Go Ahead, Don’t Read This Post!

Navigating through the trenches of search engine optimization can be tough. The algorithms on Google are constantly changing, and the competition is fierce.

With an overwhelming amount of information on the web, it’s no easy task to make content stand out.

These days, witty headlines are often replaced by SEO and keyword-rich titles, according to Mashable‘s Jonathan Rick. However, there are ways in which marketers can create both human and Google-friendly headlines.

Rick says that marketers should focus on making a humorous or clever headline that will be read by followers, and a page title that’ll stand out in searches. Using the same boring titles for both is not going to help when it comes to SEO.

For example, The Wall Street Journal wrote an article with the headline, “White House Party Crashers Cause a Hangover” and a page title that stated, “Obama Asks for Review After Michaele and Tareq Salahi Crash White House State Dinner.” Slate’s piece, “Deliverance,” had the page title, “U.S. Postal Service: Will It Survive?”

Further, marketers should put their efforts into the meta descriptions as well. This is where “Google often pulls the two-line ‘snippet’ displayed for each webpage,” writes Rick.

While meta descriptions are sometimes overruled by search engines, it’s wise to use one anyway.

An example he points to is New York Magazine’s article, “What’s Eating the NYPD?” Its page title was, “Why the NYPD is Turning on Ray Kelly,” and the meta description said, “Ray Kelly has built the best police force in the country. Now it is turning on him.”

These meta descriptions entice people to click the link and read more.

Headlines and SEO enhancement aren’t all that matters. Once readers get to the site, they have to be captivated to stay. Combining both great content and smart headlines will ultimately drive the company’s search engine ranking.

Image courtesy of gruntzooki/flickr