SEO starter-kit – Master the headline

Post frequency is a huge factor in your site's ranking, which determines how high it appears on search engine indexes. Naturally, prominence there builds readership. In week six, we'll explore nuances of this voodoo, called search engine optimization (SEO). But for now, let's focus on a few simple steps to juice up your blogs:

• Write early. Write often. Unlike your instructors' personal blogs. (Do as we say...)
• Shorter linked entries – published daily – are preferable to a long essay weekly.
• Kick off with enticing language, rich with specifics – especially the keywords folks might search upon. Soup up those headlines!
• Ditto the first 25 words, which also appear on the search engine's index pages. Make 'em count.

“On a value-per-word basis, headline writing is the most important writing you do, explains Jakob Nielsen of Weblog Usability. “Descriptive headlines are especially important for representing your weblog in search engines, newsfeeds (RSS), and other external environments. In those contexts, users often see only the headline and use it to determine whether to click into the full posting.”

One-deck headlines are preferable. Employ precise language – or poetic, if that's more your thing. But think about baiting readers away from their tax returns, tennis matches and the latest Tina Fey vehicle.

Some of the best headlines spring fully-formed from the ether. But certain formulas exist for less inspired moments. As the travel-writing teacher Louise Purwin Zobel points out: "Everybody likes a title that talks about saving money or time; a title that promises improvement in health, creativity, or prestige; a title that hints of the newest, the latest, the most up to date; a title that tells you the article will tell you how to do something. You – either spelled out or implied – is a very important word. The title should be intriguing, startling, or thought-provoking and usually no longer than six words."

Engaging headlines ask a question, use clever punctuation, alliteration, a pun, or onomatopoeia, advises Poynter's Sara Quinn.