Reconnecting...
A Great Tactic To Boost Organic Traffic
Last Update: May 31, 2019
Get Traffic To Your Website (And Good Ranking With SEO That Works)
Hi Folks
Would you like to increase the amount of organic traffic to your website content?
Of course you would so with this blog I’m going to show you a great way to achieve that.
Just last week I used this tactic to boost organic traffic to one of my posts by over 33%.
Here’s How This Tactic Works…
A wee while ago, I came across a very interesting study via information I received in one of my emails.
In this study HubSpot and Outbrain teamed up to analyze 3.3 million headlines. Their goal? To figure out why people click on certain titles.
They discovered that titles with [brackets] and (parentheses) got 38% more clicks than titles without brackets and parentheses.
Can you believe that - 38%!
Here’s an example from the study:
A Look Inside Mashable’s Evolution [video Interview]
Why does this work so well?
According to the authors of the study, brackets give potential readers a "clear picture of what lies behind the Headline" or "Title".
So when you let people know that your content is a video, infographic, blog post, or review, they’re much more likely to click.
As soon as I read that finding, I asked myself: “Would this also work for title tags?”
After all, your organic click-through-rate is a super important Google ranking signal.
This shouldn't come as a surprise...
If lots of people click on the same result, it sends a strong message to Google: Searchers want to see this page.
And Google will push that page to the top.
Even if Click Through Rate wasn’t a ranking factor, improving your CTR is one of the easiest ways to get more traffic.
Think about it: if you double your clicks, you double your organic traffic to that page… without needing higher rankings.
Anyway, I wanted to see if brackets and parentheses could improve my organic CTR.
So I changed my own title tag from this:
Tips And Advice How To Earn A Passive Income
To this:
How To Make Passive Income [Definitive Guide]
And it worked!
After a few days (it took a while for Google to crawl and index the new Title Tag) my organic CTR shot up… along with over a 33% boost in organic
traffic.
The best part?
This doesn’t only work for posts.
For example, let’s say that you run an ecommerce site.
Well, in my experience most product page title tags look exactly the same.
For Example:
White Tennis Shoes For Men
Look how much more enticing this title tag is:
White Tennis Shoes For Men [Free Shipping]
How about another example?
Let’s say you run a marketing agency, and your landing page is optimized around the keyword: “digital marketing agency New York”.
Put yourselves in the shoes of someone that just searched for that keyword.
Which result would you rather click on?
Option A:
Digital Marketing Agency New York (Over 580 Clients Served)
Option B:
Digital Marketing Agency New York
Obviously, option A.
With that, here are a some more brackets you can add to the end of your title tags:
[X% Off]
(Updated)
[Infographic]
(And Why It Matters)
[New Research]
(Case Study)
[Interview]
(New Guide)
[+Checklist]
(With Examples)
[Video]
(Trusted by X Clients)
[Flowchart]
[Visual Guide]
(No Fees)
[Template]
There you have it folks. Boost your traffic on your website. Use this simple tactic and I'm sure you will see an increase in your organic traffic. As you can see from the above graphic the tactic helped me to rank number two on Google. Of course I had a great keyword and SEO as well, but every little helps.
Have a great day and be successful.
Robert Allan
PS
Here's a wee bonus infographic for you -
Join the Discussion
SirTristan
Premium
Thank you for this! I will definitely use it.
Just to clarify one thing. I think I know the answer...
"So I changed my own title tag from this:
Tips And Advice How To Earn A Passive Income
To this:
How To Make Passive Income [Definitive Guide]"
I am assuming that you changed the title but left the permalink alone, correct?
Thanks again.
Just to clarify one thing. I think I know the answer...
"So I changed my own title tag from this:
Tips And Advice How To Earn A Passive Income
To this:
How To Make Passive Income [Definitive Guide]"
I am assuming that you changed the title but left the permalink alone, correct?
Thanks again.
Reply
Robert-A
Premium
Yes, although you can shorten the Permalink but your Full Title will still show up at the top of your article.
Remember to change the Permalink before publishing.
If you have already published its not a good idea to change it.
Enjoy your Monday.
Robert
Remember to change the Permalink before publishing.
If you have already published its not a good idea to change it.
Enjoy your Monday.
