Titling a book, film or musical ‘The Miserable Ones’ would not, it would appear on face value, be the best way to market a project. The success of Victor Hugo’s 150 year old ‘Les Misérables’, hugely successful in all forms, suggests the title is not always so important.
As it is set to be one of the biggest film releases for many a year, this may work for a piece of classical literature, but it is not so much the case when titling search engine optimisation content. It has always been this way too really, with journalists and editors back through the ages understanding the role a headline plays.
On the web though, it is even more important as it could well be the only thing a user sees, making their decision to explore further on the impact of the title alone. More than this, web headlines can easily be misleading.
It is essential therefore that the words used, each and every one of them, are carefully selected. Ideally, they will include a keyword too.
The headline, and indeed the content of the piece, also needs to appeal on many platforms. The more people it appeals too the better after all, and should also gain a wider spread. However, this then runs the risks of being too generic and not nearly interesting enough.
Anyone can create a good headline. However, few can do it time after time and on a consistent basis. This is a real skill, and one which should be constantly nurtured by any SEO writer.
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- Three dos (and three don’ts) of writing great content - September 4, 2020
