If you are wondering whether title tag still matters in terms of SEO, then the answer is “yes, it does”! Title tag is the first thing that people see on SERP when they ask Google a question and if your article title tag is really catchy then it can certainly increase the organic CTR. Better “Click Through Rate” means more traffic which sends signals to Google that you are answering end users’ queries by giving them up-to-date and relevant answers. As a result, your website starts crawling up on the SERP. So, a good title tag offers dual benefits- boost in CTR as well as SERP ranking. Let’s take a look at some techniques to make your title tags search engine friendly.
- Use numbers: When your brain scans the SERP, it sees a lot of search results and thus, it tries to find something that pops out. Numbers are specific and they stand out from the rest. Let me give you an example. Suppose you search for “how to be a content writer?” and you get two title tags on SERP- “Tips to be a content writer” and “10 steps to be a pro content writer”. Obviously, maximum people will click on the “10 steps to be a pro content writer”.
- Mention date or timeframe: People love to read something that is brand new or something that may happen soon. For example, everyday you get to see “top 10 costly cars” kind of title tags, but what if you see “10 best cars that you can buy in 2017”. See the difference? It’s fresh topic! Also, “fashion trends that will gain popularity in 2018” reads much better than a fashion trend article on this year because fashion industry is all about staying ahead of the others!
- Add a call to action: Title tags are basically click baits and you need to use them intelligently. Play with the psychology and emotions of the customers to make sure that they click on your website link. For instance, “buy the Christmas gifts at 25% discount” is a great title tag for any online merchant. Call to action words like buy, download, listen, watch and learn can increase the CTR rate drastically.
- Questions ensure a top spot on SERP: If you know about “featured snippets” then you sure understand why it’s crucial to use questions in title tags for SEO. Just ask Google random questions like “what is link building?” or “why earth revolves around the sun?” and you will see featured snippets offering you answers on the SERP itself. Questions also raise curiosity among the readers and then click on your website link. For instance, “How can I lose weight?” Maybe you own a gymnasium and your target keyword is “lose weight”, but since you have used the keyword in a question form, people are more interested to read.
- Pay attention to the length: Nobody likes too short or too long titles! You must have heard that 50-60 characters in the ideal length for a title tag, but it’s not just about the character count. You have to add important keywords in the title tag to make sure it gets the attention of search engines.
Conclusion
These are the strategies we use while forming the title tags before publishing any content on the web. Do you have some others tricks to share with us? Feel free to write in the comments section.
