You may be really excited when finishing a blog post.
All you want to do is post your content!
So, you rush to post, and come up with any ol’ title.
Alright, you’re satisfied with your post and your visitors are ready to read your content.
But, if you would’ve come up with a better post title, would you have gotten more visitors?
If you’ve ever wondered if taking your time when it comes to giving a blog post or page its title will make you rank higher in the search engines, the answer is a solid yes.
Let’s find out a little bit more about the best SEO practices for choosing a blog post.
Why is your post title important?
A post title is important for a couple of different reasons.
This is what potential visitors will see in the search results page.
Google,
Ecosia, Bing, whatever your search engine of choice, is going to use your
<title> tag to be displayed in the search results. It’s someone’s first impression of your website.
Usually, this is going to be your post or page’s title.
A post title could mean the difference between a click to your site and someone else’s.
A post title is supposed to catch your attention.
You know you’ve clicked on an article before just because of its title. That’s why clickbait titles took off so much!
Just a couple of words in a title can make people want more of your post.
People also trust brands. If they’ve used your website in the past and liked it, chances are they will click your site if they see your brand's name in the search results.
Why does any of this matter?
Taking the time to come up with a good post title is worth it. We just learned that the title is important for catching people’s attention in the search engines.
A higher rank in the search engines and higher click through rate means more traffic to your website.
More traffic means more leads, potential sales, people clicking on ads, emails, sign ups, etc...
Making sure you have <title> tags on your website
A
<title> tag is one of the most important parts of SEO.
To get a post to show up in the search results you need a
<title> tag on every page.
With a
Ninth Digital Website we already do this for you automatically.
How can you tell if you have a <title> tag?
The easiest way to tell if you have a
<title> tag is just to look at the tab in the browser. If it shows what you want, you’re good to go!
You can also go into the Developer Console by pressing F12, or using right-click and clicking ‘Inspect’.
Look between your
<head> tags, and look around for the
<title> tag.
If you see it, you’re all set!
If not, here’s how we can add it to your website:
application.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Your Title Goes Here! | Ninth Digital</title>
</head>
</html>
How to pick the best blog post title
We’ve gathered a few of the best practices when it comes to creating a post title.
Get the post title length right
Yes, the length of your website’s page title matters.
Therefore, you should be putting the most important words right up front. That way you don’t lose anything you need.
You want to make sure your post’s title is short, to the point, yet detailed.
Use a unique title
There are a couple of important tips with using a unique title.
You want to make sure that you are not using a title that is the same or similar to another post or page on your site.
For example, we have the blog post you are currently reading titled, ‘
The best SEO practices for choosing a blog post or page title in 2021’. We wouldn’t create another blog post titled ‘
The greatest SEO tips for choosing a page or blog post title’ because it’s way too similar.
In the eyes of Google, having two or more articles too closely related can count as duplicate content, lowering their value and ranking in the search engine.
The other thing to keep in mind when coming up with a page title is to make sure it’s written for a human and not just the search engine. Search engines are the ones crawling your site to rank it, but humans are the ones doing the reading, clicking, and purchasing.
Please the human.
Choosing a title keyword for SEO
A title keyword is what you want your post to rank for in the search engine.
We won’t get into the keyword research portion of SEO too much in this post, but we will touch on a few basics.
You want to stick with only a couple keywords for your title. Remember, you can only have a certain length for a title, and keyword stuffing will actually hurt you in the search engine rankings.
Choose two keywords at max, a main keyword, and a secondary keyword.
Your main keyword should be in the beginning of the title.
The most important thing about choosing a keyword - make sure it actually has something to do with your post.
Should I have a clickbaity title or a keyword title?
There are pros and cons to both, but ultimately the answer should be based on what type of website you are running and who your audience is.
If you are running a ‘how to’ site, then keywords are probably going to be better for you. A fashion blog? Maybe catchier titles will suit you better.
If you can combine them both, making a catchy, keyword title, you’ll be golden!
Summarize
The point of a good post title is to get seen in the search engine and catch a potential visitor's attention.
It’s important to remember to include a <title> tag on every page of your website. This tag is important for SEO.
When choosing a post title, keep it between 60 and 70 characters, make it unique, and try to be catchy, or include a keyword or two.
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