What makes some headlines stand out more than others in Google search results? There can be five articles that come up about the same subject, but the right headline will draw most of the clicks.
There are a few tricks to grabbing the reader’s attention and getting your own IT business blogs stand out among the competition and knowing them can mean a big difference in the marketing results you see from your blogs and articles.
We’ve got some of the best click-worthy headline tips coming up to help you make the most of your blog content to drive more leads and business.
What Makes a Click-Worthy Blog Headline?
Your headline, or title, of your blog is perhaps the most important part if you’re looking to drive traffic to your site. Of course, you need good keyword content on the page that’s optimized for SEO, but once that SEO kicks in, if your headline isn’t attention-grabbing people may never click over to your website.
8 out of 10 people will decide to click or not to click on a search result based upon the headline copy only.
Adding a powerful headline that is just screaming, “Click me!” can make all the difference between your blog generating leads or just languishing with good search position, but few visitors. Here are some tips to super-charge your tech business blog titles.
Use Adjectives and Adverbs
Using descriptive adjectives and adverbs in your headline adds excitement and makes it stand out. Which headline below would you be most likely to click?
1. “Ways to Utilize Microsoft Teams for Office Productivity”
OR
2. “Powerful Ways to Expertly Utilize Microsoft Teams for Office Productivity”
Using power words in the form of adjectives and adverbs can bring life and excitement to your headline, making it more likely attract people’s attention. Here are a few power words you can try in your next blog title:
- Awesome
- Amazing
- Powerful
- Skillful
- Productively
- Important
- Crucial
- Smart
- Surprising
Use a Numbered List
According to the Moz article, “5 Data Insights into the Headlines Readers Click,” a big draw for user clicks is using a number in your headline. Numbered headlines receive more clicks than any other headline types.
Numbered lists attract readers because they already promise easy-to-read content and X number of things about the topic.
Some ways that you can start your IT blog headlines with numbers are:
- 11 Surprising Facts About…
- 8 Smart Ways to…
- Top 10 List of…
- 5 Cool Tips for…
- 9 Secrets of Better…
But remember to mix it up. Your blog readers could get “number overload” if every blog you put out uses a headline with a number in it. Weave them in along with other types of headlines.
Illustrate the Benefit
Some blog headlines tell what the blog is about, but not really how it’s going to benefit you. You want to include the benefit so the reader has a reason to click.
For example, if we titled this blog, “Write Captivating Headlines” it would’ve just given you the basics without telling you the “why” to make you click.
By adding, “… that Drive Clicks & Leads to Your IT Business Blog,” we’ve given you some incentive as to what benefit this article is going to have for you and why you should read it.
Ask a Question
You may have noticed in the last few years that Google has been adding dropdowns to common questions on a subject at the top of their search results. They’ve noticed that people tend to search in the form of a question.
Using a question as a blog title, not only draws the reader but can also help you get an SEO boost if your content is also well written to answer the question asked.
We typed into the Google search bar “What is an SSD drive” and before any organic listings were even displayed, these Q&A format results were listed:
Using this exercise can also help you come up with some ideas for questions to use in your blog titles.
Use an Engaging Phrase
Buzz Sumo analyzed 100 million headlines to see which were the most popular, and they created a list of the some of the top engaging phrases. You can use these to get Facebook followers to interact with your IT business content.
Use of the following top three phrases in a headline garnered the most likes, shares, and comments on Facebook:
- “will make you” (i.e. “These 5 Tech Tips Will Make You a Super User”)
- “this is why” (i.e. “You Should Use both a Local and Cloud Backup and This is Why”)
- “can we guess” (i.e. “Can We Guess Your Age by Your Favorite Netflix Shows?”
Spice it Up with Symbols & Punctuation
Use of some types of symbols can add punch to your headline and make it stand out from all the others on the same page. (Just don’t overdo it!)
Use of parenthesis to add an extra incentive for clicking on your content is one way to do this.
For example:
“5 Cool Technologies for the Connected Home (and 1 to Avoid!)”
