I’m often astonished by WordPress blog post titles that have grown to mammoth lengths. I was motivated write about blog titles when a client sent me a new post with a title that had a whopping 210 characters. I think at some time bloggers have developed the idea that long titles stuffed with key words are good for SEO. I’ll share some insights into why you should shorten blog post titles using some examples from a made-up square-dancing blog (all fantasy… I haven’t even square danced since a rainy day gym class in high school).
1. Google isn’t going to show your whole title.
Say you write a title:
Sharon Nelson Shares 30 Square Dancing Steps from Her 2014 Trip to Kanawha County, WV Festival with a stop at the Clogging Exhibition at the State Fair
Web searchers will only see a truncated part of the tile when they come upon the post in a Google search:
Sharon Nelson Shares 30 Square Dancing Steps from Her 2014 Trip to
For someone who finds the post through a Google search, the chopped title may not give enough information to pique their interest. My recommended title would be something like…
30 Square Dancing Steps from Kanawha County, WV Festival
2. Snooze Factor. The new adage is “People don’t read.” It’s true!
People scan web pages and look for a fast answer or a clue that they want to read more. A huge problem with long post titles is that people lose interest after the first 3 or 4 words. So practice putting the words you want to excite people at the front of a title
3. Long titles can make your design look like a nightmare.
Look carefully at how your titles look before you venture into the the world of run-on titles. The design of your blog usually dictates how the title will appear on every post. If your design calls for the title in all caps you may be inviting a block of text that will be very hard on the eyes and hard for most readers to read and interpret.
SHARON NELSON SHARES 30 SQUARE DANCING STEPS FROM HER 2014 TRIP TO KANAWHA COUNTY, WV FESTIVAL WITH A STOP AT THE CLOGGING EXPEDITION AT THE STATE FARE
4. There are no blocks on WordPress.
It’s up to the writer or webmaster to practice restraint. WordPress doesn’t block the user from creating extremely long titles, in fact, you can go as long as you want.
In a nutshell, grab the reader at the front of the title and keep it short.
