Optimising Titles for Search Engines and Readers

So you’ve created a really great blog that contains lots of usual information and you are updating the posts faithfully. Yet, you may not be experiencing as much site traffic as you should. If you are wondering what is still missing in your formula, consider the titles of your posts.

You might not have given it much thought, but the title of your post, how it is formatted, and what words it contains are all important factors in gaining the attention of not only search engines, but your readers.

That’s right, it is important not only to write your blog posts title with the Search Engines crawlers in mind, but you will also want to attract a large and loyal number of followers who will hopefully add an RSS feed to your site.

Here are some quick tips for optimising your blog post titles.

Create A Short, Catchy And Interesting Title

This is the most basic piece of advice. If the title does not hold any interest to a potential reader, why would they want to stop by and read the post? You’ve got just a few short words to capture someone’s attention, so make sure what you write does just that.

And by the way, a short title is better than a long one. Not only does this create further interest, but it shows up easily and fully in the browser window as well as on social bookmarking lists.

Include Keywords In The Title

Just as keywords are an important factor in overall content SEO for both websites and blogs, so are they critical in getting new readers for your blog posts. Words like “video”, “computer”, or even “Microsoft” will likely appeal to anyone who enjoys reading about the latest innovations in electronics or technology.

Putting them in your title ensures that someone scanning the feeds for news will click on the link for your article. After all, your post is in competition with hundreds, or even thousands, of others. You have to give readers a reason to stop at yours.

Getting To Page One On The SERPs

An interesting post title is a great way to entice readers, but what if your article doesn’t show upon the Search Engines results pages until the tenth page or so? Will anyone really delve that far into any topic? Chances are they will not.

A couple notes here: Most SEO firms urge you not to change the permalink structure of your post, but they do recommend that the page title tag, as opposed to the post title, be changed to be more search engine friendly. This is just another opportunity to attract the attention of bots with little effort on your part.

Search Engine Keyword Considerations

One way to get better placement is to be careful when selecting the keywords in your title. Driving traffic to your blog requires more than just good content. A fully optimised title will go far towards attracting the attention of both Search Engines and followers alike.