Why is the title tag so important when writing content?

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There are many SEO experts who discount the importance of the title tag when writing content or at least when publishing new web pages and blog posts, directly or indirectly, your title tag has an impact on your search engine rankings. Why is it so?

First, what is the title tag and how is it different from the heading?

The heading is the big text that you see when you visit a blog post or an article. It appears on the top. It tells you what you’re going to read. A heading can be used anywhere. It can be used with a blog post. It can be used with a YouTube video. It can be used with a landing page or a general information web page on your website. Here is how a heading looks:

Screenshot of a heading

Screenshot of a heading.

In most of the cases – at least in the case of my blog – the heading and the web page/blog post title are the same, but they don’t have to be. You can have a different title and a different heading.

What is the title tag?

The title tag appears in the <head> </head> section of your web page. It appears in the form of <title> </title>.

Here is the title tag screenshot of the same blog post above from where I have taken the heading screenshot:

Screenshot of the title tag

Screenshot of the title tag.

Your web page title is the string of text that appears between <title> and </title>.

Why is the text that you use with your title tag so important for your SEO? As I have written above, there are many SEO experts who say that the title tag may not have any significance vis-à-vis your search engine rankings, but I personally feel that your title tag is one of the most important aspects of your web page or blog post in terms of usability as well as search engine rankings.

Above you have seen how the heading appears in the blog post and how the title tag looks like. You can view the title tag by viewing the source code of any web page.

How does the same blog posts appear in the search results? Below is a screenshot of the search engine listings are the same blog post:

Screenshot of the search engine listings of the title tag

Screenshot of the search engine listings of the title tag.

As you can see, the string of text that appears between <title> and </title> also appears as an enlarged hypertext in the search engine result pages. Is it appearing because of the keywords I included – “blogging roadmap” and “improve SEO”? Could be.

Personally I don’t know if the Google ranking algorithm takes the title tag into account while ranking websites, but there is a logical reason why the title tag is important when you are writing content.

Research by various SEO and digital marketing companies has shown that if the words used in the search string also appear in the listing as hypertext, a greater number of users click the link. Therefore, if someone has used both “blogging roadmap” and “improve SEO” in the search query and both these keywords or words appear in the search result as hypertext, there is a probability that a greater number of people will click the link.

This is called the CTR – click through ratio. If you have a better click through ratio, your search engine rankings improve.

When more people click the link, Google thinks that the link must be important to the search query being used, and hence, it should appear higher. As you can see, for the search term in the screenshot, the link to my blog post appears at the top.

 

How do I write content on difficult topics?

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Do you follow a process when writing content on difficult topics? What do you do? Do you follow a process?

For many years I have been writing on technology, and a majority of my current clients come from this field, so, it rarely happens that I come across a topic I find difficult. Comprehensive, yes, even exasperating in terms of quantity and scale, but not difficult.

Nonetheless, there are times when I am baffled. The topic is alien or I don’t have enough knowledge. The fact that sometimes it is not possible to find information on the web exacerbates the matter further. Or the template provided by the client is designed in such a manner that finding and writing content based on the layout turns out to be a Herculean task.

So, what do I do? My first source is the client. In most of the cases the client isn’t eager to pay for the time I may have to spend on research, so he or she eagerly sends me the needed information. For example, I request some links that explain the topic. I don’t waste my time researching for it because I know that for the client it will be faster to find the right information.

If the client is ready to pay me for research, I do my own research. Sometimes I don’t even tell the client that I’m charging extra for research; I simply prepare the quotation in such a manner that the time for research is also included.

These days it’s easy to find information on the Internet provided you know what to look for, and where to look. Starting to write can be a problem, especially when there is gap in understanding.

I start with randomly jotting down my thoughts. I don’t even bother with complete sentences. I pick up phrases and expressions from the reference links. My sole focus is on the words and expressions that I’m writing. I try to get comfortable with them. I even write random sentences with these words and expressions that have got nothing to do with the current article or blog post.

Another thing that helps me is that I’m not trying to prove myself as a better writer. I don’t need to impress anyone. I need to inform as clearly and with as few words as possible. I need to educate. So, even a sentence containing 3-5 words would do.

But the reality is that the client demands certain number of words. Suppose I’m asked to write about the benefits of creating digital wallets with blockchain technology and the blog post must be 1000 words.

Without worrying about those 1000 words, I simply focus on the central theme. I may create bulleted points listing all the benefits of such digital wallets. I may write a paragraph.

Then I start creating the context. Context is very important to build a narrative. For that, I may explain what digital wallets are, what is blockchain technology, why more businesses are using digital wallets and why more businesses are using blockchain technology. This gives me a few hundred words.

Then, I find examples of businesses actively using digital wallets in general and digital wallets built on blockchain technology in particular.

After having written 500-600 words, I grow comfortable. Afterwards, if you ask me to write 3000 words on the topic, I can manage even that.

35 types of content that require writing

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Content writing isn’t just about writing for blogs, web pages, email broadcasts, and social media updates.

Similarly, when it comes to content marketing, and writing for that purpose, there are multiple content forms where writing is required.

In one of the Quora updates, someone had asked if content writing is overrated. The sentiment originated from the fact that everybody seems to be providing content writing services these days.

It is like saying everybody walks, so walking is overrated. Everybody uses mobile phones these days, so, mobile phones are overrated. Millions of people drive around, so driving must be overrated. Almost everybody goes to doctors these days, so doctors are overrated.

Since everybody writes, sometimes people end up thinking that writing is overrated.

Writing was invented some 3000 years ago. Initially not everyone was crazy about writing. Socrates was dead against writing because he thought that if people started writing, they would use their brains less. Since knowledge could be preserved with writing, there was no need to memorize it. I wonder what he would think of mobile phones.

