Write less. Say more. 

Writing titles for digital content involves form and function, creativity and practicality. Page titles and subheadings are important to both readers and search engines, impacting both your click-through and bounce rates. They need to be both attention grabbing and functional at the same time.  Check out these tips:

• Keep it brief. Our web design works best at 40 characters or less. 
• Descriptive but creative. Does your title cue readers about the content, even when they are not on our site when they see it? Use meaningful words and phrases.
• Lean on your hero description, meta description and subheads to provide more context. 
• Sentence case — only the first word is capitalized in both titles and subheads on seic.com.

Title tips 

• Use descriptive language. Choose specific words over general ones.
• Be vivid and compelling: Make it interesting to your target audience.
• Make it sound natural. Don’t force keywords just to get them in.
• Keep important keywords near the beginning of your title. Google cuts off titles at about 70 characters.
• Spend time writing your titles and try different variations before finalizing.
• Don’t repeat words in your title.
• Never duplicate titles on our site. Get more specific to differentiate from similarly titled pages.  

Blog post, article and campaign page title tips 

• Ask a question in your title to spark curiosity.
• Speak directly to your target audience members. Be personal.
• Factoid: Studies show that odd numbers in titles attract more attention.
• Be creative. Experiment with synonyms, plays on words, and well-known titles and expressions. 

Subheading tips

• Don’t skimp. Use subheads whenever you transition naturally to a new concept.  
• Make them skimmable, so that reader can see what’s covered in the section without reading it.
• Tip: most web readers skim pages quickly, and only read in depth if they skim something that interests them.
• Use subheads in hierarchical order: H2 first, then H3 etc.
• Be creative, but include searchable words too.

More reading:

“How to Write the Perfect Page Title With SEO in Mind,” Hubspot. Hubspot.com.

“8 Tips for Writing Catchy Blog Titles (Without Resorting to Clickbait),” Compose.ly, compose.ly.com.