The first thing that catches your viewers’ attention is your blog title. It can encourage one to read or make them simply scroll past your blog. Let us learn how to write catchy blog post titles to make your blog stand out.
No matter how you section your blog post content, it requires engaging headlines. It is a mandatory step to spend time on before publishing your blog post.
Blog meta titles convey what exactly was written in your blog. A catchy title strikes a chord with your readers and immediately prompts them to read your blog.
The first readers for a blog are the search engine crawlers. A million blogs may be available as solutions to a search query.
However, search engines look for organic and crisp content when filtering results.
Engaging headlines are one of the experience metrics (computed by these crawlers) to rank blog posts.
The higher your search result rank, the more organic traffic your page fetches.
For a new or experienced blogger, this traffic needs to continuously grow in order to monetize and make blogging your profession.
Thus, it is mandatory to have creative blog post titles for all of your blog articles. This way, your chances of listing higher among search results increase.
Let us learn how to crack that perfect headline for your blog post. Just like your blog’s content, you will need to research and refine ideas for your title.
Role of Blog Post Titles in Blog Ranking
One can get a first impression of you by just seeing your face. Your face would convey the exact mood you are in, prompting someone to engage with you or move on.
Similarly, a blog’s title gives an overall gist of what readers can expect from the blog post.
Catchy and irresistible blog post titles can make viewers click on your blog and read what you offer.
The first impression can be the best impression about your blog. So, catchy blog post titles are mandatory to survive and thrive.
When a user enters their search query, they expect results that gives them their most expected solutions.
Relevant website/blog titles will be listed in Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).
But you must remember that there are many other bloggers just like you. They may be aiming for similar or the same problem statements that you are addressing.
Then, readers may be confused about whom to choose from SERPs.
Here is where creative blog post titles give you an edge over others. If your title conveys the exact gist of what your blog covers (along with some emotions), your blog is the winner.
Although search engines look for matching keywords when listing results, semantic and emotionally powerful words improve your blog title.
Such powerful and catchy words that empower the focus keywords will give a higher SERP rank to your blogs.
8 Tips to Follow When Writing Blog Post Titles
The main aim of having engaging headlines for your blog posts must be to convey the intent or purpose of your blog.
Your blog’s title can be your ticket to fortune. Or it can be a reason for search engines and viewers to skip your blog as low-value content.
Like any other aspect of blogging – creating content, SEO for blog posts, promotions, etc. getting creative blog post titles requires proper research and planning.
You will need to spend at least 10% of the time you devote to writing blogs to zero in on engaging blog titles.
1. Research and Understand Your Audience
In any aspect of blogging, the first research process is to find the purpose.
Why are you blogging in a particular niche in the first place?
Before elaborating on this problem statement, it is necessary to understand who you are explaining it to.
This ‘who’ represents a small part of a big diversity online.
The following are some characteristics you may need to consider when considering your target audience;
- Is your audience age-restricted or has no age bar?
- What are their expected literacy levels to read your blog?
- Is your content specific to any ethnic group or meant for anyone?
- How frequently are topics from your niche queried?
- What are they actually looking for? Solutions? Hacks? Tips? Proofs? Myth Busting?
Understanding these is crucial to section your content and also give crisp blog post titles for your posts. Let us see some situations.
Suppose someone hates the topic of algebra but needs to learn to pass their exams.
If you are a math enthusiast having your blog discussing hacks for the same, you could give this title;
10 important algebra exam hacks for dummies!
A title like this strikes an emotional chord with your target reader as it appears tailor-made for their problem.
As we have seen, to arrive at such titles, conduct thorough keyword research and see what is trending in your blogging niche. Such a blog will be more relevant during exam times.
Frame Titles keeping in mind the literacy levels of your targets, in this case, students.
2. Be Clear with the Message (Avoid Confusion)
Before you come up with creative blog post titles, it is necessary to be clear with your intent. Engaging blog post headlines induce curiosity among your readers.
It is important to know trending keywords (in your blogging niche and among your target audience) when choosing blog post titles. But trends have no meaning without the right content.
Let us see some blog titles;
- How to Become Viral in Social Media?
- Expert Tips and Ways to Become an Online Millionaire
These are bad examples for titles because;
- It is very generic and unclear.
- No mention of how many ideas are provided.
- The user is unaware of how much time to spend reading them.
Posts with such titles are something that many people seek today, but a lack of clarity in your title may divert organic traffic.
You may have great content speaking about how to promote yourself on social media.
But without details on the number of ways, the timeframe within which it can be achieved, etc., readers may move on to other posts.
So, can we reframe these titles better? Yes!
- 10 ways to promote your brand in social media.
- How to become a social media icon in 2 months?
Such titles would be more preferred and ranked higher on SERPs.
When results are shown in SERPs, users choose (within 5 seconds) to open one or more results at the top.
These 5 seconds are all the time you have to convince your readers that your blog is their destination.
Your blog post’s title is where you will need to get their focus.
3. Avoid Over-Reacting Words in Your Blog Post Titles
Adding a tinge of emotions can make blog post titles elevated. But an overdose of emotions without focusing on your focus keywords can be a letdown.
