Is Your Blog Post Title Losing You Readers?

The title of your blog post is one of the most important factors to capture a reader’s interest. When posts show up in a Google search, it is the title and short description that people see. If that title isn’t captivating enough, people just aren’t going to click on it.

When someone sees the title they need to know what you are going to cover. It needs to be an honest representation of your post content and at the same time be catchy and compelling. For example, a blog post about blogging mistakes could have a title “The Common Blog Mistakes Not to Make”. However, this is basic and not as attention grabbing as “4 Blogging Mistakes and the One that Saved My Blog”. They want to know what that one mistake was that saved your blog. Of course you need the genuine mistake that saved your blog, but that’s just an idea of a catchy and compelling title.

Does Your Post Answer a Question or Solve a Problem?

If it does, then you need to really think about the title. What question are you answering? What problem are you solving? What exactly is your blog topic covering? Once you’ve answered those questions, you can find the best way to phrase your title.

Using Keywords

The Google algorithm takes a title into account when looking to see if your content is relevant to the searcher’s question or needs. Using a keyword in the title helps the search engine to understand what your post is about. It also benefits the reader, as once they see the keyword in the post title, it lets the reader know you are going to cover the topic they have been searching for.

Getting the Title Length Right

At the time of writing this post the general opinion is that Google has a 70 character limit, including spaces, for a post or page title. Any characters over that limit may not appear in their search results. I say “may not appear” because I have read this can vary depending on the pixel size of your characters. I have come across many bloggers who limit their post title to 65 characters, just to be on the safe side.

At the same time, if you use all of the title character limit make sure that all of your title is relevant. People don’t want to read fluff (the content that’s there just for the sake of it to make up a word count). Your readers want to get straight to the point and the post title is a good way of assessing that.

So it’s worth spending a bit of time on your title. It doesn’t matter how great your post is. If you don’t have a compelling and interesting title, people are not going to click to read it, they will simply move on.