SEO titles and descriptions to attract customers

How to create better SEO titles and meta descriptions?

1. What is an SEO title?
2. Titles for SEO: 13 best practices –Numbers –Dates –Length –Synonyms and variants –Call to actions –Search console –Questions –Format + Hook + Content type + Subject –Parentheses or brackets –Depth –Speed –Search intent –Long-tail –Additional Recommendations
3. Meta description optimized for Google: How to write?
4. Title and meta description checker for SEO
5. Resume (PDF)

What is an SEO title?

An SEO title is a set of words (about 60 characters) that summarizes the content of a particular web page.   The SEO title is the one that is displayed in Google results. Therefore, it gives you the opportunity to draw the user’s attention so that they prefer your site over any other positioned in the search engine.

Using attractive SEO titles is one of the tricks to improve your click-through rate (CTR). What is the CTR?

The percentage of clicks you receive with respect to the number of times one of your pages is seen in Google results. What does this mean? Every time a person does a search, Google returns thousands of results. If a person saw your website from the outside, but did not click on it, that means you had an impression. Due to this, it is normal that you accumulate many more impressions than clicks. To give you an idea, a CTR of 1% is considered good. In other words: If out of every 100 people who see your site, one clicks on it, it means that, at least, you are doing it right. You can read more about SEO metrics and analytics here: SEO Metrics: What tools to use and what stats matter?

However: How to improve your click-through rate ? How to increase your clicks? How to get more people to visit your website? In Search Engine Land they put an example of how they achieved: -Raise a CTR from 1% to 4.19% (extremely high). -Increase the position of that article on the first page of Google from position 8 to position 5. -Receive 97.3% more traffic in three months. What did they do to get it? They simply modified a title in the following way:  From:

“Guerrilla Marketing: 20+ Examples and Strategies to Stand Out” ( “Guerrilla Marketing: +20 Examples and Strategies to Stand Out” )

A:

“20+ Jaw-Dropping Guerrilla Marketing Examples” (“ +20 Guerrilla Marketing Examples That Will Blow Your Mind” )

In this text we will teach you how to obtain similar results.

What is the SEO title and what is the title of a web page? (Example)

In case there is any doubt about it, it is worth reviewing that the SEO title (or title tag ) refers to the heading that we see in Google results. While the title of a web page (or H1) is the one that we see inside the portal once we click from the search engine.

Titles for SEO: 13 best practices to position

Numbers: 

“ 5 keys to elevate your personal branding” “How to increase your visits 50%?”

On the Google results page, titles containing numbers tend to receive a higher click-through rate. Why is this happening? Because of a cognitive bias : our brain is attracted to things that stand out and are specific, like numbers. When scanning the Google results page, titles with lists or percentages catch our attention because our mind quickly determines what it will find once we click on that website.

Dates:

“Best Marketing Strategies in 2019”

Dates contain numbers, so what we wrote in the previous point also counts for this one. In addition, the user wants to know, from the outset, whether the content to be read is up to date or not. Google also rewards this: the freshness of a text is one of the factors of success in the search engine .

Length:

“¿What tools to use to measure the success of your SEO campaigns on Google and what statistics are important?” vs. “SEO Metrics: Which tools to use and which stats matter?“

Be careful not to use more characters than recommended. In this Moz app you can test your title tag before publishing it.

If your title does not look good on the Google results page, if it is cut off, it is very likely that your CTR will drop. 50-60 characters is considered the ideal length. Try to use, within that measure, the most important keywords: the words with which your potential customers are searching for your products or services. The more relevant the word, the closer to the beginning of the title it should be.

Synonyms and variants:

“¿How much does it cost to position your website on Goolge? Prices  y SEO fees”

If you want your content to appear more times on the Google results page, a good practice is to build titles that contain several keywords related to the same topic. In this way, you will attract more users who want to know more about the same topic, but who use different terms to make the same query. If you rank for more keywords, you are likely to rack up more traffic. Beware: Google does not stop optimizing itself. Soon this practice will be obsolete because the search engine is moving from being focused on words, to focusing on topics. Also, with semantic searches , context is becoming more and more important. With Hummingbird they had already taken an important step in this aspect and they will continue to improve. In the example above, we at Pencil are attracting people who want to know the same thing, but who are looking for it in three different ways: How much it costs + Pricing + Fees. This is a point that not only serves for the title, but also for the text of the article itself.

Call to actions:

“Download template”

“Watch video”

“Learns fast”

The titles that contain verbs and that invite the user to do something, encourage the click. The user also knows what benefits will be obtained after clicking on that link. When you use action words like buy, download, listen, watch, learn and access, you create an emotion in the person because you let them know that there is something more behind the title: “Oh, here I am going to be able to download something”.

Search console:

“Price of positioning in Google” vs. “How much does SEO positioning cost?”

One of the best practices to improve the CTR of your articles is to go to Search Console and see how they are currently finding you. It is very likely that you have optimized your article for certain keywords, but it turns out that users are coming to you for queries that contain other terms. What you have to do, then, is use those new terms in your title to draw many more people to your content.

Questions:

“How to write the perfect SEO article?”

“What is SEO On Page?”

Questions create curiosity. Therefore, they are a good choice for title tags . Also, by using them in your title you get closer to the featured snippets (Google’s zero position), so you can receive much more traffic and improve your brand awareness . However, there are studies that indicate that the questions are behind the titles that have a) numbers; b) that are addressed to the reader or c) those that promise an explanation of how to do something ( how to ).

