Title tags are even important these days SEO. Recently, people have changed their title tags and have seen a significant, measurable increase in their rankings.
Now, the other aspect of title tags that people sometimes forget about is the click-through rate that one gets, which can measurably increase one’s traffic if one gets the title tag right.
Traffic through increased clicks can indeed seem to increase one’s rankings under certain circumstances. One can get a dual benefit. The idea is to increase the rankings as well as traffic.
1. Numbers
Numbers kind of do pop out at one. Cognitive Bias, Standout specific and when one sees these in SERPs, they do tend to get a slightly higher click-through rate sometimes. This does work because of a cognitive bias. Our brains are indeed trained to find a thing that stands out and is specific. One scans a search result that involves a lot of information. So one’s brain will try to find some things that it can indeed grasp on to, and numbers are no doubt the ultimate things that are both specific and they do stand out. So sometimes, in certain circumstances, one can get a higher click-through rate by making use of numbers in one’s title tags.
2. Dates
One is involved in finding dates in one’s keyword research. The key in that research is when one is making use of tools such as Keyword Explorer or Google AdWords or SEMrush.
Leverage one’s CMS – If one can use WordPress, if one can use the Yoast plugin, one can actually have one’s title tags update automatically year-to-year or even month-to-month leveraging that.
3. Length
This is one of the most controversial issues. One finds title tags that are way too short, “Pantsuit,” or title tags that are way, way, way too long as they just want to stuff every keyword in there.
“Pantsuit” could be anything. This title tag is indeed way too diluted. It is hard to really know what it is all about. One is trying to scan it. One is trying to read it. Search engines are indeed going to look at it the same way. Is this about a pantsuit? Is it about herringbone knit?
4. Synonyms and variants
One needs to make use of top keywords. So if one goes into Analytics or Google Search Console, one can see that people are actually searching for “pantsuit,” “Macy’s,” and maybe something like that. One can come up with a title tag that fits within those parameters, “Tahiti ASL Red Pantsuit,” “pantsuits” the category, “Macy’s.” That’s going to be one’s winning title tag and one will probably see an increase in rankings.
It is important to realize that how one thinks one’s searchers are searching may not be how they are actually searching.
One needs to find out what the synonyms as well as variants that are there and then incorporating those into one’s title tag. One can use SERPs/keyword tools – The way one finds these synonyms and variants, that one can certainly look in the SERPs. Type one’s keyword into the SERPs, into Google and see what they do highlight bold in the search results. That will often give one the variants that people are looking for, that people also do ask at the bottom of the page. One’s favorite keyword tool, such as Keyword Explorer or SEMrush or whatever one does choose and also one’s Analytics. Google Search Console is indeed a great source of information for these synonyms as well as variants.
5. Call to action
Now, one will not often find the call-to-action words in one’s keyword research, but they do really help people click. These are action verbs.
Action words involve buy, find download, search, listen, watch, and learn, as well as access. When one uses these words, they do give a little bit more excitement because they indicate that the user will indeed be able to do something beyond the keyword. So they are not necessarily typing it in the search box. When they see it in results, it can indeed create the feeling that one has downloaded something. It does provide a little something extra, and one can increase one can click-through rates that way.
6. Top referring keywords
This is a bit overlooked, and it’s sort of an advanced concept. Often we do optimize one page for one set of keywords, but the traffic that does come to it is another set of keywords. But what is very powerful is when people type their words into the search box and they see those exact same words in the title tags that are going to increase one’s click-through rate.
It is very important to optimize one’s page, not only for the traffic one is trying to get, but the traffic one is actually receiving. When one can marry those two, one can be stronger in all aspects.
7. Questions
Questions are indeed great tools to make use of in one’s title tags. By asking a question, one creates a curiosity gap, and one can give people an incentive to click. But frequently, by asking a question, one can get the bonus of winning a featured snippet.
