Want more blog readers? You need to spend more time learning how to write blog titles that’ll attract readers.
Some newer bloggers think that blog post titles donβt really matter. They write a post, figure out something to call it and publish it. Same goes for the next post.
And then theyβre surprised when no one seems to be reading their blog…
Your blog post titles (also called headlines) are crucial. They make a huge difference to how many readers you get through every single source of traffic: search engines, social media and email traffic in particular.
If you donβt put any time and effort into writing your blog titles, then you might as well not put any time or effort into running your blog itself. Poor blog post titles will seriously hamper your chances of blogging success.
The good news is that itβs not hard to come up with great blog titles. Plus, itβs easy to fix older titles that might not be quite working for you.
In this quick guide to blog titles, Iβll walk you through everything you need to knowβcovering what works, how to write a great blog title, and what to avoid at all costs.
How to Write Blog Titles (9 Quick Tips to Writing Catchy Titles)
- Why You Need to Write Catchy Blog Titles
- What Makes for a Great Blog Title?
- How to Write a Great Blog Post Title (9 Quick Tips)
- Start the Title with Your Target Keyword Phrase
- Add a Number to Your Blog Post Title
- Appeal to Reader Emotions Using Power Words
- Use Title or Headline Writing Templates
- Try Out Online Blog Title Tools (Examples)
- Create Your Own Blog Post Title Swipe File
- Come Up with Several Different Blog Post Titles to Test
- What to Avoid in Writing Blog Titles (2 Major Mistakes)
Disclosure:Β Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and at no additional cost to you, Iβll earn a commission. Know that I only recommend products and services Iβve personally used and stand behind. When you use one of my affiliate links, the company compensates me, which helps me run this blog and keep my in-depth content free of charge for readers (like you).
Need Catchy Blog Title Ideas?
Try my free AI-Powered Blog Title Generator Tool to get dozens of SEO-friendly headline ideas to make your blog posts stand out today.
Why You Need to Write Catchy Blog Titles
On average, out of 10 readers, 8 of them will only read the title. 2 will read the actual post.
This is why blog titles are so crucial. You want to increase that ratio so that more people are reading your full post, not just the title.
Think about how people come to your blog. Theyβll probably visit because:
- Your blog post showed up in a Google search
- Someone shared a link to your post on social media
- Theyβre already in your audience and you sent out an email about a new post
In all these cases, theyβll see the title of your postβbut not necessarily much else. The title really needs to grab their attention, especially when youβre competing against lots of other things they could be reading.
But your title is even more important than that. If itβs not a good title, potential readers may never even see it in the first place.
Thatβs because blog post titles are a crucial on-page ranking factor for Google. If you donβt have a clear title that includes your primary keyword, then youβre almost certainly not going to rank for that keywordβhowever great your content is.
Titles can also influence people who are sharing your post. If your post has a snappy, clear title, you can see why readers might be more likely to share that with their own audience than if you just titled it something like βUpdateβ or βNewsβ.
In fact, itβs becoming increasingly clear that plenty of social media users onlyΒ read the title or headline before sharing an article β and this isnβt a new phenomenon. As the Washington Post reportedΒ a few years ago:
The satirical news site the Science Post published a block of βlorem ipsumβ text under a frightening headline: βStudy: 70% of Facebook users only read the headline of science stories before commenting.β Nearly 46,000 people shared the post, some of them quite earnestlyβan inadvertent example, perhaps, of life imitating comedy.
Now you know why titles are so important, itβs time to learn what works when crafting a great title.
What Makes for a Great Blog Title?
The best blog titles are clearβnot vague or confusing, and not trying too hard to be clever.
They use straightforward language but also include emotive words that appeal to peopleβs curiosity, create a sense of excitement, or otherwise entice the reader to click through and read the article. Here’s a snap shot of some blog title examples from my own best content list:
Now, let’s do an exercise. Compare these blog title examples and see which youβd be more likely to click and read:
- Blog Post Titles
- This Weird 8/10 Rule Will Astonish You
- 9 Powerful Tips on How to Write Great Blog Titles
The first title is accurate and contains a keyword (βblog post titlesβ)βbut itβs not particularly interesting. Itβd be easy to skip past, especially if you come across it on social media and youβre not specifically looking for advice on blog post titles at that moment in time.
The second title is trying to get clicks but comes across as a bit scammyβweβve probably all seen headlines like that. Itβs also really vague: what rule? It could relate to literally any niche. A few readers might click out of curiosity, but most will avoid it.
The third title is the title of this post πΒ and since youβre reading this post, Iβm guessing it worked for you! Itβs a clear, specific title that lets readers know exactly what theyβre going to get β and it includes a couple of words with a good emotional appeal (βpowerfulβ and βgreatβ).
Need Catchy Blog Title Ideas?
