how to write title tagsIt’s easy to overlook the importance of taking the time to write an engaging title tag. Whether you like it or not, how good your title tag is will determine how many readers actually click on the link to read your content.

Google uses and measures user metrics. It’s not just about how many backlinks you have or how streamlined your site code is. If your copy is appealing then users are going to click through to your website or blog.

You can have the absolute best article ever written, but a weak title tag will ruin any chances of your writing being noticed.

So how can you increase your click-through rate? Through something as simple as your title tags. Here are a few title tag tips to keep in mind when you’re writing the copy.

  • Questions have a 14.1% higher click-through rate.
  • Power words increase the click-through rate by 13.9%
  • 7.3% higher click-through rate for titles that contained emotions
  • Title tags with years in the title generated a 4.9% higher click-through rate. For example; Top 5 Social Media Apps For 2021
  • Pay attention to the paid ads at the top of the Google search results page. Those title tags and meta descriptions are optimized for a quality score since Google wants them to have high click-through rates. The more clicks, the more money Google makes. Learn from that ad copy and adjust yours accordingly.

Following The Rule of Thirds

In his book, Think Better, Tim Hurson defines an interesting phenomenon that clearly proves why writing several title tags is better than just a few. One of his key points is the miracle of the third third. It works something like this; if you’re looking to generate 100 different ideas, studies have shown that the ideas will generally fall into three different groups.

The First Third

This first group will consist of the most obvious and easiest to think of titles. They tend to be more generic and won’t necessarily invoke any emotions or actions. In other words, they are the least creative title tags, but that’s ok for this first group. Most bloggers will stop here and choose a title from this group. Start by writing 5 title tags for your blog post. Even if you feel like the first 2 or 3 are good, force yourself to come up with a minimum of 5 ideas.

The Second Third

This is where you’ll start to gain some serious momentum in your creativity. You’ll actually start to create new ideas, but that doesn’t mean you’re done. Many of the title tags in this second group are still based on the first group. In the first group, we came up with 5 title tag ideas. Now do it again, and come up with 5 more. Sounds crazy, I know….Just do it.

The Thrid Third

This is where your title tags will shine with unique and innovative ideas. Time to write 5 more! The first two groups allowed us to exhaust all the obvious ideas, forcing the newest and most creative ideas to float to the top. Most bloggers and even some professional writers won’t take the time to go through this process. The more you do this process, the more conditioned your mind will become in identifying what title tags will work and which ones won’t.

Determining Which Title Tag To Roll With

Start with eliminating the 5 worst title tags from the list. This will be easier than deciding which title tag to use. That is why we’re starting off by making cuts to the list.

After the initial cut has been made, we’re going to be left with some pretty good options to choose from. You may still have a few boring ones, some pretty good title tags, and 2 or 3 great title tag options. Bold or highlight those top 3 title tag ideas.

If you are part of a content team, take those 3 you highlighted and conduct a poll. Let your team take a look at your options and vote on which one they think fits the topic best. You don’t need to conduct a poll every time, as it becomes time-consuming when you have deadlines to meet.

deciding which title tag to use

Like I’ve already mentioned after you’ve done this a few times, you’ll develop a sixth sense as to what constitutes a great title tag.

There’s An App For That!

The above steps are great for the beginner to go through a few times so that they learn what to look for. That however is a time-consuming process. In order to be as productive as possible, you need a data-backed way to sort the winners from the losers. CoSchedule has the perfect solution and it’s a program called Headline Analyzer Studio.

I’ve been using this program for about a year now and have nothing but good things to say about it. You start by typing in your first pass at what you think is a great title tag for your blog post or article. Once you type in your title tag or headline, click on the Analyze Now button.

write title tags with headline analyzer

The Headline Analyzer will then give you a score and offer suggestions to balance out the words and transform your copy into a stronger title tag. The goal is to reach a score of 70, but I like to up the anty a bit and shoot for a score of 80 on my blog posts.

headline analyzer title tag score

headline analyzer title tag results

I’ve been using the free version for a while now and it has been suiting my needs, but the paid version does offer some unique features. Features such as access to a word bank for power words or words that invoke emotion. You can also see the headline scores of competing content and make adjustments based on those.

Do yourself a favor right now and go create a free account to begin using the headline analyzer from CoSchedule.

Now go write some epic title tags!

By Published On: April 13, 2021Categories: Writing How-To5.2 min read989 wordsViews: 998