Creating a good title for your article can sometimes be even more important than the article itself, especially when we are dealing with the online space. A good heading would mean it will be clicked on more often and the effort you have put into creating the article will not go wasted. A good title will also mean that your article will be picked up in the top rankings of search engines like Google and will be exposed to more and more readers. Ideally, you should know how to create a search engine optimized heading that’s catchy too. You can engage SEO services for help. Here are some tips you should follow.
Headlines need to be Concise yet Descriptive
Whereas long titles simply don’t work, a title also has to be descriptive. Non descriptive titles do not work for the search engine or for the readers. The heading should be able to describe what the article has in store, but, in few words. Using simple terminology is advisable. Including numbers helps too. For instance titles like, “5 ways to..” or “3 alternatives for…” would be good.
Include Keywords
Possibly, the easiest way to please your search engines is to include keywords in your title. Begin by researching on the most familiar keywords for your article subject. Arrive at 2 or maximum 3 that you wish to include. Use only about 2 of these in your headline. Cramming too many keywords in your title will make it appear stunted. Make sure you include the keywords towards the beginning of the title. This will help in improving search engine rankings.
Get the Length Right
Google only picks up the first 55 to 60 characters of your article heading. The rest does not appear in the initial search listing. Therefore, you need to limit the title within 60 characters to a maximum, wherever possible. If you create longer titles, only a fraction of it will appear on the search listing, and it may not even make sense to readers browsing through the search results. Complete titles have better readability. This is why it is important to read through the title again and again and remove any word that seems unnecessary.
Consider Emotion Triggers
Combining emotional triggers with focus keywords is the best way to create an attention grabbing headline. As your SEO consultant will advise, emotions sell! So, it is important to create titles that connect with human emotions. Attempt to create a headline for a story and not an article. The story telling approach of article writing is what attracts readers. Articles that are devoid of emotion and tend to be informative alone are perceived as dull and boring and hence are hardly ever taken up for reading.
To summarize, headlines should attempt to be compelling without exceeding the specified length and have provision for plugging in the keyword as well. There are many ways to make a headline compelling. It can be in the form of a question, a challenge, a promise or a guarantee or it can also be a call to action!
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