Robert
TheAdvisor
Premium
That was pretty awesome stuff Robert, thank you so much! I will keep this in mind from now on, I have no doubt about this tactic-
which was great info by the way, I know that it works because of a member that credited this blog post to have having helped her so I decided to read it and I'm glad I did!
Enjoy your weekend!
which was great info by the way, I know that it works because of a member that credited this blog post to have having helped her so I decided to read it and I'm glad I did!
Enjoy your weekend!
Robert-A
Premium
No probs Jose and I think you mean llaisanne.
So there you go, it worked for me and it worked for her and I know several other members who used the tactic to good effect.
Have a good one.
Robert
So there you go, it worked for me and it worked for her and I know several other members who used the tactic to good effect.
Have a good one.
Robert
jetrbby80316
Premium
Robert, first off, Great post.
Obviously this is new information that you only recently discovered through experimentation that has changed your stance completely.
So it appears you have now changed your view completely. Since these new views are diametrically opposite going against all of your own prior SEO logic.
You are now recommending using secondary keywords, which you never did before (at least never to me)
Whether they are used in brackets or not, this is a NEW tactic you are now employing that is completely at odds with what you have done and recommended in the past.
You always remained a staunch supporter of the WA training: One keyword per article only.
Now there is NOTHING WRONG with changing your mind about something Robert, we often change our views when we learn something new.
My first question: Was your new discovery as per this article the only reason for this change of view?
Here's a perfect example supporting your past views.
.
This was from your several comments to my question I posted 3 months ago...I asked you for your reasoning several times and you were very clear.
I even suggested to you why not use secondary KW's to be included in my one article.
Every time you specifically said in no uncertain terms:
"Kaju if you have found 3 great keywords surely it makes more sense to use one each for 3 articles.
With 3 articles you will increase your chances of having 3 listings in the SERPs instead of one and therefore more traffic.
More traffic equates to more potential buyers". - Robert
Note that In that same post AND in our other multiple conversations you never even alluded ONCE to the possibility of using ANY secondary keywords, let alone 5 in one article as you recently suggested you have used!
Your comments are here in this post: What does wa training teach us to write only for 1 keyword? So what's my point?
My point here is your opinions in this post above are NOT consistent at all with what you have been teaching, and emphatically told me MANY times over (only 3 months ago).
Obviously your SEO views have radically changed recently.
When you say for the record in my post ( see link above),
"Kaju if you have found 3 great keywords surely it makes more sense to use one each for 3 articles......"
(after I had asked you why not should I not use 2-3 great keywords in one article)
.....this points to the fact that you previously believed you would never need ANY secondary keywords to rank any article better.
But now you think you do.
Again, there is NOTHING WRONG with making a radical view change about something, we all do from time to time.
However, this kind of "flip-flopping" is very confusing, perhaps you have yet sorted this out in your mind yourself?
As you have always professed, WA teaches us to use one main keyword per article. The rest is taken care of by Latent Semantic Indexing.
You have stood by this principle all along. Until now.
Final question:
Why would you even use 5 secondary keywords (as you recently recommended), if Google is automatically ranking your article for additional keywords with Latent Semantic Indexing?
This is a very interesting query:)
Thanks for listening Robert.
Kaju
Obviously this is new information that you only recently discovered through experimentation that has changed your stance completely.
So it appears you have now changed your view completely. Since these new views are diametrically opposite going against all of your own prior SEO logic.
You are now recommending using secondary keywords, which you never did before (at least never to me)
Whether they are used in brackets or not, this is a NEW tactic you are now employing that is completely at odds with what you have done and recommended in the past.
You always remained a staunch supporter of the WA training: One keyword per article only.
Now there is NOTHING WRONG with changing your mind about something Robert, we often change our views when we learn something new.
My first question: Was your new discovery as per this article the only reason for this change of view?
Here's a perfect example supporting your past views.
.
This was from your several comments to my question I posted 3 months ago...I asked you for your reasoning several times and you were very clear.
I even suggested to you why not use secondary KW's to be included in my one article.
Every time you specifically said in no uncertain terms:
"Kaju if you have found 3 great keywords surely it makes more sense to use one each for 3 articles.
With 3 articles you will increase your chances of having 3 listings in the SERPs instead of one and therefore more traffic.
