How to Choose a Headline Using 3 Little Known Secrets

November 5, 2010 - Last Modified: November 5, 2010 by Alex Papa 8,878

Most bloggers spend their time producing hundreds of quality articles that never get a fraction of the organic traffic they deserve. I say organic because most of these bloggers get a lot of direct traffic by commenting their “back side off” but when I review the search engine traffic statistics of many blogs for their main keywords one thing is certain: few get any traffic from the search engines for the keywords of their articles – even when they constantly write about their niche. I am not saying that commenting is a bad tactic. However, failing to adhere to some article optimization rules means that you leave 99% of your potential traffic (and revenue) on the table!

Tip 1: Understand You’re Not Writing For a Newspaper

If you are used to offline copyrighting you will know that the headline is responsible for over 90% of the sales of a book or newspaper. People “buy” catchy titles. Statistically negative headlines attract more readers.

However, choosing headlines for your blog posts is an entirely different case because of the way your articles reach people who have an interest in them. If you wish to have your blog rank up in Google and other major search engines for the keywords related to your topic then offline title writing methods don’t work.

Tip 2: Your Headline’s Keywords Determine Your SEO

Your blog post title is important to your article’s search engine optimization. Especially, the first 3-6 words of your title are crucial to your SEO. Choosing words for your title involves knowing which keywords are used by your potential audience to find what you offer in your content.

Take a look at the following examples that illustrate the difference between a non-keyword rich title and a keyword rich title:

Very bad title example:

“Top 3 Secrets to Choosing a Killer Title For Your Blog”

Can you tell why this is a wrong choice of words? Obviously, none of the first 7 words of this title will ever be used as a keyword when a person is searching for information on this topic.

Good keyword rich title example:

“How to Choose a Blog Title – 3 Secrets to Help You Choose the Best Title for Your Blog”

Excellent keyword rich title example:

“Blog Titles – How to Choose a Blog Title Using 3 Little Known Secrets. Is that Boring or What?

So how do I know the difference between these titles?

Tip 3. Use Google Keyword Tool to See The Global Monthly Searches Of The First 3-6 Words of Your Title

In the second example listed above, “how to choose a blog title” has 36 Global Monthly searches (as per Google KW Tool), whereas in the example of an excellent title, “blog titles” has 6,600 searches.

“the top 3 secrets to” has no searches. What you also will see, if you do the Google Keyword study, is that Google suggests other keywords, such as “best network marketing companies”. This means that by starting your headline with a phrase like “The top 3 Secrets…” you are telling Google to place your article in an area totally unrelated to your topic.

Note: I dare not do a keyword search on “the top 3 secrets to choosing a killer…” because the FBI may be at my door!

What is the point of using “Is that Boring or What?” at the end of the headline?

Well, this last bit at the title’s end has no global monthly searches, so why do I use it? We said that negative words attract more direct traffic. I use it at the end of the title where it has a smaller SEO impact and the reason is to attract eyeballs coming from direct visits. This is the bit of the title that enticed you to read this post if you came to this post following a link from another blog.

Why is the last title more effective?

Because it does not waste the first 3-6 words of the title with meaningless words like “the“, “top”, or the number “3“, or unrelated words like “secrets“, “choosing”, or ”killers” and gets right to the important words that might be found when someone is using a search engine to research a topic related to your article.

Got the point? Now try it for yourself.

About Alex Papa

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Alex Papa is a serial entrepreneur and founder of many online and offline businesses. His portfolio of entrepreneurial ventures includes several internet marketing businesses. In his blogs you will also find the Norton Coupon Code discount and godaddy promo codes.

