Did you know that 80% of readers focus all their attention only on the title? Here is our guide, based on the most recent studies.
The Title Anticipates What We Are Going to Read
The title presents the content of your article in very few words and therefore it must be as intriguing as a slogan in a commercial. Depending on whether it captures our attention or not, it makes us decide if it is worthwhile to read the whole text and learn more about that specific topic.
It Helps the Users Find Their Way Around the Web
Nowadays, users who surf the net are looking for well-defined information and answers that they need at that precise moment. They therefore have a goal and generally little time to devote to every single article they find. The title will make them understand if your text is what they need!
A Reasoned Title Improves the Search Engine Positioning of Your Article
This is a very important factor: Google and the other search engines detect first of all the words contained in the title and only secondly those contained in the text. The title thus has the function of helping the indexing of the content on the web. Therefore if the title contains the keywords that, in all probability, readers will use for their online searches, the article will appear more visible and better positioned among the results that appear.
Try to think: "What would I search?" Here you go, this is the first step to select the right keywords for your content!
THE STRUCTURE OF THE CONTENT IS JUST AS IMPORTANT
The Role of Subtitles Is to Make Your Article More Readable and Clear
The structure of a written content is fundamental for its understanding and accessibility. Subtitles are the most practical tool to structure your texts.
Even reading only the subtitles I have to be able to understand what the whole article is about.
In fact, in a well thought out and well structured article, the title and the subtitles help the readers to immediately create a mental scheme in which to file all the information they are receiving. Thanks to a well-organized structure, the message we want to convey will be clearer.
Arrange the Text to Re-Arrange Your Ideas
The writer must have clear thoughts to express them to the reader in an effective way. The title, as well as the subtitles, are important especially for those who write, because they help to rearrange ideas and concepts and to stay on topic. If you are not able to assign a title or subtitle to a paragraph, it may mean that the content there is too poor, or laden with too many concepts or simply confused.
7 Quick tips 😕👎👉??
1-The title must be the essence of the article and summarise its meaning.
2-Place the most important and interesting words at the beginning. Statistically, the reader sees the first 2-3 words better. Example: "From now on specialist visits can be booked online" is less valid than "Specialist visits: bookable online today".
3-The title must be short (30-70 characters including spaces) and have a complete meaning. You must be able to read it at a glance and immediately get the message. Furthermore, if it is too long, it is not going to be shown fully on the page of the search engine results. The title of this article has 70 characters and tells us everything we need.
4-The title doesn't have to say everything, it's a preview. But it doesn't even have to be too concise and telegraphic. If I write only "Notice", "Communication" I am not providing any useful information and search engines may not recognize it as a title.
5-Do not waste any keyword, because keywords are an important resource: Do not repeat in the subtitle the words that are already present in the title. The interest in the content must increase, not decrease.
6-Re-read the title several times to understand if it contains superfluous words that can be eliminated (trivial ideas, reinforcing words, repeated concepts). For example: "The New Forms to Enroll to Municipal Preschools Year 2019/2020 Are Now Available" can be more effectively summarised with: "Preschool Enrollment: New Forms Available".
7-Choose the title after you have finished writing the article and not before. If you choose the headline first, it may happen that in the course of writing the content takes a different direction from what you initially thought, making the title no longer relevant.