How do you write a catchy blog post title?

A blog post title affects how your readers will remember what you have written. It’s an essential element of every post, and it can make or break its performance. If you’re new to blogging and would like to know more, then this guide is for you.

We’ll teach you the six main types of blog post titles to help you choose the right one for each situation and 13 best practices and tips on writing catchy titles that rank well in search engines.

Where are blog post titles shown?

Blog post titles are shown in search engine results, social media shares, links, and archives. A well-written blog post title can help readers to find your blog more easily on the vastness of the web. This is important because it can lead to increased traffic and engagement with your blog.

What is the ideal blog post title length?

A title’s length should be around 50-60 characters for a few reasons. First, this length keeps it easy to read and understand. Second, it’s the ideal length for social media sharing. And lastly, it helps your title stand out in search results.

Six types of blog post titles

Listicle blog post titles: When to use and examples

Listicles are a type of blog post that uses a list as its thematic structure. They are extremely popular and have excellent click-through rates. Listicles offer readers a sense of how long the article will be, and they are easy to read and understand.

The number of items in the list should be in the title, and the title should be catchy. The title can also be odd to create a sense of surprise.

Here are some examples of listicle-type blog post titles from Flair Interactive:

“How to” blog post titles: Examples, benefits, and tips

With tutorials that provide a specific goal or outcome, how-to posts are an excellent way to help people. How-to posts are easy to follow and understand, making them ideal for achieving specific objectives.

Example of “how to” blog post titles:

1. How to Write a Blog Post Fast: 11 Tips to Write Blog Content Under 30 Minutes
2. How to Write a Travel Blog: Tips, Tricks, and Examples for Travel Bloggers
3. How to Write a Blog Post Outline [Steps + Examples/Templates + Tools]

Blog post titles with questions such as where what, and why: When to use and examples

Question-based blog post titles focus on what readers are asking in search engines. Where what, and why articles are all popular types of blog posts that aim to answer each question.

Question-type blog post titles may include examples to help readers understand the topic. Question-type blog post titles may also include reasons behind why a particular topic is being covered. Keep in mind that titles should be questions that offer an enticing solution, will keep readers reading, and offer a valid reason to keep reading.

Examples of question-type blog post titles:

1. What Is NLP and How Does It Affect SEO?
2. What Is E-A-T in SEO? How Are Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness Evaluated?

“Common mistakes and errors” blog post titles: When to use and examples

When creating blog post titles, consider focusing on typical mistakes and errors. This can help increase click-through rates, as readers will be drawn to the article in hopes of uncovering their own mistakes.

Be sure to use well-formed and easy-to-read short passages to keep the reader’s attention. Use words such as “mistakes,” “errors,” or “problems” in the title for added emphasis.

“Ultimate guide” blog post titles: When to use and examples

When you want to include a lot of highly technical information in your blog post, an ultimate guide-type title can let readers know what to expect. These titles are usually long and descriptive, and they often promise lists or step-by-step instructions.

If you’re writing a post that you think will be particularly helpful or informative, consider using an ultimate guide-type title to let readers know what to expect.

For example:

1. How to Write a Blog Post: The Ultimate 17-Step Guide for Successfully Writing
2. How to Write a Blog for Money: The Ultimate Guide for Starting a Profitable Blog

Comparison or versus-type blog post titles: When to use and examples

Comparison or versus-style blog post titles quickly and simply announce that you’re comparing two items. The title should reflect the information inside the article so that readers know what to expect before they even read it.

Some good examples of versus-style titles are “Apple iPhone 6 vs. Samsung Galaxy S6” or “McDonald’s vs Burger King.”

How to create catchy blog post titles that get clicks

Use superlative words in the title

If you want to make your blog post titles more catchy and interesting, consider using superlatives. Superlative words are adjectives that denote the highest degree of something. For example, if you’re writing a blog post about the best ways to relax, then you could use the superlative word “best” in your title. This makes your title more eye-catching and likely to get clicks.

Some superlative words most bloggers use in their blog post titles are:

1. Most
2. Top
3. Cheapest
4. Fastest
5. Tallest
6. Best

Use controversy in the title

Controversy and surprise can grab attention for your blog post titles. By asking a moral question or making an assertion that goes against what people believe, you can create a sense of urgency that will make people want to read your content. Just be sure to back up your claims with well-formed and easy-to-read explanations so that you don’t lose your readers’ trust.