More traffic equates to more potential buyers". - Robert
Note that In that same post AND in our other multiple conversations you never even alluded ONCE to the possibility of using ANY secondary keywords, let alone 5 in one article as you recently suggested you have used!
Your comments are here in this post: What does wa training teach us to write only for 1 keyword? So what's my point?
My point here is your opinions in this post above are NOT consistent at all with what you have been teaching, and emphatically told me MANY times over (only 3 months ago).
Obviously your SEO views have radically changed recently.
When you say for the record in my post ( see link above),
"Kaju if you have found 3 great keywords surely it makes more sense to use one each for 3 articles......"
(after I had asked you why not should I not use 2-3 great keywords in one article)
.....this points to the fact that you previously believed you would never need ANY secondary keywords to rank any article better.
But now you think you do.
Again, there is NOTHING WRONG with making a radical view change about something, we all do from time to time.
However, this kind of "flip-flopping" is very confusing, perhaps you have yet sorted this out in your mind yourself?
As you have always professed, WA teaches us to use one main keyword per article. The rest is taken care of by Latent Semantic Indexing.
You have stood by this principle all along. Until now.
Final question:
Why would you even use 5 secondary keywords (as you recently recommended), if Google is automatically ranking your article for additional keywords with Latent Semantic Indexing?
This is a very interesting query:)
Thanks for listening Robert.
Kaju
Robert-A
Premium
Hello Kaju
You're wrong in that I have consistently said one keyword per article and not to use others in the one article.
A quote from one of my blogs back in May 2016 -
"You must be aware that each page of your website must be internet search engine optimized. The subject of each webpage i.e. the keywords you utilize on that webpage and the keyword phrases you utilize in this content will get traffic to your website. Also don’t forget your secondary keywords throughout your articles or blogs".
The unique blend of these keywords and phrases bring customers using different internet search engine conditions and techniques, so be certain you capture all the keywords and phrases you need for every single product, information and service page.
So, your one Main Keyword within your Title.
You could also add this main keyword as part of your Headline, and other secondary keywords throughout the rest of your article. However you must get your keyword density right with no more than 5 secondary keywords. I personally try to use LSI keywords to help with my ranking, because its based on user search patterns and behaviour. Simply put, how one keyword search is usually linked to another keyword search. I try to cover all my bases Kaju.
So I haven't changed my ways of using keywords although I do like to try different strategies.
People are searching for the same keyword in various ways Kaju.
So although your Main Keyword should be an exact match to your content, using LSI Keywords your page will seem to include all the other relevant and related indexing by the Latent Semantic Analysis.
Therefore you have to keep an open mind where the search engines are concerned because they changes their Algorithms so much. This being so, what was good keyword strategy last year or even a couple of months ago may well be detrimental to your content now.
To quote from another of my WA blogs -
The basic rule of thumb is to know what keywords your potential customers are likely to use, and keywords must be relevant to your line of business. The trick is to strike a balance of not too many and not too few. Too many can get your site banned for keyword stuffing, and too little means your site wont get a decent ranking.
Hope this rather long explanation has answered you questions Kaju.
Now I'm of out for a wee while so catch you later.
Robert
You're wrong in that I have consistently said one keyword per article and not to use others in the one article.
A quote from one of my blogs back in May 2016 -
"You must be aware that each page of your website must be internet search engine optimized. The subject of each webpage i.e. the keywords you utilize on that webpage and the keyword phrases you utilize in this content will get traffic to your website. Also don’t forget your secondary keywords throughout your articles or blogs".
The unique blend of these keywords and phrases bring customers using different internet search engine conditions and techniques, so be certain you capture all the keywords and phrases you need for every single product, information and service page.
So, your one Main Keyword within your Title.
You could also add this main keyword as part of your Headline, and other secondary keywords throughout the rest of your article. However you must get your keyword density right with no more than 5 secondary keywords. I personally try to use LSI keywords to help with my ranking, because its based on user search patterns and behaviour. Simply put, how one keyword search is usually linked to another keyword search. I try to cover all my bases Kaju.
So I haven't changed my ways of using keywords although I do like to try different strategies.
People are searching for the same keyword in various ways Kaju.
