Optimizing page content, specifically blog content, for SEO is no longer about fitting as many keyphrases as possible into your headlines and copy. Knowing when and where to use keyphrases in blog headlines and copy is not only a beneficial counterpart to technical SEO practices, it can make or break your inbound marketing efforts. But, it's not the only piece of the blog headline puzzle.

Let me start my tips with this: Using keyphrases in your headlines should never come at the detriment to readability, comprehension, or accuracy. It’s always more important that your headline describes the actual content of the post well, and that the page satisfies the query of the user (the target keyphrase). If you can’t gracefully work a keyphrase into any one of the blog post title, headline, or copy, that’s okay. If a slight variation to a keyphrase works better, use it instead.

Google is incredibly good now at matching the "intent" of the search query with relevant content, even if that content doesn't include the exact query. However, there are tried-and-true tricks to help Google along - which may result in being indexed faster and to a more precise audience.

Steps to Writing Blog Headlines for SEO

1. Think about your primary keyphrase. Let's use this post as an example! My original keyphrase is: Writing Blog Headlines for Search Engine Optimization. Will it actually be searched by a human? In what context?  If your post is giving tips or a step-by-step, try starting it with "how to", as this is a common search starter. Other search starters are "best ways" and "what is". Can you start your headline with either of these? After putting some thought into this, I've decided my new headline is: How to Write Blog Headlines for Search Engine Optimization. Done? Nope.

2. Spend a moment thinking about what types of websites might link to your blog post about your topic. Backlinks are a large piece of the blog SEO puzzle, so if you can cater your headline to the information they want to give their readers, you stand a better shot of being discovered and linked to. My target 3rd party website is that of an advertising agency, and I think they'd like to give their readers/clients EXAMPLES of blog headlines from an external SEO expert. So, my new-new headline is: How to Write Blog Headlines for Search Engine Optimization, Includes Examples

3. Shorten your post headline to no more than 69 characters. Both search engine results and social traction will benefit. Dang. Okay, so, my new-new-new headline, with only 50 characters, is: How to Write Blog Headlines for SEO, with Examples

4. The use of numbers is known to boost clicks, because those posts are perceived to be easily scannable and therefore more desirable. Great! So, my new headline is: How to Write Blog Headlines for SEO in 4 Steps, with Examples

And, I'm done! To recap, I took my original headline of Writing Blog Headlines for Search Engine Optimization and transformed it to the much more SEO-friendly How to Write Blog Headlines for SEO in 4 Steps, with Examples.