You can also use the triangle symbol “▷” for a little extra emphasis, like so:
“▷ 12 Amazing Windows 10 Tips for the Super User!”
Colons also help break up longer headlines:
“Data Privacy Facts: Keep Your Company in Compliance with These Vital Cybersecurity Strategies”
Tug at the Heartstrings
Using emotions can be another way to draw someone to your content and get them to click over to your site. Advertisers have long used emotional pitches to get people to buy their products and the same can apply to making your blog title stand out.
Some examples of emotional headlines are:
- “You’d be Shocked to See How Much of Your Smartphone Data is Insecure”
- “This Easy Anti-Virus Software Will Make You Cry Tears of Joy”
- “Is Your Data on the Dark Web? What You’re about to Learn May Give You Goosebumps”
One caveat with this type of emotional headline is that if your tech service company mainly works with business clients, going emotional may be a little too over the top for your audience.
Use a Headline Analyzer
Want to ensure your headline doesn’t get cut off awkwardly in the SEO listing? Use a headline analyzer tool, like this excellent one from CoSchedule.
It will help ensure you don’t use so many characters that the most important part of your headline gets cut off in the search result, and it also includes some great tips, like whether you should add an adjective or emotion-driving word.
Here’s how we used it for this blog title.
Original Title: “How to Write Captivating Headlines that Get Clicks & Drive Leads to Your IT Business Blog”
We ran it through the analyzer and .. Oh no! Part of our main point about driving leads is cut off.
We shortened it to: “Write Captivating Headlines that Drive Clicks & Leads to Your IT Business Blog”
And now we’ve got the key meat of our clickable headline showing nicely.
Insert Your Keyword
This is a best practice for SEO “low hanging fruit” but also ensures that your content is seen as relevant by the reader who clicks it. If your headline is too vague or doesn’t describe your content well, then you’ll get someone clicking and quickly hitting the “back” button.
Using smart strategies for your blog content that maximize its potential, including creating a headline that inserts the main keyword that you’re optimizing for. More relevant content is also what Google is always striving to give its users, so the more someone sticks on your page and website after clicking, the better relevancy score you’ll get with Google’s algorithm.
Sprinkle in a Trending Subject
It never hurts to jump on a relevant trending topic when you can to get a few more mouse clicks your blog headline.
For example, the term “millennial” is used as an attention grabber in a lot of topics at the moment. You could tailor a blog heading around that to piggyback on the trend. Such as:
“Top 15 Home Office Hacks for Flex-Working Millennials”
Other trending terms you may want to work into a headline or two include:
- Viral
- Sustainability
- Virtual Reality
- Artificial Intelligence
- Generation Z
- Screen Time
Use Google Trends to find out what terms people are searching on and to look up your keywords to see how many searches they get per month.
Use Sentence Case
How you capitalize your headline matters. 64% of users prefer Sentence Case capitalization with only 8% having no preference in how a headline is capitalized.
Here’s the percentage of people that preferred each type of capitalization:
- Sentence Case: “How Can I Get a Better Wi-Fi Reception at Home?” (64%)
- Capitals: “HOW CAN I GET A BETTER WI-FI RECEPTION AT HOME? (21%)
- Lowercase: “How can I get a better wi-fi reception at home? (7%)
Check Out Other Headlines
You may have a solid headline with, “6 Amazing Ways to Speed Up a Slow Computer,” but when you search online, it seems like several other articles have the same headline you just thought up.
Make yourself stand out from the pack by changing up your headline from others that show up in search results for the same topic. Just by changing a few words or adding some punctuation, your headline could be the one that draws the clicks while the others all look the same.
Don’t Make Your Headline an Afterthought
Unfortunately, too many blog writers add the headline as an afterthought and don’t spend enough time strategizing to make it stand out and attract users.
By spending some time on your headline and treating it as the most important part of your blog, you can gain significant traction with your IT business blogs. It’s time well spent and can positively impact your clicks, leads, and sales.
Have you written a killer headline for a blog? Share yours below.