{ 100 Responses }

Jane says:

When i write an article one things i always keep in my mind that is first 3 words play vital role for title. People take decision to see first 3 words if they read the article i think.
Anthony D. Nelson says:

Here is a technique I like to use. - Create your URL to reflect your desired keyword phrase. - Create your blog page title/headline to be something compelling and shareable. - Promote and build links to it. - Down the road, change the page title to match the URL keyword. This allows you to get CTs, traffic, links at first, with the end goal of the page being optimized for your desired keyword phrase.
Karen says:

Coool! I did a keyword search and ( Im not telling you tho :-)) I found the title I was thinking of had one keyword sort of to the end of it which had very few searches. I found a keyword with over a million searches and low competition so I added that for the first word and then built on it withing the title without being stuffed as you out it I wait with baited breath LOL to see the results. Thanks Alex
Sreejesh says:

This was really helpful post, these tips are for all bloggers to keep in mind
- Alex says:
  
  Thank you Sreejesh, I think many bloggers have missed the importance of the Title in creating direct and organic traffic. Glad you found this useful
  - Sreejesh says:
    
    Yeah so true :)
Bilal Ahmad says:

I noticed that several bloggers are not using Google Adword tool to perform keyword research before writing a title and that is why they fail at the end. It is really necessary to know the keyword before writing on it.
Vee says:

Tip 1 is especially important when you want to convert (maybe there is a product or service for sale etc). Using a catchy, yet unrelated title (think how many times people have titled a post "seo is dead"), may get a brief burst in traffic, but that traffic will not convert unless what is being sold or what the article offers is not related to the title. I agree, I would not use that method if conversion was my main point.
Carly says:

Hi, I enjoyed your post but here are some of my views.... Blogs are not newspapers, no - but of course blog headlines should be short and snappy! You're still trying to catch a reader's attention, just like papers on a news stand! Internet users are notorious for having SHORT attention spans, as they flit from page to page your headline must coax them in and get them to read. Secondly, I never think SEO should even really be considered when thinking of a headline in blogging. And that's coming from somebody who does SEO as a job. Sure, on webpages it's pretty important... but on blogs isn't the main purpose to get people interested in your site, ready to read it? I'd be thinking: 1) describes the post (tells user what they're getting) 2) short and catchy (gets readers to look at it) 3) then I'd be thinking about SEO... Of course those are my views. Additionally, a bit of constructive criticism on your blog - I'm finding that the content is lost in the sea of social plugins, adverts, banners and the like. It's almost like you have loads of banners hoping that somebody with click one... that one might be relevant (which probably isn't the case, you're probably looking to maximize revenue.) But it's a shame because I look at your site and think "brain overload". I'll look across some more articles now as I've never seen your site before (which is a shame as it looks like a good resource!) :)
Lisa says:

This is one of the best posts I have ever read. This totally opened my eyes with regards to keywords. The explanation was perfect for someone like me who is still relatively new to the scene. Thank you for this article!
- Alex says:
  
  Thanks Lisa, I'm glad you found this post useful. Come back to this site for more Keyword and SEO topics!
Richard Goddard says:

Keyword rich is the future!
Alex says:

I've always wondered about titles for SEO building. I try to structure mine based on what people might query in Google which seems to work okay.
Usama says:

Keyword enriched title is the best idea. Not only it helps your blog, But you can make it sound interesting. Thanks.
Steve says:

I see headlines all the time that make sense to people that read a blog everyday but will never provide any kind of SEO help to the site. Many site owners completely ignore SEO on a daily basis.
satrap says:

Alex, This is a truly fascinating post. I especially like the "negative words" tip. I always new the power of negative words in terms of audiences, but never thought about using it in such a way. And your explanation of why to use them at the end of the title makes perfect sense. Thank you for such an eye opening post.
- Alex says:
  
  Hi Satrap, thanks for stopping by. Glad you found this post interesting! Negative titles usually attract more clicks, that's something that good copywriters know.
TJ McDowell says:

Makes good sense. If I'm understanding your bottom line correctly, you're basically saying that your first short phrase should be your short and sweet topic for search engines. The next phrase should be your hook to get people actually interested enough to start reading your article.
- Alex says:
  
  That is exactly right TJ. You got my point!
Matthew Denos says:

Alex, I share the same strategy with you when I craft my titles. Your post is hilarious. Good job!
Ingrid Abboud says:

Hey Alex, I read this post earlier today and thought it was one of the more useful blogging tips I've read in a while. But here's the thing, I'm back again now, cause I needed to refresh my memory on the examples you listed. You see, I'm in the process of writing a new post and got stuck between a couple options on the title. So I came back here to compare and contrast to see which would be the wiser choice. And now, thanks to you, I know! That's my little story :). All this to say, thanks for sharing this simple yet brilliant piece of advice that many of us so often seem to forget/neglect. I'm bookmarking this post to come back to it when I need another memory jog. Very nice! Very useful! Very simple! Very true! Cheers
Steven Papas says:

