The title of your content is the first impression that you make on your readers. There are many ways to say the same thing, but only some ways will intrigue people into read more. Your title must be catchy, crisp, and appealing in order to grab a reader’s attention and influence them to click on the article link.
The title is an essential component of writing good content and must be created after careful thought. Writing good titles is an art form that needs to be learned, and we’re here to help you with that. To ensure that you write creative titles that are way better than that of your competitors, I have compiled a list of 9 tricks to writing a catchy title and increasing website traffic that I have learned during almost two years of blogging.
Pay Attention To Title Structure
Most writers are aware of the importance of using the primary keyword in the title. What they don’t know is that the place the keyword holds in the title also makes an impact on the traffic generated.
When the primary keyword is towards the end of the title, the reader might not invest enough time to get to it. There is a possibility they will merely open another article link instead. To grab the attention of the reader, you must arrange the words in the title to bring the subject to the front, followed by more information. For example, you can change:
5 Great Tips to Improve Your Communication Skills
into:
Improve Your Communication Skills with These 5 Tips
In order to win the reader’s attention.
This will also increase the chances of your article being displayed on the first Google search page when someone is searching for information on the subject.
Title Type Should Complement Content
There are three types of tyles: purely informational, some interest, and pure interest. The title that you write should complement the subject of the content. Writing a flowery, overly dramatic title for a straightforward topic will not get you views. Similarly, writing a purely informational title for an interesting piece of lifestyle content will not intrigue your readers.
Purely informational titles should be written when you want to respond to a question asked by readers by offering a solution. These titles contain the exact description of what the content holds.
Use Numbers
When writing listicles, you can number them and specify the number in the title. Listicles are quite popular as they are easy to read and offer multiple ways or tips, etc. Odd numbers also attract more readers as they subconsciously believe the work is more credible.
When looking for a solution to their problems or ways to do some things, readers prefer to be given more information. For example, a reader is likely to click on ‘5 ways to straighten your hair at home’, rather than 2 ways to do the same. Remember: the higher the number in the title, the more it’ll attract readers. If you can manage to write on the lines of 20, 50, and 100 points, your reader will believe that you are a knowledgeable writer. Moreover, they are likely to choose your work over that of your competitors.
If you are not writing a listicle but rather something to do with facts or statistics, you can include the percentage in the title.
Learn From Others
If you are dissatisfied with the views that your titles have been receiving, you could try studying the titles of more visible articles on the search engine. There might be some trick that they are using that is helping them appeal to readers. You can learn from popular websites that share content on similar topics and study their title tone, title type, title length, and structure. Take notes, use what you’ve learned, and modify your titles to see the difference.
Learn From Your Previous Works
If you want to increase traffic, you must consistently work towards improving your titles. Google provides results on how much traffic was generated by your articles in the Google analytics section. By using the results of Google analytics, you can understand which articles got more attention from your readers and which ones got less attention. Try to use that information to create better titles for your future content.
This will enable you to understand the thinking of your readers and what type of titles intrigue them.
Don't Overdo
When writing a title, do not overdo it because that does not attract readers.
- Do not stuff the title with too many keywords. While keywords are essential, they are an outdated way of increasing visibility. What matters more is that the title sounds interesting.
- When we say you need to invest extra time in writing a title, we do not mean that you must decorate it. Do not make the title so fancy that readers do not take you seriously. More importantly, do not write something that isn’t present in the content. Being accurate is essential to gaining reader trust.
- Don’t put too many words in the title. When the title is too long, only a portion of it will display on the Google search page. It is unlikely that the reader will open it to check the entire headline. Moreover, the title is all about expressing the content in a small sentence. So be precise.
Give What And How
When writing content that offers solutions, the writer is providing a solution and how to implement it. The solution is the ‘what’ of the content, whereas the method of implementation is ‘how’. In this article, writing an appealing title and its benefits is the ‘what’ component, whereas the tricks provided to accomplish the task are the ‘how’ component.
If the title seems already complete after having described what the content entails, you could add a subtitle to give an answer for the how.
Check Competition
When writing an article, you must always check the title of similar content on the internet. Try to create a title that is different from theirs to make sure that your content will stand out. For the title to make it to the top of the Google search page, it should be creative and unique.
Add Emphasis
This might seem like a no-brainer, but it is very rarely used. When you’re stuck and cannot seem to come up with something new and unique that will make your content stand out, find a way to emphasize how the article is a great find for the reader. Adding words like surprising reasons about XYZ, best product I have come across, never before discovered facts, etc.
Emphasizing the content in the title will intrigue the reader and ensure that they open the page. However, do try to do justice to the emphasis by making the content worthy.
Titles are used by search engine algorithms when ranking webpages on Google search. They are also a great influence on readers. Writing a catchy and precise title will significantly impact the traffic a webpage receives.
