How To Boost SEO Rankings Using Headlines And Taglines

byRobert-A

10.9K followers

Updated 10 years ago

Hi Fellow WA members. I was asked the other day by a new member who was also new to internet marketing - ‘How do I come up with a good title for my website, and what do I say to get people to stay on my site’. A good question I thought. Below is a rather longer explanation of my answer to that member to the rest of you who can sometimes get a wee bit stuck as they were.

I read recently that the human attention span continues to decline decade by decade and that the attention span of people today is approximately 8 seconds less than it was 10 years ago. This has to mean one thing to marketers everywhere. Get the point across quickly and effectively or lose potential customers.

Today, it’s critical for marketers, and especially affiliate marketers to grab the attention of visitors to their website in a powerful way if there is to be any hope of conversions. One of the most effective methods to achieve this is through the optimization of headlines and taglines.

Headlines and taglines aren’t just a first response to draw in buyers, they can also have a dramatic effect on a websites ranking in the Search Engines Rank Pages (SERP’s). It is one thing for an affiliate or merchant to have great content on their site, but it is an entirely different matter to get the content read and ranked, and that is where headlines and taglines become important.

The more clicks a piece of content receives, the higher it will rank. Grab the attention of readers and search engines alike by implementing the following tricks and tips when creating content.

Working Titles Draw In And Create Interest

A working title should not be confused for a topic. Topics are usually a wee bit vague and could have several outcomes on what the Post/Page/Article/Blog actually covers. In comparison, a working title is quite specific about the content to be found and informs the reader what to expect.

For example, “The do’s and don’ts of creating a successful eBook” would be a working title. This makes the content of the Post/Page quite clear, it’s useful, and does not over-reach its boundaries by using keywords that are barely relevant.

Also, to create a working title does not mean to create clickbait; a practice that you see quite a lot off on today’s world wide web. Doing so will only cause the viewer to lose trust in the content. Create titles that will catch a reader’s attention, but never set them up for disappointment.

Accuracy Is The Key

People have become more knowledgeable than ever before when it comes to browsing online. As stated before, if clickbait is created to lure in customers only for the visitor to find that the headline was inaccurate or misleading, trust is sure to be lost and possibly never regained. The most crucial thing to remember when it comes to titles and tags is to respect the reader’s experience.

Keep Headlines And Taglines As Accurate As Possible

This will set a clear expectation of what the reader is in store for. When a headline or tagline is developed, aim to under promise and over deliver. Accuracy will win out over compelling information almost every time. Here are a few simple things that can be done to spruce up headlines:

Use strong language

Using strong language can have a real impact correlating to the amount of clicks and traffic. But moderation is a key point to remember. The overuse of powerful terminology will simply dilute the entire headline, making it obvious that the headline is more for shock value than honest information.

Use Alliteration (look it up if you don’t know what the word means)

The use of this approach will make the appearance of headlines and taglines more appealing and fun to read. It’s a simple tactic, but highly effective.

Point to Usefulness

Illustrate to the reader how the information found in the content can help in day to day living or how it can further the reader’s knowledge. ‘How to’ pieces are content gold, but remember to stay accurate and truthful.

Lists are Powerful

There’s a reason why you see so many ‘Top 5 Ways Headlines Will Get You Sales’ and ‘10 Powerful Methods For Headlines To Rank’ as website titles. Lists are attractive because they clearly articulate the content in an easy-to-read fashion. Use them when appropriate, they are a great content tactic.

Keep it Short and Sweet

Yes, the reality is that people have a very small attention span. If a headline or tagline is too long, the reader will lose interest and lose it very fast. The truth is, there is no hard and fast rule how long or short a title should be. To make sure your post ranks extremely well, the best guide I can give you is keep your title under 65 characters to make sure that it’s not cut short in the search engine results. If your aim is more for social media share-ability, stick to around 117 characters.

The best way to find out the title length that works best for you and your target audience is to simply test it. Experiment with different title lengths and make sure you include all mobile devices, but bear in mind that there is no one-size-fits all solution. Play around and see what styles and lengths seem to be the favourite with the visitors your campaign is targeted for. This is the biggest mistake a great many affiliates make; they don’t test the results to see what works best for their demographic. See what your audience responds to, and follow suit. (you could check with Webmaster Tools)

My last piece of advice is this. Great SEO results cannot be forced from taglines and headlines. Changing a title out off all proportion to what you’re actually advertising or promoting on your website in an attempt at optimization will often make it sound rather strange. This will of course change otherwise great and unique content into a ‘click deterrent’, and you certainly don’t want that to happen because it will affect the rest of your website as well.

The keys to increase your site’s SEO through headlines and taglines lies in simplicity and honesty. Stick like glue to the above outlined tips for creating better headlines and I can assure you, you will see a greater number of clicks.

Ok folks that’s my piece done, so what have you found to be the key for generating higher rankings through headlines and taglines?

Have you any tricks or tips that I haven’t mentioned?

Please share by leaving a comment.

Robert Allan