Alex, your post is a killer. Google KW is an awesome tool for optimizing the use of keywords and make the most out of the content we publish. We have to be very carefull and also updated when it comes to SEO technics. Google changes its algorithms to enhance ranking results and we must quicly adapt. I am certain you will find Matt Cuts's advice very helpful: http://www.verybestsoftware.net/2010/are-tag-clouds-the-right-solution-for-search-engine-rankings/
- Alex says:
  
  Thanks Steve. I agree with with you in regards to being always up-to-speed with the latest Google SEO requirements. That is the only way to stay at the top for your keywords, isn't it? :)
Jasmine says:

Good tips noted. I will try to add some cool phrases to the back of my title next time... "Is that Boring or What?" looks catchy enough to get people to click!
- Alex says:
  
  Yeah, I thought that as a cool catchy phrase too. We did not use it in this post, but it may work very well in other posts.
Shiva says:

Wow, this is a totally awesome method, I mean I have always been using that top 3 kind of title's without doing much keyword research but now I got the idea, Thanks a lot Alex.
Icechen1 says:

Nice point, however, I'd hate to use too much keywords in my headlines, it makes them look soo artificial and not human-like.
- Alex says:
  
  Yes, you've got to watch that...! Too many keywords and the title does not look natural, it gets "spammed" and people won't even want to read it.
Jeff says:

I am such a newbie when it comes to SEO so I'm always looking for new material to TRY to understand although my understanding is limited. HA! Thank you for producing an article that makes sense to newbies such as myself!
- Alex says:
  
  Glad you found this useful Jeff. Make sure you also check some previous articles, posted here by other guests. They are also very informative.
Alex says:

Well, folks, just to prove the point that optimised headlines/titles do work. This post is ranking today on google position no 11 for the keyword "Blog Titles". This is an competitive keyword with thousands of searches every month. Well done Hesham!!
Daniel Sharkov says:

Hey Alex, Choosing a title that is both reader friendly and SEO friendly is a definitely a tough one. You have given some great tips and judging by the example in the article, this can after all be achieved. Actually I myself have some problems when it comes to choosing a good title, so will definitely consider your options. I totally agree about Google's keyword tool. That is an absolute must! The tool has helped me A LOT when it comes to finding relatively popular keywords, which at the same time have low competition rates. Spending an hour or two with it is something I always do before publishing an article.
- Alex says:
  
  Hi Daniel, the Google Keyword Tool is a great tool. I use it almost every time I wish to choose a title for an article, especially for article directories. I think it's good to remember that the numbers are not 100% but rather demonstrate trends. Thanks for your comment here.
Kimi says:

Another great post of yours, Alex Papa! Honestly, when i created my post, i did not really care about keywords, and i usually do some keywords researches when i am on the mood, not good habbit , i know LOL One day i saw a video from Matt Cutts, he says, keep our post as natural as possible, this will help our SEO too.
- Alex says:
  
  True, Google likes natural posts! That's why link farms jam packed with keywords and links are now totally useless.
Nasrul Hanis says:

Interesting, logic and practical. And your points answered why there's a few searches unrelated to my blog niche brings the visitors to my blog! Thanks Alex - I'll start practice your tips!
Andrew says:

i use this strategy and i see some improvements :) thanks :)
- Alex says:
  
  I hope you do, however, it may also be a good idea to utilize other SEO tools as well to improve your search engine ranking. Wordpress provides some very good SEO plugins. I suggest you study what exists in terms of SEO tools. Some of the comments below provide great insights.
Richard says:

Hi Alex, Great article on how to find the right title. I use all in one SEO, so I'm able to use whatever title I want for the reader, and then do some SEO optimization with the tags.
- Alex says:
  
  Yes, I think that's the way to do it!
Vernon says:

