Ep 061 - Crafting Titles That Get Found & Clicked
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Welcome to SEO Day Studio with your hosts, the Findability Queen, Denise Millet, and the entrepreneur whisperer, Kim White. This is a space to hear the questions that fellow entrepreneurs have about SEO and get them answered. So many discussions involving techy topics like SEO are loaded with jargon and unnecessary complexity, so much so that anyone outside the tech industry has difficulty getting to the real meaning inside the information.
Denise believes that every entrepreneur can benefit from search engines once they hear how they work in a clear and straightforward way. She is on a mission to help entrepreneurs get the content they spend hours creating included in search engines, so when their customers search online, they're findable.
Because she believes if they can't find you, they can't do business with you. So stay tuned. The fun starts now
Welcome back to the SEO Day podcast, where we help later in life entrepreneurs like us who are learning to get found online, and they're trying to keep from burning out. If that's you, you're in the right place. So I'm Kim White, and I am here with your SEO guide and findability queen, Denise Millet.
Hey, Kim.
Thank you so much for being here with me. I love that we get to do this together. It's one of my highlights.
Me too. One of my favorite days of the week is Tuesdays, which is when the podcast drops. So y'all follow the show and make Tuesdays your SEO day with us. But we are changing the format of the show, not the day, but just the format a little, and doing our best to group questions in themes.
And I have not been fired as the official mailbag keeper, but I have been promoted to the director of themes. So if you all notice a little difference in the show, it's intentional. So today we are talking about one of the smallest pieces of your content that has an outsized, huge impact, your titles.
Blog titles, podcast titles, video titles, product titles. They're often the first and only thing someone sees before deciding to click or scroll. So Denise, before I start peppering you with questions as always, why are titles such a big deal for both SEO and real humans?
Well, as you said, titles matter because they're your first impression- Mm-hmm
in search, especially on social and even in email inboxes. From an SEO perspective, a strong title tells search engines what the page is about and helps match your content to the right searches that people make. By getting it read properly and categorized in the library properly, then when people ask for things, you can be a solution, right?
From a human perspective, a strong title grabs attention in a calm, clear way and helps people quickly decide, "This is for me," or, "This isn't for me." So when you improve your titles, you're not just chasing clicks, you're not trying to get attention, you're connecting to the right people with your content.
So cute might work for insiders, but findable works for both strangers and fans.
Exactly. And SEO is mostly about helping strangers find you.
Well, question one for the show today. What are the key differences between a cute title and a findable title in search? I love this question.
Okay. A cute title is often vague, clever, or it's built on,an inside joke, pop culture reference that not everybody might have.
For example, here's one. Spaghetti brain and business growth might be fun if your audience already knows you, right? But if a stranger sees that in a search engine, they have no idea what problem it solves. A findable title is clear about the topic and connected to a real question or problem, and uses words your audience is using in search.
So instead of spaghetti brain and business growth, you might say feeling scattered? How to focus your marketing as a solo entrepreneur. Mm-hmm. Right? The second title tells both the search engine and the human who it's for, the solo entrepreneur, what it's about, focus your marketing, and how they might feel scattered, which is their pain point, their problem, right?
The question is never is this clever. It's would someone who doesn't know me yet instantly understand what this is about. Oh. So cute, cute might win a smile, right? But that's not what we're looking for. Sorry.
So cute might win a smile, but clear and findable wins the click. Is that what you're saying, Denise?
Especially from people who don't know you yet.
Exactly.
Well, question number two. Where should my main keyword appear in my title for the strongest SEO impact?
Well, the short answer is as early as you can place it without it sounding awkward So first lead with the main idea. If the post is about SEO tips for life coaches, try starting with that phrase or a variation of it, five tips or, the main, the biggest tip, or something like SEO tips for life coaches, five ways to get found by dream clients.
Mm-hmm. So try leading with it. Second, you have to use natural language. You don't miss the short words. Don't twist the title into something robotic just to get more words in there, or more keywords. You might soften it with a how to or a, like a benefit, like how, let's say, life coaches can use simple tips to get found online.
So you make it softer. It's , who it's for, but simple makes it softer. Third, don't bury the topic at the end. Five ways to grow your business with online visibility, traffic, and SEO is a bit long, right? SEO's at the end. Visibility and traffic's at the end. That's not what somebody's gonna see in search.
The core phrase has to be closer to the front. So you would say, five simple SEO tips to grow your coaching business online. the front half of the title in plain language clearly describing the topic.
So the closer to the front while still sounding human, the better?
Yes. Lead with clarity, then add the color to it.
And read it out loud. As we said before a million times, read it out loud to yourself.
I love that advice. Well, question number three is how long should my titles be for blogs, podcasts, and products so they still look good in search results?
Okay. before I go, specific, okay, let me just say something. That most places don't restrict you. search engines don't say, "Don't give me more than this." But they only display a certain amount of it. So if you have a huge, long title and that's what you want it to be and you create it, you could do that.
But when you look at a search page, you know there's only a certain amount that shows, so you're trying to get the important stuff there, right? But let- from specifics, so let's talk about what people read. Around, for a blog post, like around 50 to 60 characters is a good sweet spot. Long enough to be descriptive, short enough not to get, badly cut off.
podcast episodes you can stretch a bit more, but still keep the core idea in the first half. Don't waste characters on episode number 21. That's kind of a waste. or saying interview when all of your podcast episodes are interviews. don't waste your characters at the beginning on repetitive things.
Think of it as a clear topic, and then, a short hook at the end maybe. for products or offers, shorter and sharper is always better. Always. Not usually, always. three to seven words is enough, because it's something somebody can remember. If you give them a huge, long thing, so DIY SEO starter workshop, or findability review for your website, those are short enough that somebody's gonna read that and say, "I understand what it is and I can remember that."
