Naturally, the headline that you attach to an online piece of content will play a major part in how much attention it attracts. However, a headline longer than 60 characters could be too easily either ignored by web users or cut short by search listings.
It is clear, then, that you won’t have a lot of wriggle room when trying to come up with a captivating headline. The good news is that with the following tips, you can help make the most of relatively few words.
Choose a title that genuinely reflects the content
This means being careful not to descend into ‘clickbait’ territory. If the headline lures people into clicking it but the content they subsequently see doesn’t live up to what was promised, there could be damaging repercussions for your brand image over the long term.
The trick is to pen a headline that piques interest in readers without misleading them.
Don’t go overboard with keywords
This is commonly known in the search engine optimisation (SEO) community as ‘keyword stuffing’, and is frowned upon by search engines. Even if a Google-imposed penalty isn’t enough to prevent many web users from seeing your keyword-stuffed headline, they could still perceive it as blatantly ‘spammy’.
Again, here, subtlety should be the name of the game. In this spirit, you might be well-advised to limit yourself to one keyword in each headline you write.
Use terminology your target audience can easily understand
Although you may occasionally wish to post content that targets a niche subset of experts, depending on your exact organisation and what it does, you might be likelier to spend a lot more of your time aiming your content at people who are by no means specialists in your field.
When you do write for such non-specialists or ‘laypeople’, you should endeavour to keep potentially confusing technical terms or ‘jargon’ to a sensible minimum.
If you’re struggling to achieve the right balance with your SEO content writing or would appreciate other forms of help with your brand’s online presence, why not call +44 (0)20 8089 1220 to discuss your needs with our experts in digital marketing? A free 20-minute discovery call could be invaluable to your efforts to extract the maximum potential from your brand’s website during 2024 and beyond.