Well, maybe having just the right title isn’t the most crucial part of your page. Quality content will always come first, but you webpage will be read by it’s cover so to speak which is your title. In fact, it is right up near the top of the on-page SEO to-do list.
Don’t believe me? Compare these two fictional search results in Google. Which would you click on first?
The second one right?
The first one really catches your eyes. It has a great title that makes you want to click, and it has a description which leads you to want to know more.
Google looks at the clicks to impressions ratio so having a more-often-clicked search result will actually move you up in the rankings. It’s one people are picking. Makes sense.
So we all agree that a catchy title can make a big difference in how many visitors you get to your site.
What is a way to come up with winning titles? I’m glad you asked.
Here is an infographic that has some great forumulas for catchy titles.
Infographic Courtesy of Twelveskip.com
So let’s try this out:
7 Foolproof SEO Tips For Success
9 Secrets to More Traffic
3 Secrets to a Faster Website ( incidentally if you want to make your site faster, click here )
So I guess the formula does give you a great headstart on making those kinds of titles that catch your eyes in the search results pages on Google and is just one more step to success.
Meta Description
Looking at the search result example above, which has the better description?
The second one again.
SEMRush did a test on the length of meta descriptions related to CTR from search results pages. They found longer descriptions were better received.
It might be the better description. It might be that it took up more of the page.
But it resulted in a 36% increase in CTR. That’s really significant.
For a few months, Google was allowing 320 chars instead of the standard 160 chars for meta description. As of May 2018, it is indeed at 160. To not get your description truncate in the results, keep it within 160 characters.
So any guides as to how to make a catchy meta description?
At a high level, you are trying to communicate within 160 characters an idea to the searcher.
You need to communicate that you have unique information to share that they want to see.
Think people, not Google here. You want to make people want to see what the content is all about.
I just did a study of the top 1,000 websites and I found out how they attract visitors…
If you’re looking to find the secrets to more traffic, I could see that getting your attention. You want to entice the visitor without giving away your conclusion in the description.
You’re trying to drop the breadcrumbs that they want to follow right to your site. Think like somebody searching for content that you know they want.
So make sure you do use your target keyword in your title as in searches Google will highlight it in bold.
Write for your audience. Try to make them curious and want to know what you found.