Don't count characters obsessively, but if your title feels like a full paragraph, it's probably too long. It's just one vague word. If it's one word, then it's too short, so somewhere in the middle.
So we want the headline on the book cover, not the entire back cover blurb.
Oh, exactly. Enough to say what it is, why it matters, not your whole life story.
I love it. Well, Denise, let's head over to a word from our sponsor for today.
This episode is brought to you by the Findability Queen, Denise Millet. Visit her YouTube channel, youtube.com/@findabilityqueen, for her collection of short videos answering questions about findability and SEO for entrepreneurs every day
Welcome back, and welcome to question number four.
How can I test two different titles to see which one performs better without overcomplicating things? I am an over-complicator, Denise.
I know. Listen, there's a techie term called split testing, and a lot of, if you have platforms that do social media, might ask you if you want to do a split test and, it's a real techie kind of approach.
You don't need the fancy tools. You don't need any of that logic. Here's how you do. One simple way is, here's an email subject line test. You send the same email to your list, but change the subject line for a small segment of your list. So if you have 100 people, you can split it 50/50 where you have two different titles, and then you look at the results.
Who clicked more? Who opened it more, right? Another way is a social post test. So share your blog, your blog or podcast twice with two different captions in a social post, and watch which one gets more views, impressions, or clicks, or comments, or whatever. you can also start with one title and adjust it later.
So publish something that you think is your best for now, and then change it up in a few weeks and see if that improves it, 'cause it'll get shared again, right? keep notes on what tends to work so you don't forget, because, I think I'm gonna remember everything. But as we all know, when it comes down to brass tacks, there are just...
there's not enough room in the file cabinet. So I keep notes on all the stuff that I figure out so I can go back to them. And- You want to know whether how to works better than, what's a different way to approach it, like five tips or whatever. So just be specific. Write down the specifics of what you find out, and over time you'll build your own little mini title playbook.
I love it. Well, I'm gonna just mention we do really well with questions. I think that's a good one too. So a little bit of data, not a full-time science experiment is what you're suggesting.
Exactly. Light testing, consistent learning, no lab required, no equipment- ... no Bunsen burner, no nothing.
I really like the beakers, though, I have to say.
True, true, but they're hard to clean. Hard to clean.
Well, question number five, our last question for this show: What common title mistakes do entrepreneurs make that quietly hurt their SEO?
Ooh, I see a few repeat offenders a lot. First is being too vague. Titles like reflections of or big changes ahead or
Might mean something to you, but they don't tell a stranger anything. The second is being clever instead of clear. Inside jokes, puns, metaphors that don't include any real topic words. It's fine to have a personality, but just anchor it in plain language, right? third is terrible is stuffing keywords. I still see it.
I can't believe it. It's been out of date for so long, SEO tips, SEO tricks, SEO strategies, SEO guide for SEO beginners is bad for the reader and can be a red flag for search engines. You could get yourself,not read ever again if you do it a lot. fourth is not matching the content, and everybody knows it.
You have a catchy title or you've worked hard on the title that promises one thing, but the toast is actually about ... the post is actually about something else. Toast. Where did toast come from? I must be hungry. Anyway, that can lead to, quick bounces where people come to your title and they read the first two sentences, it doesn't match, they're out.
You won't even get them through a paragraph, so you don't want that.
Like bait and switch.
Bait and switch. Don't like that. Bait and switch. The, the other one, the other big one is ignoring the audience's language. Using expert terms like split testing, right? Instead of just compare, publish choice compare, right?
Which is simple. Simple things that people are s- are looking for. And I guess the fix overall is simple. Ask yourself, "If my ideal person types something into Google, does this title sound close to what they click for?"
Oh, gotcha. Yeah. So clarity, honesty in their language beats tricks every time.
Yes.
Thoughtful, human-centered titles are good SEO, and read them out loud. I'm gonna say that a million times on this episode.
Denise, for the listener who is thinking, "Okay, titles are starting to make sense, but I'm a beginning entrepreneur and I still don't really know what I need to understand about SEO if I want to do this myself," what's a good next step for them?
Well, that's exactly who I had in mind when I created my SEO quiz. It's designed specifically for beginning entrepreneurs who want to understand what they actually need to know about SEO. They want to see which parts they can realistically do on their own and spot where they might be missing some easy, beginner-friendly wins.
The quiz walks you through a few short questions, seven all together, and gives you a simple result at the end. And, you know, it's here's what you're doing well, here's what you know, here's what you're leaving on the table if you, if you did this, and here's what to focus on first if you want to manage SEO yourself without getting overwhelmed.
No jargon, no pressure to know everything, just a clear starting point.
So if you, sweet listener, are a beginning entrepreneur and you want to understand what you need to know to do SEO on your own, go take the ... Go take Denise's quiz. The link is in the show notes. I have taken the quiz. It didn't even hurt at all.
I just wanna say that. So I think you will, I think you will actually get clarity from taking the quiz. So I'm highly recommending it.
Yeah. Just set aside a few minutes, answer honestly, and let your results be your roadmap. It'll show you which SEO steps deserve your attention right now and which ones you can safely put on the later list.
Well, Denise, thanks for demystifying titles and making them feel manageable. And thank you, sweet listener, for listening to the SEO Day podcast. If this episode helped you, share it with another beginning entrepreneur who wants to be more findable online, and we'll see you in the next episode.
Bye for now
Thank you for joining Denise and Kim in the SEO Day studio for today's discussion. If you would like one of your SEO questions answered in a future episode, head on over to denisemillet.com/questions to let us know. The link is also in the show notes. We hope you enjoyed listening to this episode of the SEO Day podcast.
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