I’m not an SEO guru, that’s for sure. When I designed my first WordPress theme, Cleaker, I didn’t put any consideration into Search Engine Optimization at all (which sucks for everyone who is still using the 4-year old theme). So that’s why I rely on folks like everyone at StudioPress to make me a killer theme that will get me ranked well in Google.
But one important part of the whole “getting yourself noticed by Google” is what you title your posts, and I have just 3 quick examples for you:
Youth Group Games
One of the top posts on my blog now is my post about youth group games. I had asked for a bunch of recommendations awhile back on Facebook and Twitter, and I just compiled all the results into a post. Pretty simple. But I figured that I wanted lots of youth workers to find the post. And so I thought about what they would be typing into Google to find the post. Probably something like “youth group games” or “best youth group games” – and so the post got titled “Top 20 All-Time Best Youth Group Games.” Okay – so they may not be the ALL-TIME best games, but…a little language like that doesn’t hurt you with Google and with folks looking for good games. It’s consistently been one of my most-viewed posts ever. This post is two years old, which is significant for my next example.
iPad Apps
A few weeks ago, everyone started getting the iPad 2, including a lot of my friends. So, I was getting a lot of requests from friends for App recommendations for their new iPads. Instead of telling everyone the same thing multiple times, I decided to write a quick post about it. But, I also realized that MANY people would be getting new iPads around the same time, and many people would be searching for app recommendations. So, that’s why I titled the post “Top 10 Must Have iPad Apps.” Now, there are a lot of similarly titled posts, but it’s still done very well in hits. As you can see from the stats above, in the past week, my youth group games post (which has been around for 2+ years) has received 842 views while my 2 week old post on iPad apps got 451 views. Obviously, it’s a timely post, but it’s getting a lot more than if I had titled it “Some iPad App Recommendations” or something lame like that.
#LoveWins
And finally, my review of Rob Bell’s book, Love Wins, is also doing quite well. And obviously that’s because of the controversy surrounding the book. So if you are looking to get some exposure or hits, writing about current controversies or timely topics is also one way to do it.
So, the next time you’re about ready to click the PUBLISH button on your blog post, look at that post title. Think if it’s really conveying an enticing hook for your readers, and if you think it will be one that will help pull in some traffic from Google.
I agree that having a title that “pops” is key.
The post of mine that has the most legs was a semi-snarky musing about an Jesus-ish outfit that teaches “Supernatural Ministry” in CA. It just keeps crankin’ out the eyeballs, day after day, month after month, year after year. Interestingly, the title makes no mention of the school itself…most of the search engine traffic seems tag/label driven. In your experience, are titles more efficacious in search engine tastiness than tags or labels? Or some combo of the both? Might that vary by platform?
The other piece that seems to drive traffic…particularly the traffic on time-sensitive posts…is social media push. When one post sees in the multiple hundreds of views in a 24 hour period, I find that’s nearly always social media driven. There, title works, but may be subordinate to content.
Thanks for this, Adam. I do want to note one issue, though. I feel like sometimes going for a title that will do well in google might not actually get people to read, or vice versa. (e.g. “Jello-Confessions” and “What would Jesus wear to prom?” got a lot of hits, but not b/c of google. People were interested in what the title was about.) That said, I definitely need to think more like google/adamwc. Thanks!