Hi Alex, Nice Article. In my opinion, I'd always write my article first, as I would for anything - be it a magazine article or whatever. The thing is, with search engines you are playing a game of either using popular keywords and competing with many people, or you are using more of a long tail approach, rank well, but have less traffic for those words. I'd rather write a title that works well for users, and then just double check that I didn't totally mess up the SEO. If I've got time, I'd search for keywords just to see which titles seem to work well, and check dig (even if it's slowing down as social media, it is a good place to look at what kind of titles are good.) Google (or any search engine) is working their way to try to produce the results closest to what the user is searching for, so in the end SEO and writing for the reader isn't that different.
- Alex says:
  
  That is an interesting point. I'd never check dig for titles. But how do you see which titles are good in dig? To start with, what makes a title good in dig? Is it the popularity and number of views?
  - Vernon says:
    
    Of course, I meant Digg not dig. Stupidly corrected it with the Firefox spell-checker.. I'm honestly don't put that much effort into it. When I say I use Digg I'm not doing research, I just search popular titles that are roughly what I wrote, just to get a sense of what became popular. I know that some people have done more of a study of it, but I just go and see what things look popular. Of course, things like using lists or other compelling titles seem to work the best. In the end, I still believe you need to worry first that your title communicates to the user, and then make sure you ticked the SEO buttons in the end.
Mike says:

Nice article Alex, but I don't quite agree with your second point :) When you create a post title, you can name whatever you want in the post title box of Wordpress to create strong impression for your visitors and readers. I think the title “Top 3 Secrets to Choosing a Killer Title For Your Blog” will be a good example because it makes me curious right away. And then, we can always use SEO plug-in like All in one SEO to customize the tag of our blog post to become like "“Blog Titles – How to Choose a Blog Title Using 3 Little Known Secrets. Is that Boring or What?" It's just my thought because I had a friend who really wanted to name her article "Five cents, please!", but that title if of course, not good for SEO, right? So I suggested so can leave her post title like that but in the tag, changed it to something more keywords-targeted. The result is encouraging. That post becomes a popular post due to unique title and she didn't lost much of potential traffic as well. What do you think, Alex?
- Alex says:
  
  Great comment Mike. That works well on Wordpress sites or blogs where they have an All in One SEO system. The Title and the Headline are two different things. Essentially, google picks up the Title rather than the Headline. In the meantime, the Headline attracts all the direct traffic. Good point!
Rick LaPoint says:

Over the years I have read that advertising maven, David Ogilvy, was obsessive about Titles. He would work and rework the Title to his ads over and over again. One Title he rewrote 150 times. I have read in advertising articles that some of the best copywriters spend between 50% to 70% of their time working on the Title alone. If we want to make money on the Internet, we should probably look at our Titles a little more seriously. Rick
- Hesham says:
  
  Cool! and yes.. this show how titles are important! I some times edit titles of older posts as well if I found a better one ;)
- Alex says:
  
  I agree on that too Rick. Some of the world's best copy writers say that the most important part of your website copy is the title. No wonder they invest a fortune in experimenting and split-testing with different titles.
bryan says:

Hey Alex, Nice to see you here at FB. I think there are a lot of different opinions on post titles. I generally tend to blend the both together, appealing to the search engines and readers. I do realize that it can be hard to blend the two together. Your post has been really good in explaining that. Thx for posting this up
- Alex says:
  
  Yes, I have actually seen that in your blog Bryan! Great tactic to get both the SEO and direct traffic.
Peter from Blogging Mechanics says:

Well, from my experience, there are three parts that are very important in order to get reader attention - it is title, first 2-3 sentences, and the last 3-4 sentences. If those are compelling than you can expect to get some click through. In terms of SEO for WP blog, it is pretty straight forward - I use SEOPressor (I can do the same manually, but it is faster with it), then I have Platinium SEO plugin, SEOPower and RSSOptimizer. Should I mention anything more? The rest is just research and backlinks.
- Alex says:
  
  Peter, you seem to have the whole SEO army! You've got it all well engineered. Wordpress is ideal with it comes to SEO. These plugins do the work!
Hung says:

Whenever i make a new post, i consider to check keyword in title with Google.
Justyna says:

Hi Alex, that's a great approach to writing titles. Very good reminder for me:) I use the method described by Hesham, which can be used with Thesis, whenever I think the two titles should be different. Again Thesis rocks!
- Alex says:
  