Try my free AI-Powered Blog Title Generator Tool to get dozens of SEO-friendly headline ideas to make your blog posts stand out today.
How to Write a Great Blog Post Title (9 Quick Tips)
So how do you come up with a great title for your blog post? And should you write the title before or after writing the blog post itself?
1. Start the Title with Your Target Keyword Phrase
Itβs incredibly important to have your title in mind right from the start of your writing process, when you start doing keyword researchΒ and identifying possible topics to write about. This makes it easy to match your post to the promise in your blog title. Of course, your title can (and probably will) change as you go along, but you want to start thinking about it as early on as you can.
When youβre doing keyword research for a new article, you might have a whole list of potential keywords in mind that could lead the charge for your piece.
Use My Free Keyword Research Tool
Try my free AI-Powered Keyword Tool to get dozens of research-backed ideas for keywords & topics to write about on your blog today.
Letβs say you want to write about the nuances of SEO for bloggers. Some good target keywords to incorporate into your blog title could include:
- SEO for Bloggers
- Blog SEO
- Blogging SEO
- How to Do SEO for a Blog
None of those keyword phrases would work as titles on their own, but theyβre a great starting point for brainstorming a beginning of a catchy blog title.
2. Add a Number to Your Blog Post Title
You donβt have to use a number in your titleβ¦ but doing so is a great shortcut for creating a title that appeals to readers.
Letβs take those four topics we came up with from our keyword research and see how we can easily add a number at the start. Iβve put the parts Iβve added in bold:
- 6 Steps to Start a Blog
- 12 Ways to Make Money Blogging
- 10 Best Free Blogging Sites
- 8 Tips for Smart Guest Blogging
These titles arenβt perfect yet, but can you see how simply adding these short phrases turns them from keywords into catchy blog titles? This also gives you an instant structure for your post.
You can use these number formulas again and again. β6 Steps for Starting a Blogβ could work in almost any niche. Here are just a few examples:
- 6 Steps for Starting Out at a New University (student blog)
- 6 Steps for Easier Traveling With Kids (travel or parenting blog)
- 6 Steps for Overcoming Anxiety (self-improvement or health-related blog)
Obviously, you could change the number 6 to any other number you want, too.
3. Appeal to Reader Emotions Using Power Words
The best titles have some kind of emotional appeal, often using what some bloggers call βpower wordsβ to do so.
Letβs take a look at our titles in progress again and add in some extra words and phrases:
- 6 Easy Steps forΒ Starting a Blog Today
- 12 Ways to Make Money Blogging (That Really Work)
- The 10 Best Free Blogging Sites Compared
- 8 Tips for Guest Posting and Skyrocketing Your Sales
Can you see how these blog titles have become more compelling?
In the first example, for instance, weβre focusing on the readerβs desire to make things easy and fast. Words like simple, straightforward, beginner-friendly,Β and step-by-stepΒ can all emphasize that your post will be easy for the reader to put into practice. And words like today, instantly, fast, quick, and immediately all reassure readers that your solution is one they can get started on right away.
4. Use Title or Headline Writing Templates
There are some great templates out there for writing blog post titles, which can make it much easier and faster to come up with your own titles.
If I don’t say so myself, one great blog title writing tool at your disposal is… me! π
Head over to my guide about writing headlines here and leave a comment with a blog title you’d like me to rewrite and give you some inspiration on!
Whichever resource you use, youβll likely find that some of the headline ideas work well for your niche and brand and that others arenβt quite such a good fit. Donβt use a headline that doesnβt feel comfortable to youβthere will always be plenty of other good options.
5. Try Out Online Blog Title Generator Tools
There are plenty of tools out there that can help you write headlines. Some will even generate potential blog post titles for youβlike my own tool does right here:
My Blog Title Generator: Free Tool for AI-Powered SEO Blog Title Ideas
Try my free AI-Powered Blog Title Generator Tool to get dozens of SEO-friendly headline ideas to make your blog posts stand out today.
While there are certainly more tools out there to analyze your headlines, be careful not to fall too deep into paralysis of analysis. Good enough is the best place to startβand you can always tweak your blog titles over time as you see how search engines like Google are reacting to it.
6. Create Your Own Blog Post Title Swipe File
Another great way to come up with titles for your blog posts is to look out for great titles that you want to read (and make a collection of them to save on your desktop). It doesnβt matter if these are from completely different nichesβyou can still learn a lot from them.
Create a document for your own blog post title swipe file. (βSwipe fileβ is a copywriting term for a file where you store great pieces of writing to learn from and emulate.)
Youβre welcome to use some of the titles from my own blog posts: Try starting with this list of my best articles.
Of course, you wonβt simply copy the titles when you use them for your own posts. Instead, youβll put your own unique spin on them.