Also, repeating some words frequently in your blog post titles can lower your SEO rank.
Let us see some emotional title templates used frequently:
- Master Algebra Exams with These Brilliant Strategies!
- Unlock MUA Secrets for Celebrity-Inspired Wedding Season Looks.
While you may have 1-2 emotional/friendly phrases in the title, going beyond the limit is detrimental to your authority as a blogger.
Now you may be able to make out why the above titles can be skippable;
- No idea what age group it is meant for.
- Is it related to hairstyle, jewels, makeup, or dressing? Nothing specific.
Using more of such common over-reactive words may make your blog appear as spam content.
Such titles appear more like a false promise, without revealing who it is meant for and what is the technical complexity.
So how can these be better to fetch a top rank in SERPs?
- Top 10 Tips for Late Bloomers to Excel in 6th-Grade Algebra
- Discover 6 Captivating Bridal Hairstyles Trending This Wedding Season (2023)
Phrases like “…for dummies”, “ultimate guide …”, “amazing…”, “secrets revealed..”, etc., are very commonly used by bloggers in any niche.
They definitely convey the content covered in a blog post, and there is no harm or penalty in using them.
But going with the trend alone cannot make your blog stand out. Unique blog post titles are given more priority on SERPs.
4. Cover Blog Information in Your Post Title
Once you get your focus keywords and the intention of your target audience, you can frame your blog post titles.
Ideally, your title must convey a message that puts forth the problem and solutions provided.
Busting 8 Common Shared Hosting Misconceptions
A title like this addresses the problem of misconceptions in shared hosting. An action term like “busting” or “busted” indicates the solution to the problem.
Such titles are catchy, crisp, concise, and clickable. Above all, they contain a focus key phrase, shared hosting misconceptions.
Such key phrases are what a majority of people type in search engine search bars. The blog post title is one of the vital locations to insert your researched key phrase.
When looking for blog title ideas, choose action terms that convey what is covered in your blog.
- 4 Fool-proof hacks for kneading chapati dough.
- Java Coding Pro: 8 Game-Changing tips to become a top-coder.
- 10 Tried and Tested hacks for stopping hair fall in 1 month.
The above titles have some powerful words that can convey that your blog has quality content to support your focus key phrase.
Keyword research:
Ideally, your blog title must match those keywords searched by the users via search query.
Search queries may have logical or grammatical errors. Search engines are trained to correct such errors – before looking out for content that semantically matching to user queries.
Such is the literacy power of search engine crawlers!
So, framing a title with well-researched keywords is mandatory. Tools like SEMRUSH, Keyword Planner, and AHrefs help you get target keywords that suit your blog topics.
5. Include Numbers and Statistics followed by the Keywords
A popular trend in writing blog titles is to include a numeral stating how many hacks, ways, solutions, etc.
While there are no hard and soft rules for this, blog titles with numbers have proven to be more trustworthy.
Including numbers in blog post titles helps viewers understand how many options they get from your blog.
It turns out to be bait for them to click your blog from SERPs.
Consider these titles;
- Practicing mindfulness for a better living.
- Popular gadgets to buy this holiday season.
The problem with such titles is;
- Viewers have no idea how much time they need to spend reading your blog.
- A lack of clarity on options can make titles appear like spam.
Research states that numbers between 5 – 10 are most preferred in increasing order. Having this many subtopics indicates that your blog has rich information.
With proper indexes in your blog post, they can choose to read one or few of the ‘n’ number of points your blog mentions.
- Embrace 9 Holistic Wellness Practices for a Serene Morning Kickstart
- Explore 10 Must-Have Gadgets for Tech Enthusiasts This Diwali Season
Like these, the number must be included before your action terms and focus keywords in numeric format.
There is no magic number for ranking blogs. Such numbers must appear natural and do not look like spam or forceful for viewers.
SEO metrics look for blog posts having a word count of ~2500 or more.
Read the related article: How long should a blog post be for first-page ranking?
— To achieve this, include a minimum of 8 subtopics with a word count of 200-250.
If you have fewer subtopics, add subheadings within each topic for viewers to navigate easily.
6. Add Emotions When Writing Catchy Blog Post Titles
To sell anything, you will need to know the user’s intention. To go a mile ahead of your competitors, play a bit with your user emotions.
As a blogger, you need to understand the emotions behind the search intent of your viewers.
Case 1:
Someone who is frustrated about cleaning their house every day looks for hacks online.
If your blog provides cleaning hacks for the kitchen, bedroom, etc., you can come up with a title like– 7 Ways to Skip Boring Home Cleaning Routines Every Day.
The above title is clearly meant for someone who is not interested in cleaning the house every day. Words like boring, mundane, or similar keywords convey the user’s emotional state.
Case 2:
For someone who is looking for aid to buy gadgets, you can frame titles like:
- Not able to choose a phone? 7 features to look at in all phones!
- Confusion sorted! Verdict for the Apple vs Samsung smartphone war.
Satisfying emotions
When users find their state of mind predicted correctly in titles presented in SERPs, they will be very curious to click them.