So although your Main Keyword should be an exact match to your content, using LSI Keywords your page will seem to include all the other relevant and related indexing by the Latent Semantic Analysis.
Therefore you have to keep an open mind where the search engines are concerned because they changes their Algorithms so much. This being so, what was good keyword strategy last year or even a couple of months ago may well be detrimental to your content now.
To quote from another of my WA blogs -
The basic rule of thumb is to know what keywords your potential customers are likely to use, and keywords must be relevant to your line of business. The trick is to strike a balance of not too many and not too few. Too many can get your site banned for keyword stuffing, and too little means your site wont get a decent ranking.
Hope this rather long explanation has answered you questions Kaju.
Now I'm of out for a wee while so catch you later.
Robert
jetrbby80316
Premium
Robert - Read my comment more carefully.....
You are now recommending using secondary keywords, which you never did before (at least never to me)
I told you in that sentence that you never said this directly to ME. I can only go by what you have said to me, since I don't read all your posts.
So whatever you ever said to me, ONLY clearly pointed to using ONE KEYWORD PER ARTICLE (as WA teaches).
You are now recommending using secondary keywords, which you never did before (at least never to me)
I told you in that sentence that you never said this directly to ME. I can only go by what you have said to me, since I don't read all your posts.
So whatever you ever said to me, ONLY clearly pointed to using ONE KEYWORD PER ARTICLE (as WA teaches).
Robert-A
Premium
Ok Kaju I never said it to you personally but if you did read my blogs as I publish you would clearly see the progression in my thinking and the action I was taking to keep up with the search engines.
Have a great Monday.
Robert
Have a great Monday.
Robert
jetrbby80316
Premium
Robert-A
Premium
here are a few, and not in any particular order - Boost Website Traffic With LSI Keywords How To Use Keywords In Your Website Content Targeted Keywords For Targeted Audience How To Rank High With Keywords Does Your Title Describe Your Article
Xaric
Premium
So how much traffic are you getting to this article you pointed to in the image above?
I am asking because you said that you ranked #2 but you have used your exact url in Google's search bar and I believe no person on Earth is going to search for your exact url in order to find your article.
Just being curious...
Xaric
I am asking because you said that you ranked #2 but you have used your exact url in Google's search bar and I believe no person on Earth is going to search for your exact url in order to find your article.
Just being curious...
Xaric
Robert-A
Premium
Hello Xaric and thank you for reading and your question.
I can't actually tell you how many more people have visited my site but I believe its somewhere in the region of 5,000 per day.
I failed to achieve the number one spot because that is a Paid Ad.
Mine did not cost a penny.
Enjoy your Saturday.
Robert
I can't actually tell you how many more people have visited my site but I believe its somewhere in the region of 5,000 per day.
I failed to achieve the number one spot because that is a Paid Ad.
Mine did not cost a penny.
Enjoy your Saturday.
Robert
Chezbrown
Premium
Well Robert, updated the post I wanted to and put (updated) in brackets. It went from page 1 position 4 on Google to Page 1 position 1 on Google in a day. Good or what?
This was a great help as I didn't want to change the title because it was already on Page 1 on Google. Very happy and thanks muchly friend. xxxx
This was a great help as I didn't want to change the title because it was already on Page 1 on Google. Very happy and thanks muchly friend. xxxx
Robert-A
Premium
Hi Cheryl
Well done you.
I always put updated before the automatic date entry in my posts and it does seem to help because after that it will always be there.
have a good one Cheryl
Robert
Well done you.
I always put updated before the automatic date entry in my posts and it does seem to help because after that it will always be there.
have a good one Cheryl
Robert
Robert-A
Premium
Seems like a nice day outside so I best get ready for uptown.
Catch you later.
Robert
Catch you later.
Robert
anja1111
Premium
That's great to know, thank you. The only thing is that the length of your SEO title is limited, only part of it appears in Google search results if it's longer than a certain amount of characters. The number always varies, but with a good SEO tool like YOAST you can see this. Or google SEO SERP and go play with it. Still I think this info is very useful and will cross test a little with it. Thank you!
PS: Love the Info Graphic, it's awesome, have saved it to my computer!
PS: Love the Info Graphic, it's awesome, have saved it to my computer!
