With billions of web pages competing for attention, SEO titles are among the most influential factors in your website’s success.
Are you leveraging them to their full potential?
In this guide, we’ll explore 7 best practices for writing SEO titles that rank well, captivate users, and drive clicks.
In This Article
What Is an SEO Title?
An SEO title, also known as a meta title or page title, is the clickable headline that appears in search engine results pages (SERPs).
It communicates the main topic of your page and helps users assess if your content has the information they’re looking for.
A good SEO title will entice users to click your link instead of scrolling to the next result.
Here’s what one looks like in search results:
SEO title tags exist within the HTML code of a web page.
For example, the SEO title tag of the above article looks like this:
<title>Keyword Density: What It Is & How to Calculate It [3 Methods]</title>Meta titles also appear in the following areas:
- Browser Tab: In addition to SERPs, your title tag is also displayed in the browser tab. A well-crafted title can make it easier for users to recognize and return to your page later.
- Third-Party Websites: When your page is shared on social media or linked to from other websites, the title tag often serves as the anchor text. This makes it even more important to optimize your title tags for search engines and user engagement.
Why Are Meta Titles Important?
Meta titles serve two primary purposes:
- Search Engine Rankings: Search engines use meta titles to understand the content of your page. By optimizing your title tags with relevant keywords, you can improve your search engine rankings and attract organic traffic.
- Clickthrough Rates (CTRs): A compelling meta title can entice users to click on your search result, increasing your website’s traffic and boosting your brand’s visibility.
Think of SEO titles like first impressions. You only get one shot, so it’s important to get it right.
SEO Title vs H1: What’s the Difference?
It’s easy to confuse SEO titles and H1 tags, but it’s important to differentiate the two.
SEO titles appear in search engine results, whereas H1s appear on the web page itself.
Both play a crucial role in conveying the topic of your content to search engines and users, but they’re not the same thing.
7 Best Practices for Writing SEO Title Tags
Now that you understand SEO title tags and why they’re important, let’s explore how to write them effectively.
1. Start With Keyword Research
The foundation of a strong SEO title is keyword research.
By identifying the keywords your audience uses in search engines, you can tailor your title to match their phrasing.
This ensures that your content appears in relevant search results and attracts organic traffic.
To conduct effective keyword research, consider the following tips:
- Brainstorm relevant keywords. Create a list of keywords and phrases related to your business or what you want to write about. Think about synonyms, related terms, and other ways of phrasing the main idea.
- Pay attention to search intent. Search intent is the why behind a query. It’s what motivates a person to use a search engine. By understanding it, you can craft SEO titles that resonate with your target audience.
- Use a keyword research tool. SEO tools like LowFruits will help you discover relevant keywords and get insights into their difficulty and intent. You don’t want to waste time targeting keywords that are too competitive to rank for. Tools like LowFruits were designed to help you uncover low-competition keywords that are easy to rank for.
LowFruits uses the following metrics to help you identify easy ranking opportunities:
- SERP Difficulty Score (SD): Represents the keyword difficulty, with 1 being the easiest and 3 the hardest.
- Weak Spots: Each icon represents a low-authority domain ranking in the top 10 search results.
These insights can inform your keyword strategy and help you find the best keywords for your SEO titles.
2. Analyze the SERP
Once you have a keyword you want to target, you should check out the competition in the SERPs.
This is called a SERP analysis.
A SERP analysis helps you understand:
- The top-performing SEO titles: What elements make these meta titles successful, such as keyword placement, character length, and use of power words?
- User intent: What information are users looking for when they enter this keyword?
- Opportunities for differentiation: How can you create a unique and compelling title that stands out from the competition?
LowFruits streamlines this process, allowing you to view the SERP of any keyword.
Just click View the SERP next to your preferred keyword.
This action will open a pop-out window of that keyword’s top 10 ranking domains. You can view their SEO titles directly on this screen.
By understanding the ranking domains, you can write stronger, more compelling SEO title tags that outrank your competition.
3. Be Descriptive, Yet Concise
A well-crafted SEO title should be both descriptive and concise. It should clearly communicate the content of your page while keeping it under 50-60 characters to avoid truncation in search results.
It’s also important that each of your SEO title tags are unique. This means not duplicating meta titles across multiple pages.
When you use the same SEO title for more than one page, you can confuse search engines and run into duplicate content issues.
Instead, assign a unique SEO title tag to every indexable page of your site.
4. Frontload Your Focus Keyword
Placing your primary keyword at the beginning of the title is a proven strategy to boost visibility.
This helps search engines understand the main topic of your page and improves relevance.
It’s also a great way to catch your users’ attention and get them to stop scrolling.
With that said, don’t feel like you always have to put your focus keyword at the front of your meta titles.
Some pages require a more fluid, natural-sounding title that doesn’t place the keyword at the front. (Think tutorials that start with “How to” or product lineups that start with a number.)
5. Leverage Power Words or Numbers
To create truly compelling SEO titles, consider incorporating power words and numbers. These elements can significantly enhance your title’s organic CTR and overall effectiveness.
Power Words:
Power words are strong, evocative words that can grab your audience’s attention. By using power words like “ultimate,” “secret,” or “revolutionary,” you can create a sense of urgency or intrigue.
Here’s a list of 700+ power words to inspire your writing.
Numbers:
Numbers can add credibility and specificity to your title. They can also help your title stand out in search results. For example, instead of “How to Lose Weight,” you could use “10 Proven Tips to Lose Weight Fast.”
By effectively using power words and numbers, you can create SEO titles that are more engaging and persuasive.
6. Adhere to Character Limits
We briefly mentioned character limits earlier, but it’s essential to reiterate their importance.
Most search engines display around 50-60 characters in search results.
Exceeding this limit can lead to title truncation, where your title is cut off, like in the image below.
Truncated titles can reduce their impact, leading to fewer clicks and traffic.
(On a side note, the above title could be improved by using a numeral (4) instead of writing “four.” Numbers are more eye-catching in numeral form than written out. It also saves characters!)
7. Use a SERP Preview Tool
To avoid exceeding character limits, run your SEO title through a SERP preview tool before publishing.
These tools simulate what your metadata will look like in search results.
I like using the Mangools Google SERP Simulator because it’s free and easy to use.
If you’re a WordPress user, you can also get a SERP preview with the All in One SEO (AIOSEO) plugin.
It shows your post or page’s metadata in search results for both desktop and mobile.
Next Steps
Now that you know how to write title tags for SEO, it’s time to focus on the next crucial element: meta descriptions.
Meta descriptions provide a brief summary of your page and can significantly impact your CTR.
Learn how to write meta descriptions in our next post!