Such emotional words are given extra scores by search engines when ranking pages.
— Beginner-friendly, dummies, step-by-step, how-to, etc., are some sought-after words to teach and provide solutions.
— Words like tried, tested, working, proven, etc., reassure users that your blog has credible content to help them in their search intent.
As we discussed earlier, you must not go overboard in adding emotional action words. The right dosage of trending yet relevant words makes SEO-friendly blog titles.
7. Optimize Blog Post Titles for SEO
We have already seen that one of the best places to add focus keywords is the blog post title.
It is because the first readers for your blog are the search engine crawlers. The first entity that they scan is your blog post title.
Search engines check for keyword relevance with search query keywords and then shortlist blogs as part of millions of results on SERPs.
If this were the only criteria to list pages, your blog would never make it to your viewers. It is because viewers don’t go beyond the top 10 results in SERPs.
Let us see some bad examples that can’t make it to the first SERP;
- 10 kitchen cleaning hacks
- How to find the best phone for my budget
While these are great titles,
- These are a repeat of what users type in search bars.
- Except for keyword match, there is no authority, specifics, etc.
One rule of thumb to follow when creating blog post titles is to keep them limited to 55-60 characters. It is an SEO-friendly practice that fetches about 90% visibility in SERPs.
These titles are more SEO-friendly blog post titles compared to our earlier examples.
- Kitchen Cleaning Hacks: Ways to procrastinate everyday boring chores
- 8 budget-friendly Indian smartphones from Samsung in 2023
Never leave out your primary keywords from the title. Titles containing such keywords are the first filters your blog must pass through.
Readability for titles should be understandable by even those with basic literacy in your blogging niche.
Placing researched keywords towards the beginning of your title has a better ranking chance. While this is no hard rule, it improves your credibility score.
8. Include Brackets in Your Blog Titles for More Clarification
Text in parenthesis placed in your blog post titles has proven to induce more click-through rates (CTR).
Such texts give more clarity on what is conveyed in your blog. The following are some popular blog post titles with parenthesis;
- 10 budget-friendly wedding caterers in Chennai [within 10-15 lakhs]
- Why you should (often) go for paid digital marketing?
- 5 women under 30 to look up to in the blogging world [infographic]
- Summer camp ideas: For toddlers inside your house (free printables)
- How social media is changing digital marketing for (every) business
The text in brackets gives that last mile or extra information that can help your blog stand out.
It is mainly useful when you run out of characters in your blog post title. You may want to be more specific, but could not include so much in your title limit.
So, in addition to your action words and words describing the emotion behind your blog post, adding specific details in brackets is also a good practice.
You could mention the kind of your blog like [survey], [infographic], [comparison], etc.
Bracket texts can induce curiosity and establish credibility for your blog. Anything you offer extra or special is added in parenthesis in your title.
Free printables, templates, etc., are great ways to lure viewers to click on your blog.
If creating creative blog post headlines is not your cup of tea, you can turn to some AI tools for blog title ideas.
However, before using these tools, you need to have your list of well-researched keywords to feed to these tools. So, never skip the step of deriving your focus keywords.
Following are some tools used to generate catchy headlines for blog posts.
HubSpot title generator
It is an online tool provided by the popular HubSpot blogging portal. The tools required 5 nouns to be fed. Based on the given input, it generates a title theme that would best suit your blog.
SEOPressor
It is a WordPress-powered plugin. It has something similar to a search bar in Google. Upon typing your keywords, it shows a list of titles with those keywords.
You can choose or refresh for more results. All you need to mention is the type of your keyword. It could be an event, brand, skill, or something generic. Title templates are displayed accordingly.
Coschedule Headline Analyzer Studio
It is the number 1 analyzer to give insights into how catchy and SEO-friendly your blog post title is. It also offers a free WordPress plugin.
Word count, sentiment, immobility, clarity, reading grade level, word balance, and headline type are some analysis results provided for your chosen title.
Conclusion
Now, you know the importance of having catchy and SEO-friendly blog titles. Let us have a short recap on how to go about finding blog post ideas and deriving that perfect title.
- Know your audience, their search intent, and what you can provide to help them.
- Understand what message each of your blog posts contains.
- Limit your title to 55-60 characters.
- Use your focus keyphrase, preferably at the beginning of the title
- Frame your title as question-based, emotional, or USP-centric based on your blog content.
- Include brackets and colons(:) to section your title and garner extra attention.
- Include numbers to improve the CTR and credibility of your blog post title.
- Use the right dosage of emotional words to get clicks and prevent becoming spam.
When listed on SERPs, the title is all you have to get your viewers to decide the fate of your blog. Spending a fair amount of time framing your blog post title is very important.
The SEO-friendliness of your blog begins right from your blog title. It is one of the strategic locations where search engines look out for focus keywords.
Missing out on this can make your blog vanish from the top search results.
If you feel you lack the literary knowledge to generate creative blog post titles, there are a lot of tools available to generate blog title ideas.
You can even run an audit to check if your title is SEO-friendly and human-friendly.
Start planning out your blog post titles along with your blog content and publish them successfully.