  Justyne, that's true... Thesis rocks, people are I know are using it successfully. If I was starting a new blog I would use Wordpress. Most of my websites are custom made and Thesis can't be used. They require an army of developers to look after them!
Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach says:

I've given up on SEO. I've done it now since 1998 and as I know all the tricks/etc for getting high SEO, I've seen months' worth of time/effort destroy when Google stomps on their Google Dance. So now I'm focusing my titles more on what will get people telling others via word of mouth. I'd change "“Top 3 Secrets to Choosing a Killer Title For Your Blog” to something like Why Even Your Best Blog Titles Are Killing Your Readership (and how to fix that today!) Hmmm, that's actually a pretty good topic..... :)
- Alex says:
  
  I understand that Google can mess up months of your SEO work if you have a global, general and competitive market, but I don't understand why you've given up on SEO. That's hwere the money is. Based on my experience in search engine marketing, Google's main SEO parameters have not changed in the last 3 years. Highly targeted marketing together with highly relevant content, backlinks and fresh content are bringing my sites on the first page for years. My team and I turn over over $20,000 a month from single keyword SEO - while other small sites turn over $100,000 a year, and we are steady at the top in Google rankings for certain keywords for years. That is all thanks to SEO traffic.
Lennart Heleander says:

Hi Alex, Don’t only look for the best and most popularly words for the title, don’t be afraid to sometimes use words with a little less visitors, because you will often come first or second in SERP directly then and you get more visitors than to have the best words with hard competitions and you only be 6-8 in the SERPS. Its call the longtail.
Henway says:

Great tips, although I wouldn't rely on Google's tool for estimate search volume - they tend to be quite unreliable. Rather, I'd just type in some of my keywords into Google, and see if they pop up as keyword suggestions - if so it means it has decent popularity.
- Alex says:
  
  Yes that is true! Google's KW numbers are only indicative. They show a trend not factual numbers. I love using google suggestion too - but the Keyword Tool gives me the stats when I compare 2 or more keywords.
Prabhu says:

Thanks Alex, I used to skip this tip always when i write an article....i take it as a reminding post .....
- Alex says:
  
  Glad you found it useful!
Suresh Khanal says:

Example made this post excellent and easiest to grasp the idea a one shoot. Blog titles are not the newspaper headlines - very correct. These are to talk to real humans after inviting through search engines. They should know it very well first before they set out to call visitors.
Patricia says:

Hi Alex I love the way you take a topic and write in such an easy style to read. I have read so much about SEO and this is one of the best. Probably cos you're writing from experience. I have definitely changed how Ichoose the title for my posts and am finding that the traffic is going up...yeah. In my small niche it is important to get this right and I would concur that what you are saying works. Thanks for sharing. Time to RT Patricia Perth Australia
- Alex says:
  
  Hi Patricia, Thanks for your comment. As you can see this subject of SEO and choosing the right blog post title is very debatable. There are people from all different backgrounds here all with their own experience. It's good this community is so diverse and we get to hear so many opinions.
ZK says:

Quite useful ... And this kind of post should be added in hall of fame.
Steve says:

Great points Alex, What you say makes great sense. Not saying you are wrong but I am about in the same boat as Murray. I try to mix it up, a lot of titles are seo, some for my fancy becuase I think people respond. When all is said and done though I have also gotten a bit lazy on title making when traveling. Taking a "round turn" on that is high on my priority list. Thanks for some very perceptive comments!
- Alex says:
  
  Hi Steve, mixing online and offline copyrighting techniques to create a search engine optimised title would be an art of its own. If you can do it, it would be ideal because you get to attract both direct visitors and search engine traffic.
Ana says:

Love your points, Alex, but would disagree on the first one - offline methods still rock if you apply them correctly to your blog post titles. Ana Hoffman http://www.TrafficGenerationCafe.com
- Alex says:
  
  Hi Ana, do you mean that offline methods rock in terms of attracting direct visitors? I would love to see how they can help with attracting search engine traffic. Maybe, if the title is also a keyword... I'd love to know more about this :)
Rahul says:

great post , thank you for talking about this topic , knowing about these tricks is absolutely great and i do believe that while you're in this field , using your mind makes differences for sure, it's being very smart , thank You;)
Murray says:

These are really spot on; perfect for article marketing and blogging as well. I usually try to do a mix - when I want content to rank I'll keep SEO in mind but when it's just a more personalized piece than I'll write whatever tickles my fancy.
Ryan Biddulph says:

Hi Alex, Excellent techniques here. I've neglected the fact that the first 3-6 words of my title are the most important when it comes to keyword placement. Kept in mind for future posts! Also a key pointer on the use of a negative or clever phrase at the title's end. Thanks for sharing :) Ryan
- Alex says:
  
  It is a debatable topic! Glad you found this useful Ryan.
element321 says:

Good tips! Writing good quality Titles has always been hard, but I think I am getting better. A lot times, I forget about the keywords and just write up a catchy title. These steps will break down for every one and explains how to write for SEO and still have a good title.
jhon says:

You have provided very good example about the title . Can you provide me any other source that can guide me ? I have craze to learn these techniques.
- Alex says:
  
  This blog is a great source - you will also find other guest posts here from other bloggers who specialize in SEO. There is a wealth of information in this community.
Chadrack says:

Must say these are powerful tips indeed. I usually write two headlines for my posts one for my blog regular readers and the other for the search engines. The one for the search engines is carefully arranged with the keywords using AISEO plugin. You can see how I do this here: http://webincomejournal.com/1325/headlines-simple-seo-tactic.html/
- Sujith says:
  
  Yes, following the same technique . Search engines take 50 to 60 words including spaces for title indexing, which makes title selection difficult task. Here All in one SEO plugin helps to make separate titles for search engines.
  - Dennis says:
    
    50 or 60 words? Or did you mean characters?
    - Sujith says:
      
      Sorry characters...
- Hesham says:
  
  We do the same here as well using the SEO features of Thesis Theme, so not all titles show to readers are the same we send to search engines ;) Means, we can give readers what they love, then give search engines what could work best! smart!
  - Karan Labra says:
    
    For those who don't have Thesis can use All-in-One SEO plugin.
Sophia says:

This has taken me a long time to learn, given that I come from a journalism background. Thanks for this... concrete steps are always helpful.
DiTesco says:

Excellent! Almost nothing more to say as you have basically covered the importance of not only writing a "catchy" title but at the same optimized. This is extremely important and I thank you for the reminder. Occasionally I forget about this..
- Hesham says:
  
  Hey my friend, do you know that you can write "two titles" for your post? one for your blog readers and the other for search engines?! I know you use Thesis Theme, so the title you type on the editor titles field will show in the post and your tweets for example! The other title you put in the SEO fields (title description, keywords) fields is the one that will be delivered to search engines and will show in Google SERPs (this one should be fully optimized) Oh my.. This is an extra work ;)
  - Mani Viswanathan says:
    
    Yup, AIO SEO plugin does it with ease. Though thinking on two different titles for the same post is a bit like a task :P
  - DiTesco says:
    
    Hi Buddy. Yup! I know the drill in Thesis and I use it although there is extra work. Found out that it is worth the extra effort. this way I can have the best of both worlds. One for my readers and the other for SEO. Cool..
    - Mani Viswanathan says:
      
      I will follow that strategy then. Thanks for the tip guys :)
  - Isabel Rodrigues - Pro Blogger Journey says:
    
    Nice POint. Also Hesham thanks for mentioning about the 2 titles. You are a genius, aren't you? :D
  - Karan Labra says:
    
    Well, I use the same strategy. I write a catchy title for my readers and a keyword rich title for search engines.

How to Choose a Headline Using 3 Little Known Secrets

Tip 1: Understand You’re Not Writing For a Newspaper

Tip 2: Your Headline’s Keywords Determine Your SEO

Tip 3. Use Google Keyword Tool to See The Global Monthly Searches Of The First 3-6 Words of Your Title

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Tip 1: Understand You’re Not Writing For a Newspaper

Tip 2: Your Headline’s Keywords Determine Your SEO

Tip 3. Use Google Keyword Tool to See The Global Monthly Searches Of The First 3-6 Words of Your Title

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