Here are examples of controversial post titles that generated thousands of clicks:

1. How to Quit Your Job, Move to Paradise and Get Paid to Change the World â€“ Jon Morrow
2. How Spending $162,301.42 on Clothes Made Me $692,500 â€“ Neil Patel
3. How I’m Going to Lose All My Customers And Wreck My Business â€“ Tim Brownson

Use numbers in the title for clarity

If you want your blog posts to be clicked on and read, using numbers in your titles is a great idea. Numbers help readers see the evidence for what you are saying, and they make a more definitive statement.

Readers will trust the content more if they see numbers in the title, and they will usually be compelled to read further.

Here are some examples from Problogger:

Properly capitalize the title

When creating blog post titles, it is important to use capital letters on all nouns, verbs, pronouns, and adverbs. This practice is commonly followed and helps make the title more readable. You can use online tools such as Title Case Converter to do this automatically.

Some examples of title capitalization include:

1. Who Else Wants the 6 Steps to Master A/B Split Testing?
2. How to Plan a Local SEO Strategy to Improve Business in Your Town

Title case can help emphasize the most important words in your title, even when they’re not at the beginning.

Use brackets in the title

Blog post titles are more likely to be clicked if they are well-formed and easy to read. Brackets can be used to provide extra information or clarification in blog post titles, which can help increase click-through rates by 38%.

Example:

1. How to Write a Blog Post Outline [Steps + Examples/Templates + Tools]
2. 16 Tips on How to Write SEO-Friendly Blog Posts (Including a Checklist)

When creating blog post titles, use titles that are relevant to your blog post topic to improve your chances of being found by search engines, and use brackets to show that you’re including something extra.

Use the exact keyword in the title

If you want to get more traffic from search engines, it’s important to include a primary or secondary keyword in the title of your blog posts. This can trigger search engines to index your post for that keyword.

Additionally, try to keep your keyword near the beginning of the title. You can add the year to the end of the title to show that it is currently relevant. Using short-tail or long-tail primary keywords will also help your post get indexed by search engines. Finally, remember that titles for blog posts should be both keyword-rich and catchy in order to draw readers in.

Ask a question in the title

Putting questions in your blog post titles is an effective way to get readers to click through and read the full article. By asking questions, you can create a sense of curiosity in your readers that will make them want more.

To ask effective questions, make them open-ended and relevant to your topic. Keep your titles short and clear, and write in a conversational tone to create a connection with your readers.

Example:

1. What Is NLP and How Does It Affect SEO?
2. What Is SEO Data and How Can You Use It To Improve Your Rankings?

Make it obvious

Your blog post’s title is important because it’s one of the first things people will see on your page. A catchy and attention-grabbing title will make people want to click on your post, while a vague and uninteresting title will make them move on to something else.

When writing your titles, focus on being specific and avoiding ambiguity. Be clear about what your post is about and why readers should care. If you can, include keywords that people might search for when looking for a post like yours. And finally, make sure your title is easy to read – avoid long or complicated sentence structures.

By following these tips, you can write blog post titles that are both informative and clickable, ensuring that more people will read your work.

Study competing for web pages and craft a better working title

A great way to improve your titles is to study the titles of your competitors. Use the Outranking AI SERP analysis tool to look at the top pages in your niche and see what kind of titles they have. If they all have similar titles, it’s because they offer similar value to users. Take inspiration from these and craft better ones for your own pages.

Make sure your titles are easy to read and try to offer something better to your users. With a little effort, you can improve upon the titles of your competitors and draw more traffic to your pages.

Avoid clickbait clichés when writing blog post titles

Clickbait refers to titles that make exaggerated claims or play up the element of shock in order to get people to click. These titles often result in annoyed readers who don’t return to the site. Clickbait involves shocking or surprising readers with headlines that don’t match the content of the article.

Here are a few examples:

Clickbait headlines often overstate the benefits of the article, making it difficult for readers to trust it. Clickbait is a form of advertising that exploits people’s emotions. To avoid producing clickbait, choose titles that are accurate and specific, without making exaggerated claims.

Write a title that evokes emotions and curiosity with target keywords

Your title should briefly describe what readers can expect from your blog post. Use good adjectives that evoke surprise or interest to make your title emotional and catchy, but make sure your article delivers on these promises. Be creative and think outside the box to get more clicks from your readers.