Robert-A
Premium
Hello Anja, thank you for your visit and your input.
Yes, ideally your title should be no more than 60 characters long.
However the length of your title will not affect your Permalink and that is what the search engines see and the first thing that they rank you on.
Also if you include text within brackets in your article headline that will also be seen by the search engines so the benefits are twofold when you use both brackets and parentheses.
You can also include the text within brackets in your Description.
Give it a go and see what happens for you.
Hope your Sunday is going as well as you want it to.
Robert
Yes, ideally your title should be no more than 60 characters long.
However the length of your title will not affect your Permalink and that is what the search engines see and the first thing that they rank you on.
Also if you include text within brackets in your article headline that will also be seen by the search engines so the benefits are twofold when you use both brackets and parentheses.
You can also include the text within brackets in your Description.
Give it a go and see what happens for you.
Hope your Sunday is going as well as you want it to.
Robert
Crazyhaggis
Premium
Hi Robert thanks for this info. Just a question..... Do you think it's the brackets etc that are important or the additional words/comment within the brackets?
I'm wondering for example if you simply had your keyword then a dash then the additional words would it work?
For example
Keyword - Review
Keyword - Updated
I'm wondering for example if you simply had your keyword then a dash then the additional words would it work?
For example
Keyword - Review
Keyword - Updated
Robert-A
Premium
Both Ann - see the other graphic I added to the blog.
Of course I used a great keyword and my SEO is as good as I could get it but I believe the words within the brackets gave my article that extra oomph to get it to number two in the listings.
Have a great weekend.
Robert
Of course I used a great keyword and my SEO is as good as I could get it but I believe the words within the brackets gave my article that extra oomph to get it to number two in the listings.
Have a great weekend.
Robert
gartnerf
Premium
This is good enlightening information, Robert. It makes sense that finding a more explicit means of honing in on a desired piece of information would work for our posts. If placing bracketed or parentheticals around key text helps distinguish our post from the sea of other folks with like information then we should add that to our arsenal of "things to do" along with SEO to give us that competitive ranking edge.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing!
FranCallado
Premium
Hi Robert, I'm all in favor of sharing knowledge and content curation, but there are best practices for that.
If you intent to curate, you must give credit to the author, if you wish to share the knowledge you learned from someone else, at least use the information but not the wording.
I struggled with posting this comment or not, because I highly value your contribution to this community, but I wasn't at ease in silence.
I ask you, please, to credit the author.
If you intent to curate, you must give credit to the author, if you wish to share the knowledge you learned from someone else, at least use the information but not the wording.
I struggled with posting this comment or not, because I highly value your contribution to this community, but I wasn't at ease in silence.
I ask you, please, to credit the author.
Robert-A
Premium
Hello Francisco.
I actually received the article in an email.
Once that email is in my Inbox its my property.
I also haven't copied it word for word but created my blog from information received and put my own spin on the contents of the email.
Thank you for reading.
Robert
I actually received the article in an email.
Once that email is in my Inbox its my property.
I also haven't copied it word for word but created my blog from information received and put my own spin on the contents of the email.
Thank you for reading.
Robert
Debs66
Premium
Robert I enjoyed your post and it gave me some real good ideas.
I do know sometimes we can't really give an acknowledgement and name drop as people will take it up on themselves to think you are link sharing.
There is a lot of spamming going off lately they treat the spam like a Facebook thumbs down. Damn do I know that the spamming they gave me and it is no fun at all.
That Big letter Brian Dean imagine it you would have lost your write access.
If you wanted to acknowledge and I am not sure what the biggie is. I don't care if you just changed a number or a letter.
What I care about is you shared it with us all. like I said we cannot reference too much as people then will get you for link sharing.
To be honest how many times do I get an email same content different name. Different email.
You can only reference in all essence if we was quoting a proverb or poem from Lewis Carrol as an example.
Then we could link for sure.
I just want to say thank you I wouldn't have known that if you hadn't told us here and I can see everyone has so appreciated it.:))
Thank you Robert :) They can spam me all they want now as I am off away soon .. :)
I do know sometimes we can't really give an acknowledgement and name drop as people will take it up on themselves to think you are link sharing.
