Titles have a very important place in search engine optimisation. They’re one of the first things the search engine spiders come across. They jump out at your site’s users, drawing them further into your site. They come first when they’re being used on your site, and they should come first when it comes to content creation.

Titles require planning and more than a little creativity, which is why most writers leave them to last. When it comes to your site’s content, titles should come first for a number of reasons.

Titles are the promise

All titles need to have something in them that attracts readers. On the net, this is usually called the promise. Often, the promise in the title is literal: ‘Give me ten minutes and I’ll make you a millionaire’. In most cases, it’s a little more subtle, but it’s always there.

The relationship between title and content is of a promise made and delivered upon. When the title is created after the content is written, this relationship is less than clear. The content often tends to wander into several sidelines. Content that has been written with a very specific promise in mind tends to get right to the point, delivering on the promise before any of the sidelines are explored. The same ideas might be covered in the piece, but the value for the user stands out more strongly.

Keywords in titles

A second, and no less important, reason for planning your titles first is your keywords. Your keywords need to flow into your titles, and this takes work. When titles are crafted after the fact, keywords tend to be shoved in any old way. Again, the problem is with the title trying to fit the content, rather than the content flowing on from the title. A strong title, with strong keyword placement, can actually produce a stronger piece of content. It draws the writer’s mind back to the subject again and again.

Titles should be home-grown

Many businesses source their content from professional writers or their SEO company. This can take a lot of pressure off, particularly if your content plan requires fresh content every day. It is advisable, however, to work with your SEO consultant on your titles, sometimes even before the content is written. This guarantees that your keywords are in prominent positions on your pages. If you’re using your SEO company to source content, this is less of a concern. You can talk to us at SEO Consult about content planning.

Use your titles to sell your content

One principle of advertising copywriting is that each line should be used to sell the next. The first sentence of a piece should encourage the reader to read the second, the second line should draw the reader on to the third, and so on until the reader is too committed to give up. The title is at the top of this hierarchy and without the investment of time has a lot more pressure to perform. Invest your time in crafting good titles.

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