about what’s inside.

The headline and the title are the most important part of your content. Without them being good it’s going to be hard to get anybody to click through. A strong headline is very direct about what is inside, and it preferably contains a reason why it’s worth reading. A good search engine friendly headline also gives you a guideline of what to cover in your content.

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