Boosting Your SEO Traffic | 3 Steps To Write Engaging Title Tags

It may seem easy to dismiss putting time into writing engaging title tags. Believe it or not, how engaging your title tag is determines the number of readers that click on it to read the content.

Google uses and tracks user metrics. Having lots of backlinks or streamlining your site code are, in fact, not the most important factors. You need appealing copy to draw users to your website or blog. Even if you think you have the best article, a weak title tag that isn’t engaging threatens to ruin your chances of being noticed.

Look for the paid ads at the top of the Google search results page. Title tags are optimized for a better score because Google wants them to have higher click-through rates. More clicks = more money for Google. Learn what you can from that ad copy and make adjustments to yours.

Feeling worried about your title tags affecting your click-through rate? Fear not! Here are a few statistics to think about while writing engaging title tags:

• 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

In Think Better, by Tim Hurson, he defines an interesting phenomenon that proves why writing several title tags is better than just a few. One key point he makes is the miracle of the “third third.” The rule is: if you’re looking to generate 100 different ideas, studies have shown that the ideas will generally fall into three different categories.

Let’s take a look at those categories.

The first category consists of the most obvious title tags. They’re more generic and don’t evoke emotion or action. Simply, they are the least creative title tags, but that can be expected for this first category. Many bloggers stop here and choose a title from this category. Begin by writing five title tags that are relevant to your blog post. If you get stumped at three or think those three are the best you’ve ever written, force yourself to come up with at least two more.

Here is where you’ll begin to gain momentum in your creativity. You’ll start to come up with some new ideas, but you’re not done yet. A lot of the title tags in this category are based on the first third, and are not engaging just yet. Just like in the first third, think of five more title tags. Keep focusing on how to make it your most engaging title tag yet.

Here is your time to shine with the engaging and innovative title tags. But just when you thought you were done, write 5 more! The first and second third categories allow you to get all of the bland ideas out of your head, and make room for the creative ones. Many bloggers and professional writers barely make it through this process. The more you apply this process to your creative thinking, the more comfortable you’ll feel with identifying what title tags are engaging and which ones aren’t.

Start by picking your top two choices from each category. This will help narrow down your list and make it easier than trying to pick one title tag out of the 15 you wrote.

After this first round of elimination, you’ll be left with a few good options from each, and a few boring ones as well. Look through the list you have left and highlight or circle what you think are the top three.

If you’re working on a team, send the top three to your team and let them vote on which one they think is the most engaging. You don’t need to consult your team every time as this can be time-consuming, but do it whenever you need a second set of opinions. After a few rounds, you’ll begin to feel more confident in your title tag creation.

The steps above are great for beginners to work through the process of creating and selecting an engaging title tag. The process overall, however, can be time-consuming. To maximize your productivity, you need a data-backed way to sort through your options. CoSchedule has the perfect solution called Headline Analyzer Studio. 

Users of Headline Analyzer Studio have nothing but good things to say about it. Start by typing in what you think is your first great title tag for your blog post or article. After you type in your best title tag or headline, click Analyze Now.

Headline Analyzer gives you a score and offers suggestions to transform your copy into a more engaging title tag by balancing out the words. The ideal score to reach is 70 on blog posts, but of course, aiming for higher gets you closer to your goals.

The free version of CoSchedule will be able to meet your needs, but the paid version does include unique features you may want to use. One feature includes access to a word bank for words that evoke emotions or power words. Another feature allows you to see headline scores of your competitors and make adjustments accordingly. 

Make your blogging life easier by downloading the free version of CoSchedule right now. After that, you’re ready to write your most engaging title tags yet!