There is a lot of spamming going off lately they treat the spam like a Facebook thumbs down. Damn do I know that the spamming they gave me and it is no fun at all.
That Big letter Brian Dean imagine it you would have lost your write access.
If you wanted to acknowledge and I am not sure what the biggie is. I don't care if you just changed a number or a letter.
What I care about is you shared it with us all. like I said we cannot reference too much as people then will get you for link sharing.
To be honest how many times do I get an email same content different name. Different email.
You can only reference in all essence if we was quoting a proverb or poem from Lewis Carrol as an example.
Then we could link for sure.
I just want to say thank you I wouldn't have known that if you hadn't told us here and I can see everyone has so appreciated it.:))
Thank you Robert :) They can spam me all they want now as I am off away soon .. :)
Robert-A
Premium
Hi again Debs
You will always get someone who thinks they know whats best for you.
I just ignore them and the email I got was for me personally so I saw it as my personal property to do with as I saw fit and if anyone isn't happy with that then I'm afraid I don't care and they can go take a hike.
I try to share as much as I possibly can and if it helps the membership then job done no matter where I got my information.
Have a good one Debs and enjoy your time away.
Robert
You will always get someone who thinks they know whats best for you.
I just ignore them and the email I got was for me personally so I saw it as my personal property to do with as I saw fit and if anyone isn't happy with that then I'm afraid I don't care and they can go take a hike.
I try to share as much as I possibly can and if it helps the membership then job done no matter where I got my information.
Have a good one Debs and enjoy your time away.
Robert
Debs66
Premium
I make you 100% right Robert. I am happy you shared this with us. You are a diamond.
I just thought there was no need really what was written but you know me North Yorkshire lass we tend to say it as it is lol.
Gets me in trouble sometimes but thats just who I am :)
Have a wonderful weekend and I appreciate you anyways :)) As does the countless other members here.
Take care :)
Debs:)
I just thought there was no need really what was written but you know me North Yorkshire lass we tend to say it as it is lol.
Gets me in trouble sometimes but thats just who I am :)
Have a wonderful weekend and I appreciate you anyways :)) As does the countless other members here.
Take care :)
Debs:)
Robert-A
Premium
Thank you for your kind words and I'm the same.
I tell it how it is and no beating about the bush.
I used to be married to a Barnsley lass.
We just parted perfectly amicably after 32 years.
Nobody else involved, we just felt our marriage had reach the end of the road and best to part while we where still young enough to perhaps meet someone else.
Have a good One Debs
Robert
I tell it how it is and no beating about the bush.
I used to be married to a Barnsley lass.
We just parted perfectly amicably after 32 years.
Nobody else involved, we just felt our marriage had reach the end of the road and best to part while we where still young enough to perhaps meet someone else.
Have a good One Debs
Robert
Robert-A
Premium
Hello Theresa and John and thank you for stopping by.
Always happy to share these little gems I come across.
Every little helps.
Enjoy your Thursday.
Robert
Always happy to share these little gems I come across.
Every little helps.
Enjoy your Thursday.
Robert
Robert-A
Premium
No probs Mark and happy to pass on these tips.
Hope you're having a good one.
Robert
Hope you're having a good one.
Robert
Robert-A
Premium
Hello Eric.
I don't see you around my blogs often so thank you for reading this one.
Give it a go and I'm 100% sure you will see a difference in your organic traffic.
Robert
I don't see you around my blogs often so thank you for reading this one.
Give it a go and I'm 100% sure you will see a difference in your organic traffic.
Robert
CowboyJames
Premium
Thank you Robert. Sounds promising, I will be trying out this method.
Robert-A
Premium
Yes indeed give it a go James.
It worked for me or I wouldn't have passed the tip on.
Enjoy your day.
Robert
It worked for me or I wouldn't have passed the tip on.
Enjoy your day.
Robert
Robert-A
Premium
Hi Dianne
Thank you for dropping by and please do try it out.
It worked for me so no reason why it wont work for you as well.
Enjoy your day.
Robert
Thank you for dropping by and please do try it out.
It worked for me so no reason why it wont work for you as well.
Enjoy your day.
Robert
Robert-A
Premium
Happy to help Halim so hope you're going to give it a go.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
Robert
Thank you for reading and commenting.
Robert
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