What Every Blogger Ought To Know About Headlines

As a blogger, there are a few things you ought to know about headlines in order to be noticed.

Getting your audience engaged all starts with the headline they see at first contact. Do you know how to use your headlines to attract site visitors?

• What is the main headline?
• What is the importance of headlines?
• What are the different types of headlines?
• Do you struggle with creating good headlines?
• How do you write a good headline for a blog?
• Typical questions you will ask about headlines
• How do I know if my headlines are working?
• Know about headlines - Conclusion

What is the main headline?

The main headline is your first visual contact with potential visitors to your blog or website. This is the first bit of information they will see that tells them what your content is all about.

That is why the headline is more important or at least as important as your blog description. It should simplify in a few words what your post is about and what benefit a reader will have by visiting the link.

What is the importance of headlines?

As we can already see by now the headline plays a major role in getting visitors to your website or blog.
There are a couple of reasons why the headline of your blog is very important.

• It grabs the attention of the reader
• It improves SEO
• It explains content

It grabs attention

The main purpose of your headline is to grab the attention of a reader scanning the web. There are only two ways a headline can grab attention and that is if it stands out from its surroundings or if it is interesting.

If you go deeper into headline research you will find heaps of scientific evidence about human behaviour and psychology but for an ordinary blogger, we will stick with these two methods.

It improves SEO

The quality of the headline you produce will also assist in search engines finding your article, knowing what it is about, and deciding where it fits into the bigger picture.

Remember that the Google algorithm will always look for content that people are actually searching for. If people are searching for "Home Decor for Beach Homes" and you have the right content but your headline suggests "Making your home lovely from day one" you have a good chance of missing out on search engines and therefore good traffic.

It explains content

The headline is the shortest version of a summary you will find. It should tell the reader in only a few words what they can expect inside.

It doesn't help to visually "hook" a reader and then lose them because they can't see what it is all about. By then the next article has already drawn their attention away.

What are the different types of headlines?

For the purpose of blog or article writing, you should only focus on 4 types of headlines.

• Direct headline
• Indirect headline
• Informational headline
• Educational headline

Direct Headline

This type of headline is a direct reflection of a single purpose. This will mostly be used for a specific offer or product that visitors will search for on Google. A typical example of a direct headline will be:

Konica Minolta XF3600 for your Office Productivity

or

40% Off Sale on all Summer Fashion

 

Indirect Headline

This type of headline will make the reader curious and entice them to find out more. A typical example of an indirect headline will be:

Will a $8 000 000 Yacht make your life better?

 

Informational headline

This type of headline will indicate to the reader that the article contains information that might interest them. A typical example of an informational headline will be:

20 Tips On Buying A Puppy

Do You Struggle With Creating Good Headlines?

Sooner or later during your blogging career, your mind will start playing tricks with you. That is when you start wondering if your headlines are good enough. Even if you are anything like me who does not follow SEO strategies but does it for my pleasure the issue will still come up.

I have always come up with headlines in a way I feel I would've searched for it on Google. That was good enough for me. After running for a year and not many hits coming through I decided to follow the trend of how others are creating headlines.

Very few bloggers will think about creating a good headline and focus more on the content. Maybe that is why since June 2021 the Google algorithm started changing headlines to what they think suits the content.

How do you write a good headline for your blog?

On the web, you will find a ton of advice on how to write your headline. There is no secret headline that will make you rank better but if you look at the section on the "Importance of headlines" you will have a good idea of what matters to your audience.

Looking at the advice of content marketers there are a few things they are convinced that we can do with our headlines to create more traffic. Look at it as helpful guidance but keep in mind that from 1st August 2021 the Google algorithm basically decides what your headline should look like and will change it to most relevant.

Let's look at 5 of the most important tips from professional bloggers.

Tip # 1: Include Numbers in your headline

Every one of us has seen this trend developing on the web and even though it is quite annoying it seems that it might work. Everywhere we look we see "5 Best Movies of 2017", "10 Best Ways to comb your hair", and "3 Best Dance Moves in Wonderland".

It does become a bit much for someone like me who does a lot of research on the web. My first thought when seeing a headline like that is "Do I take it seriously or is the author just copying someone else's ideas? Don't get me wrong I have used it myself but can't say if it works.

Maybe it has a psychological trigger for readers. I'm not sure but now apparently it was proven also that uneven numbers have a higher success rate.

Tip # 2: Punctuation as part of the headline 

Now there is a school of thought that claims that having some form of punctuation in your headline makes it more searchable. I suppose years ago Paul Simon would've had to name one of his songs "Leaving your lover? 50 Ways to do it" instead of "50 Ways to leave your lover". 

If not he would have never made the charts. So using hyphens and colons is what we can attempt in the next post.

Tip # 3: Attention-grabbing headline

Well at last something that makes sense. The attention span of a reader or as a matter of fact any human being is very short so it is essential that your headline must make an impact at a glance.

Tip # 4: Not too short and not too long

The headline must be long enough to build in the necessary keyword or two. Some say because readers scan a headline three to six words is ideal but it must not exceed 60 characters or search engines will shorten it.

Most of the time 30 characters should do the job. For maximum effect, you want to keep it on one line.

Tip # 5: Evoke an emotion

There are many ways bloggers describe this but it comes down to the old sales tactic. Create a need. This is done by telling the reader why they need to know this information. Things like that create a feeling of guilt that they do not have knowledge of.

Typical questions you will ask about headlines

What is a catchy headline?

A catchy headline is a headline that can make the reader identify the topic and generate curiosity for more information in the shortest amount of characters possible.

A good example of a catchy headline:

Web Hosting Services: Powerful But Cheap

What is the best headline?

The best headline to have is one that is different from the others and delivers what the reader expects to find after clicking on your link. 

Is a headline a title?

A headline is used to attract attention to an article. The title can be independent of the article headlines which will depend on the type and length of the article. An article can contain several headings and subheadings but only one headline.

What is the difference between a heading and a headline?

A headline is the main title of your article and headings are used as an indicator to the reader that you are entering the next phase of the article where there is a switch in the storyline.

Will my headline give me better SEO rankings?

No, but having a bad headline can almost certainly damage your ranking. The headline is the first contact with the web crawlers and that is how they determine what the rest of your website is about.

If there is too much conflict between the headline and your content it will confuse the algorithm. Therefore Google assumes that it will confuse the reader too and skip it for the ranking process.

I would suggest using the free headline analyzer from MonsterInsights. It will show you your headline score and encourage you to try several headlines until you find the best one.

How do I know if my headlines are working?

It often as in my case happens that you have tried everything but still it seems that no one notices your post. Blogging is all about patience and a lot of other actions the blogger must take in order to be noticed.

My advice is to be patient and just keep on creating content.

You will only know which headlines are working if you monitor your postings and analyze the results. Mostly it is the quality of your content that will make the difference.

If your headlines can deliver on what they promise your visitors will return every time they recognize your brand.

Know about headlines - Conclusion

The headlines you are using for your articles are critical because that is what your reader will see first. It is also in most cases your H1 tag that search engines will be looking for.

By selecting good headlines to use you will increase the engagement rate of your audience. That is if your headline matches the content and the content is quality.