For example:

1. 7 Free Tools To Grow Your Instagram followers
2. 10 Secrets of Affiliate Marketing Revealed

Some emotional words to include in your titles are:

1. Free
2. Proven
3. Secrets
4. Easy
5. New

Write titles with attention-grabbing research statistics

Your blog post titles are more authoritative and fact-based if you include statistics. Make sure your numbers are relevant and backed up with evidence.

Keep your titles catchy and informative by using data to support your claims, but still keep them concise enough to keep readers engaged.

Write SEO-optimized titles or blog article headlines

Your blog post’s title is one of the most important aspects of SEO. So, how to optimize a blog post title? To ensure your post is properly optimized, make sure to include your target keyword in the title. This will help signal to search engines that your blog is relevant to that keyword.

Try to include the keyword as early in the title as possible. Additionally, make sure your titles flow well; avoid using awkward phrasing. The best way to ensure your titles tick all items in an SEO checklist is to use the Outranking SEO title generation workflow.

How to generate blog post title ideas using Outranking

Outranking is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to help you write SEO-optimized blog post titles. It does this by analyzing the top 20 sites on the SERPs and then providing you with a list of the best possible titles for your blog post. This can help you to ensure that your blog post ranks on search engines and catches the attention of potential readers.

Outranking can help you come up with ideas for your blog post titles. It allows you to input a list of keywords and then generates a list of related terms. You can then use these terms to come up with catchy and attention-grabbing headlines for your blog posts.

Here is an example of how to use Outranking to generate a title for your blog posts:

Outranking is a great tool for generating blog post ideas because it uses SERP data to identify potential topics. Outranking’s topic clustering tool, called Strategist, is helpful for grouping similar topics together so you can easily find relevant ideas for your blog posts.

The internal linking feature in Outranking allows you to click through to other pages with more in-depth information about the target keywords and competition.

Conclusion

A catchy blog post title is one of the most important elements of a successful blog post. If your title doesn’t interest or engage the reader, they are unlikely to continue on and read your content. In order to write titles that rank high in search engines, you need to follow the best practices and use tools like Outranking AI SEO.

FAQs

What makes a great blog post title?

A great blog post title is clear, concise, and not confusing or vague. It should be easy to understand what the article is about, just by reading the title. Additionally, a great title includes a keyword and emotive words that appeal to people’s curiosity, create a sense of excitement, or otherwise entice the reader to click through and read the article.

How do writers of blogs write creative titles?

In order to write catchy and creative blog post titles, you need to come up with an original idea. Once you have the idea, you need to expand on it and come up with a couple of different title templates that can be used for your blog post. Finally, you need to choose the best title and use it for your blog post.

Can writing the best titles for my blog posts help me rank?

Yes, writing the best blog post titles for your blog post can help you rank. In order to write a catchy blog post title, you’ll want to use words that describe the topic of your blog post. You’ll also want to avoid ambiguity in your titles so that users know what they’re getting into when they click on them. Finally, it’s important to write your blog post title before you write your blog post so that you can define the value proposition and make sure it is connected to the content.

What is the ideal length of post or page titles for bloggers?

Bloggers should aim to keep their posts and page titles between 70-140 characters, including spaces. This will make them easy to read on social media platforms and help avoid truncation. Titles that are too long or too short can be annoying to readers, so it is important to find the sweet spot.

Is AI useful for creating blog post titles?

There is no doubt that creating catchy blog post titles is essential for getting your content seen. However, doing this can be difficult and time-consuming. Outranking uses AI to help you create SEO-optimized blog post titles that rank on SERPs. This tool can help you to find and select the best title for your blog post, ensuring that it is optimized for search engine visibility.

Is there a tool for testing blog post titles for success?

The Outranking AI SEO title generation tool can help you test the potential success of your blog post titles. This tool examines how well your post could rank in relation to other posts on the same topic and across related keywords. It is important to use a tool like this to ensure that you are optimizing your titles for search engine visibility.

Does creating a catchy blog post title increase the click-through rate (CTR)?

Yes, catchy blog post titles can increase your CTR. A catchy phrase will be more likely to engage readers and spark their interest, which in turn leads to increased clicks and conversions. There are a number of factors that contribute to the success of a blog post, but one of the most important is the title. Craft a catchy headline that resonates with your audience to increase your CTR and get more people to read your content.