Most of the non-verbal writing exists in written format. Of course, you may say that you can use graphics and videos to explain concepts and I completely agree, but if everything turns into graphics and videos, what about those people who want to read?

Reading is a conversation. It provides multiple stimuli that are lacking in graphics and videos. When you are reading, you are imagining. You are not being provided audiovisual cues on a platter. Therefore, most of the people prefer to read, and since they prefer to read, content needs to be written.

As mentioned above, although content writing is mostly related to website content and blogs, there are various types of content needs that can only be met by writers. Listed below are some content types that require extensive writing.

  1. Blogs
  2. White papers
  3. Case studies
  4. Podcasts (writing script)
  5. Articles
  6. Email marketing
  7. Newsletters
  8. Social media campaigns
  9. Website content
  10. Guest blog posting
  11. Influencer interviews
  12. FAQs
  13. Testimonials
  14. News assignments
  15. Storytelling
  16. Product descriptions
  17. Product reviews
  18. E-courses
  19. Landing pages
  20. SEO content
  21. Press releases
  22. Wikipedia-type websites
  23. App notifications
  24. Lists
  25. How to articles
  26. Best practices
  27. Content repurposing
  28. Business forecasting
  29. LinkedIn posts
  30. Chat bots
  31. Paid advertising
  32. Sponsored content
  33. Guides
  34. Reports
  35. Educational content

Although these are different content types and they can all be used for content marketing purposes, they need talented writers to be effective.

Working remotely? You must be able to write well

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Says this Inc. article. I have been working from home (remotely) since the beginning of my professional life. The recent Covid-19 outbreak has forced the world to rethink the way everyone works. Millions of people are working from home these days. Remote work is the new normal.

The author of the above article says that “clear writing is a mark of respect”, and I couldn’t agree more. When you pay attention to your words and sentences, you are actually paying attention to the readers’ sensibilities. Your readers don’t deserve to come across lousy writing.

Agreed, the language in which you normally need to write (English for example) may not be your first language sometimes, and if you commit some oversights, that’s understandable. But some people simply don’t care even when they know how to write. They intentionally misspell or write badly structured sentences or use bad grammar. They think that using language correctly is a sign of snobbery.

When people are working remotely, communication gaps are common. You’re not talking face-to-face. You’re either using Slack, or emails or chat applications. A word missed here and there, a comma missed or misplaced here and there, and the entire meaning changes.

A small blogging roadmap to improve SEO

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Blogging roadmap to improve your SEO

Blogging roadmap to improve your SEO.

Planning to improve your search engine rankings with a blogging campaign?

Although the primary purpose of publishing a blog is to inform and educate your visitors so that they can make better purchase decisions, a good side effect of persistent blogging is an improvement in your search engine rankings, better SEO.

Nevertheless, most of the businesses want to start a blog to improve SEO. This is a reality, and I’m not going to be judgmental.

Since SEO is a serious business, you need to have a roadmap to publish an effective blog that helps you improve your search engine rankings. Here are a few steps you can follow:

Prepare an SEO checklist

What is on SEO checklist? It is a list of a few blog writing and blog publishing attributes you must adhere to when researching, writing and publishing your blog posts. Your SEO checklist may include

  • Preparing a list of primary and secondary keywords that you are going to cover in the current blog post.
  • A blog post title with your main keyword or key phrase.
  • The main headline with your main keyword or key phrase.
  • Headings and subheadings having various combinations of your keyword (also include LSI keywords).
  • Making your blog posts easily scannable using headings, subheadings and bulleted lists.
  • Using images every 200-300 words and including alt attribute for better accessibility.
  • Including hyperlinks to existing blog posts and web pages.
  • Using your keyword within the first 100 words.

Research and compile your keyword list

Before you begin your blogging campaign to improve your SEO, you need to research your keyword list. These are the keywords around which you are going to write and publish multiple blog posts.

No matter what tool you use to research your target keywords, keep a dedicated place to compile your keyword list, like a spreadsheet. In the first column you can store all the primary keywords. In the second column you can store related or synonymous keywords. In the third column you can store the larger phrases to make the keywords less competitive.

Prepare your blog publishing calendar

Recall that in the above point, in the third column I suggested you store larger phrases. This is the column that will help you define the various topics you want to publish for your blog.

Enter these topics in your publishing calendar.

A publishing calendar helps you stay on course. You will also know which topics you have covered and which you still need to cover. This way, you will avoid duplicate publishing.

Blog publishing calendar also helps to prioritize. Which blog posts do you want to publish first? Start with less competitive keywords because this will help you improve your search engine rankings faster.

Always begin with an outline

Actually, there is no hard-and-fast rule about how to write efficiently, but writing an outline first always helps. This way, you cannot miss out on the main points. These headlines can be then turned into headings and subheadings.

You can use the following elements to create an outline:

  • Headings and subheadings.
  • Bulleted points.
  • Random sentences arranged in a logical manner.

Fill the text under the outlines

Start feeling the test under the headings and subheadings. Expand upon them. For example, if you look at the above subheading – always begin with an outline – you can see that after the subheading, I have explained in a small detail what needs to be done.

Thoroughly proofread

Make sure there are no silly spelling mistakes or grammar mistakes. Turn longer sentences into shorter sentences. Make sure you are not unnecessarily using adjectives.

To speed up the process you can use the inbuilt editor that comes with most word processors these days.

Make sure your blog post complies with your SEO checklist

This is the last glance that you throw at your blog post that you have written. To make sure that this blog post is going to improve your search engine rankings, run it through the SEO checklist that you have prepared.

This blogging roadmap will not only keep you on the right course, it will also help you achieve your search engine optimization goals faster.