Expand Your Article Titles
Tip: Expand your article titles by 35-40%.
One constant theme in my article writing & marketing coaching is to always be expanding your article title length so that you make it easier for people who are searching for your articles to find them… ie: Expanding your article title gives you more ‘hooks’ into your target article reader.
However, there’s a right and wrong way to expand your article titles. Last year in our Alternative Health section, there was a string of calcium articles that I’m going to use to illustrate right and wrong ways to expand your article title length.
Here’s our list of 15 articles for the discussion:
- Liquid Natural Source Elemental Calcium – Learn about the Liquid Natural Source
- Calcium Intake Pregnancy – The Benefits of Sufficient Calcium Intake and Pregnancy
- Symptoms of Low Serum Calcium – What are the Dangers and Symptoms of Low Serum Calcium
- Food Source for Calcium – What is the Most Beneficial and Healthful Food Source for Calcium
- Calcium Citrate with Vitamin D – What is the Source of Getting Calcium Citrate with Vitamin D?
- Calcium Supplements and Bone Health – The Benefits of Calcium Supplements and Bone Health
- Calcium Absorption and Diet Soda – Does Diet Soda Affect Calcium Absorption?
- Good Source of Calcium – Almonds – Are Almonds a Good Source of Calcium?
- Best Calcium Source – Is it Safe to Say that Calcium Supplements are the Best Calcium Source?
- Soft Chewable Calcium Tablets – Are They Effective?
- Marine Grade Okinawa Coral Calcium – Better Than Other Grades of Coral Calcium?
- High Calcium Weight Loss Diet – How to Make a High Calcium Weight Loss Diet Plan
- Fiber and Calcium for Weight Loss – How Beneficial Are Fiber and Calcium for Weight Loss?
- Benefits of Liquid Calcium – Learn about Some of the Benefits of Liquid Calcium
- Vitamin D with Calcium – What is the Advantage of Taking Vitamin D with Calcium?
Do you notice any patterns?
This author (whom I’ve asked permission to use as an example for today’s blog post) seems to believe that the first 2-3 words in the article title are critically important. Heck, it’s a concept that I taught years ago and still think today that the first few words of the article title are very important… BUT, to include the exact same keyword phrase a 2nd time in the article title loses the naturalness of the intent and hence, feels forced.
Article Title Tip: If you are going to make the first 2-4 words very keyword dense in your article title, do not repeat the keywords a 2nd time in your title.
Now, how can this author recover from this or what should he have done?
Using a boxing analogy, he should have executed a right and a left hook rather than only two left or two right hooks!
Example: Your article title includes TWO highly related keyword phrases, one primary and one secondary in importance while you still maintain an ENGLISH LANGUAGE friendly looking title.
Article Title Tip: If you look at your own article title and think it’s keyword spammy, it is. Better to write an article title that is at least 60-80% in natural English language and 20-40% keyword intelligent (rather than the other way around!).
In this authors defense, article #10 is unlike the other 15 in that it doesn’t double-dip on repetitive keywords.
Your thoughts on this?
Chris,
Thanks for the help. I am just learning this whole article marketing thing and these kinds of tips are awesome!
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