Format + Emotional Hook + Content Type + Theme:

“4 Incredible Strategies to Dominate Google (Infographic)”

This is a formula recommended (and tested) by the folks at Search Engine Land . According to them, the articles with the most engagement on the Internet use this template:

Human beings are emotional creatures, therefore the titles that move something inside us are going to attract much more attention. For example, which one would you click? :

Added to that, our brain is always looking for some kind of benefit. That is why knowing exactly what we will get after clicking on a link is so important to us. Search Engine Land also recommends writing your title from a character’s perspective: -Hero or villain. -Comedian. -Dude. -Bearer of bad news. Humans are also storytellers and, furthermore, we love being part of them.

Parentheses or brackets :

“ What is Organic SEO and how is it done? (+Templates) ”

Brian Dean, one of the great SEO voices in the world, recommends this practice. Take the following as an example: Which one would you click? Digital Marketing Agency in Boston (More than 580 clients served). Digital Marketing Agency in Boston. The answer is obvious. There are many options you can use to add information inside parentheses: Here are a few that Dean recommends: [ 25% discount] (Updated) [Infographic] (And why is it so important) [New Research] (Case study) [Interview] (New guide) [+Checklist] (with examples) [Video] (Recommended by X customers) [Visual Guide] (Free of charge) [Template]

Depth:

“How to prepare a perfect hamburger? Complete step-by-step guide »

Long content isn’t for everyone, and on Google, sometimes you want to find a quick answer and not a 152-page PDF. But the calm works, the texts that contain all the answers and that are made with the hands of an artisan have their legion of fans and it is a type of content that, as we have seen, Google loves. So, if you dedicated yourself to making content of this style, let it be known in the title with words like: -Complete guide. -Step by Step. -Definitive study.

Speed:

“ How to do a keyword research? (2 easy methods + tools) “

Unlike the previous point, there are users who love speed (or moments that require it). The same topic can be treated in various ways. If your intention was to simplify an issue and give the answer as concisely as possible, make it known in the title with words like: -Fast. -Simple. -Brief. -In 5 minutes.

Search intent:

SEO budget: Influencing factors (+ example )

Remember from the beginning of this article: always align your headline with user intent. What is he looking for? What do you want to solve? What would you click? How can I help you?

Long-tail:

“The best white shirts” vs. “ The best white shirts with blue buttons (size S) “

SEO is like politics, it’s like Monopoly, it’s like Risk. You can’t go right off the bat to conquer large territories without first having dominated small portions of terrain. Little by little, you must add flags in different areas before assaulting the top, the palace, the trophy. That’s what it’s all about when we talk about long-tail keywords. What is a long-tail strategy? It consists of analyzing the search volume in a certain sector and industry and targeting those words that are at the bottom of the graph. That is, those words or phrases that have the fewest number of queries. Why are we doing this? Because in those words or phrases there is less competition and it is easier to rank. In this way, you are much more likely to reach the first page of Google and gain authority in the industry. The key is to conquer small territories until, after months or years, you realize that you already dominate the market in the online world. Another advantage of the long-tail strategy is that in these phrases there is usually a greater probability of purchase. Why? Because the more specific a search is, the more likely a person is in the final stage of their purchase decision. One first looks for shoes and researches the market. Then he decides on the color black and looks for black shoes. Then he finds out about the brands and decides that he wants some Adidas. If someone searches for “adidas black shoes” they are much more likely to want to buy. If you search for “shoes” only, you are probably just looking for information. So, at first, aim for long-tail keywords. Dominate those niches and then go for the phrases with the highest search volume.

Additional recommendations:

– Keep it natural . Keep it natural. With all these tips, you have a lot to choose from when writing your headline. Don’t try to use all the tools at the same time. See which one best suits the case and produce a title that is both aesthetic and friendly. -Neil Patel, among others, recommends entering your topic into BuzzSumo and seeing what content is being shared the most, to determine what approach to use for your article and how you might headline it. Buzzfeed and UpWorthy can also get ideas, but don’t go down the clickbait route . -The title tag is a good place to create brand awareness . If your articles appear thousands of times a day on Google, why not take advantage of that to take your brand to more places? On the other hand, if you are a well-known company, having your company name in the title will help you attract more visitors.

How to make an SEO meta description? (Examples)

Although meta descriptions are not a factor that Google directly considers when positioning websites, they play a fundamental role for the following: After the titles, the meta descriptions are your second chance to gain the reader’s attention and get them to click on your content above all the others that are on the Google results page. They work like a mini billboard. Therefore, if you manage to attract more people to your website thanks to what you write there, Google will take notice and, over time, will rank you up because they consider your content to be valuable. The same principles learned for headlines apply to writing good meta descriptions. Keep in mind that if you put keywords in the meta description, they will be bolded when a user does a search that contains them. Examples:

Don’t worry if Google sometimes changes your meta description. The search engine usually does that when it considers that there is a better option.

Title and meta description checker for SEO

How many characters should page titles and descriptions have? Titles : between 30 and 65 characters. Descriptions : between 70 and 155 characters. To check if your SEO titles and descriptions meet the appropriate length, you can use the following tools: 

1. Title Tag Preview Tool by Moz : Enter your phrase in the box and see how it would look on the Google results page. 
2. Screaming Frog : Download the app and check the length of all your titles and meta descriptions.
3. Yoast SEO : Add this plugin to your website and find out if you have the right number of characters.