Enticing headlines may only be useful in the short term

It is well known and understood that if you use a headline that will grab the attention of internet users and that sounds interesting and exciting, you are likely to receive an immediate surge in the amount of traffic that visits your website. However, whether headlines like this can actually improve the ranking of your website in the search results of the major search engines is debatable.

Most involved in search engine optimisation suggest that the technique of creating bold and attractive headlines will not be beneficial in the long term and will not help how your website is viewed and ranked by the search engines. Instead, experts suggest that creating titles that are descriptive and feature your keywords is a more relevant and productive tactic. It is recommended that keyword research is carried out in order to make appropriate titles based on your findings.

Title tags that have been optimised appropriately for the website will often be what is extracted from the web pages by the search engines and therefore they are of great importance in regards to long term success with the search engines. If you are relying on the search engines to bring you the majority of your traffic, the optimisation of your title and content can be a lot more rewarding instead of focusing your attention on eye-catching headlines.

However, optimising your title tag is not enough to solely improve your ranking with the search engines. A number of on page and off page techniques are necessary to have a productive and effective search engine optimisation campaign.

If you are looking for instant traffic then a catchy headline might do the trick, but if your are looking to increase the amount of traffic to your website over a long period of time, optimising your titles may be more suitable for your needs.

There are methods which allow you to have both. It is possible to have an appealing headline and also an optimised title too. If you have a CMS that will allow you to do so, the title and the headline of your page can be separated. This means that your headline can say one thing and encourage users to click on it, but when they land on your page the title will actually be optimised and feature the relevant keywords. Another way to combine an optimised title with a great headline is to have two different sections within your title. The first can be clever and attention grabbing, and the second be rich in keywords and be optimised.

Exciting and interesting headlines can really stand out to internet users and encourage them to visit your site so can be effective in increasing the amount of traffic to your website. However, if you want to improve the ranking of your website in search results the importance of title optimisation must not be forgotten. A combination of both may be suitable for your business and your needs. At SEO Consult we can help you determine which search engine optimisation techniques are right for you and which will provide the best results. With our extensive knowledge and experience we will be able to help you run a successful search engine optimisation campaign.

Related posts:

1. Three tips for writing social media headlines
2. Crafting titles: learn from the best
3. Long or short term SEO?
4. The importance of a title in search engine optimisation
5. Long-term SEO Requires Long-term Goals

Link to us

If you want to link to this blog, copy and paste the following HTML code to your website.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 24th, 2009 at 2:28 pm and is filed under Search Engine Optimisation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.