SEO copywriting for headlines, the 8 most used strategies!

The content of a website must always be of quality, easy to read and with relevant information for the user. However, it won’t matter much that we work on this if we work on an even more important section: the headline.

Why are headlines so important?

The first contact between the user and our website is through the owner, which appears in search engines. If it doesn’t pique your curiosity, or grab your attention, it won’t click. It doesn’t matter that we’ve worked hard to create the best content on the net, you won’t bother to enter. For this reason, we must give priority to its writing, as much or more than that of the content.

Its relevance is such that there are companies like BuzzFeed that are dedicated to creating headlines, with the sole objective of getting clickbaits. Keep an eye out! It is true that clickbait in recent times is used as a bait to deceive the user and attract visits to websites. If you do this, the only thing you will achieve is to stain the image of your page. A strategy that only works in the short term and you will soon see how your website is punished by Google.

What are the most used SEO copywriting strategies for headlines?

Comprendida la importancia que tiene esta parte de diseño web en la captación de usuarios, vamos a explicarte las 8 estrategias copywriting SEO para titulares más utilizadas:

The triggers

Triggers, or triggers, are frequently used in copy. One of the most common are memory triggers, which evoke a memory from the user’s past when reading the headline; “Things you’ll only know if you lived in the 90s.”

Learning triggers are also quite effective. The human being is curious, and always wants to learn something new; “How to create a website step by step”. What’s more, when we don’t know how to do something, we search the Internet to learn how to do it. For this reason, the user must feel when reading this small sentence that the content of the web will satisfy their need for knowledge.

We can use others such as location triggers, which help us attract the public from a certain region. For example; “The best restaurants in Tenerife” will capture the attention of both its inhabitants and tourists who go to the city on vacation.

Visual effects

It is important that a headline is visually attractive, for which what are known as visual effects can be used:

• Present it as a question: “Do you know the keys to succeed on YouTube?” A simple, typical phrase, but one that already captures the attention of users because it tells them that they will get answers on a specific topic.
• Phrase the question as a challenge to the user: The user may already have knowledge of a topic, however, reading something like “Can you guess what…?” or “Are you able to recognize…?”, he feels challenged to enter.
• Using quotation marks, or parentheses, to highlight a word: Helps increase CTR. The user will focus their attention on that word, understanding that the content they are going to read is related to it.
• Use capital letters to attract attention to certain words: In copywriting we do not always have to respect the rules of the RAE. The use of capital letters serves to direct the user’s attention to certain words. For example: “How to Create your Web Page Step by Step”. It is not necessary to put all the first letters in capital letters, only those in which we are interested in having users notice.
• Using numbers to arouse curiosity: “The 10 monuments you must visit in London”, “7 tricks to improve the CTR of your website”, “The 3 keys to succeed on YouTube” … The use of numbers not only arouses the user’s curiosity, besides informs you that the information will be presented in list format. Users like this, as the content is easier to read. It can also be used as a challenge for the user; “5 things you didn’t know about dogs”, as it encourages him to enter to discover if he can learn something new.

Headlines with FRESHNESS Factor

It consists of using current temporary references, with the help of words such as novelty, updated… Such as “WordPress 2019: Learn to use it step by step”.

As there is news about the content that you have previously written, you do not need to write it again. Add the new information to the old and highlight words like “(Updated)” or “(Latest news)”, to inform that there have been changes in the content of that entry.

words of power

Power words are those that resonate most strongly in the minds of readers, drawing attention. They can be verbs, adjectives, verbs or a set of words; easy, free, you have been lied to, incredible, success…

They should not be abused, since it could have the opposite effect. Nor should they be used to lie. We cannot announce something like “The 5 tricks to lose weight easily” and then talk about something else, or that it is information with zero value for the user.

Include an objection

Although there are those who deny this technique, it is very useful when it comes to arousing curiosity in users. Let’s see it with an example: “How to get subscribers on YouTube”.

As it is presented, it is very good, but it has a problem; there will be hundreds of pages that are using it. You have to add a tag at the end, which will be the objection: “…at no cost”, “without the danger of being blocked” or “without wasting much time”. This small text arouses the interest of users a lot, and is decisive in deciding whether to enter a page.

Identify the target in the headline

If the content you have written is aimed at a specific audience, highlighting it in the headline will draw their attention to your page. In other words, it identifies the recipient of the content, who will quickly feel alluded to.

“Advice for new mothers”, “Basic guide for novice entrepreneurs” or “How to correctly educate a dog” are calls for attention for your target, because they feel identified with the content of that phrase. This encourages them to click immediately, as the web content is writing for them.

A headline with resource format

One of the most common, with which we anticipate that the information will be useful to the reader, such as a manual, a tutorial, a TOP, a study, etc.

For example: “Top of the 3 best vacuum cleaners of 2019”, “WordPress basic guide: Step by step” or “Tutorial to assemble videos for YouTube”. These types of headlines are ideal for pages dedicated to learning or analyzing products.

Use of the preposition “for”

When the user comes across a headline that includes the preposition FOR what associates a goal that will be achieved if you access the content of the web; “The keys to always be fashionable”, “Guide to register as a freelancer 2019″… Something that is simple, capturing the attention of users who are looking for information related to that topic.

Never stop thinking about your target audience

All the techniques that we have explained can be combined. However, never forget your target audience.

It is not the same to write a headline for a young audience, which will not see it as important if you are respecting grammatical rules, than for an adult audience that pays more attention to detail. And most importantly: the headline must always be related to the content. Never trick your users to get a click, because it will negatively affect your page.