Hereβs an example: 201+ Best Blog Post Ideas Thatβll (Actually) Drive Traffic
You could transition that blog title down into a workable template like this:
XXX+ Best ___ Ideas Thatβll (Actually) _____
Letβs say your blog is all about keeping your home organized. You could write:
101+ Best Home Organization Ideas Thatβll (Actually) Work for You
Or maybe you blog about traveling the world. With a little bit more of the twistβweβve now switched out the word βideasββyour title could be:
101+ Best Travel Destinations Thatβll (Actually) Be Cheaper Than Staying Home
In general, as you read other blogs, pay attention to what gets you to click (and stick around on a blog). What types of words and phrases in titles appeal to you? Could you incorporate some of these into your own blog post titles?
7. Come Up With Several Different Blog Post Titles (to Test)
Iβll let you in on a not-so-secret. Whenever a new post gets published here on my blog, its title isnβt necessarily the first one we came up with.
When we outline posts, we come up with at least three different title possibilities. And these will often get tweaked along the way, too.
For this post itself, we worked with these 3 blog title examples as potential winnersβand at the end of the day, we went with a more direct keyword focus (since this term is pretty competitive):
For your own blog posts, youβll want to take the same approach of testing blog titles.
Donβt just come up with one great title: think of several different titles you could use. Itβs useful to do this at the planning stage, as the title you settle on might affect the tone and structure of your post.
What to Avoid in Writing Blog Titles (2 Major Mistakes)
There are a few things to avoid when writing blog post titles β even if you see other bloggers (or journalists) using these techniques.
You want to steer clear of:
1. Clickbait or Misleading Blog Titles
Titles are described as βclickbaitβ where they encourage people to click by making exaggerated claims or by playing up an element of shock. Essentially, they misrepresent the actual content.
These types of titles can be effective for getting readers to click through β but theyβll often result in annoyed readers who avoid ever returning to your site.
Here are a couple of examples of clickbait titles, collected by Ranker. Notice how they donβt use keywords but lean heavily on shock value:
- βWhen You Find Out What These Kids Are Jumping Into, Your Jaw Will Dropβ
- βBaby Ducks See Water For The First Time β Can You BELIEVE What They Do?β
Clickbait can also involve making overinflated promises. Itβs not a good idea to call your blog post something like βThe Billionaireβs Guide to Making Six Figures Blogging OVERNIGHTβ when youβve only ever made a few dollars from your blogging and your post is just a few general bullet points about making money online.
2. Blog Post Titles That Donβt Align With Your Blog’s Niche or Brand
Some titles might work well in certain niches, but not in others. For instance, if your blog’s niche is quite academic and serious, then dramatic titles that might work in other niches could just leave your blog looking out of place and not being taken seriously.
You also want to make sure your titles fit with your brand: if you have a calm, relaxing blog about meditation, you probably donβt want titles that focus on anger, like βThe Most Annoying Yoga Moves That Everyone Hates.β
A title like that might work fine for a snarky exercise blog, but itβs not likely to be a good fit for your target audience.
Ready to Write Great Blog Post Titles for Your Blog?
Now you know what makes a great blog post titleβand what to steer clear of.
Today, come up with 3 possible titles for your next blog postΒ (or the post youβre currently drafting). You might even want to run these ideas past a friend to see which they prefer.
If you have enough time, go back through your archives and look for any blog posts which donβt have very compelling titles. Could you spend a couple of minutes tweaking these? Just adding a number, a powerful word, or a short phrase like βhow toβ or βtop tipsβ can make a huge difference.
For lots more tips on writing blog titles, check out my article on how to write a blog post headline. This’ll help you pinpoint what types of title will appeal most to your audienceβand it has plenty of examples along the way.
Need Catchy Blog Title Ideas?
Try my free AI-Powered Blog Title Generator Tool to get dozens of SEO-friendly headline ideas to make your blog posts stand out today.
Wow, Ryan, I took your advice, changed some of my old headlines and immediately got much higher Headline scores in WP! Thanks for some helpful and easy tips to improve headlines.
Nice! That’s so awesome, Christina π
Good tips for bloggers and article writers everywhere! Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome, Joey!
Very good and useful information, thanks a lot π
Of course! You’re welcome, Vedant π
Writing perfect blog titles takes more work than simply summarizing the content. Being able to grab a reader’s attention at the onset is key.
Agreed!
Thanks your advice was of great help.i want to join bloggers in the world also
You’re welcome π
Please my blogs don’t accept tables … please how can I rectify it I need help.
Check out some WordPress plugins that allow for prettier/easier to build tables π
Head over to YouTube and search for “how to add Jump Links.”
I think that should help.
Thank you for all of the knowledge-sharing that you do regularly. The way you use your expertise to help others is a very admirable trait of yours.
Thanks for the kind words!