How I learned to stop worrying about headline SEO

‘Want to write better headlines?’ Yes. ‘Then use our free blog post headline analyser… to rate its ability to result in social shares, increased traffic and SEO value.’

I’m all right, thanks.

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Making things ‘go viral’ is the Holy Grail of content marketing.

But in the cut-and-thrust marcomms world, hitting key SEO phrases while writing engaging and emotive headlines doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive.

Shareability is everything. Of course you need key words and phrases to push your content up the Google ladder, but – in my opinion – finding the perfect snappy headline to captivate the reader is more about emotion than buzzwords.

I recently attended a CMA Digital Breakfast on social publishing, where a presentation by StoryScience founder Kohlben Vodden on the science of sharing caught my attention.

As well as learning about the part of the brain that deals with decision-making – the Temporal Parietal Junction – Kohlben also explained the science behind how our brains make choices.

Essentially, around 90% of our decisions are automatic and made subconsciously. Only 10% of what we decide is actually thought through and calculated.

It is this area of cognitive bias ­– inherent, irrational decisions – that content marketers can maximise on to increase the possibility that the story/article/post will be shared.

How can we make the best use of this knowledge? How can we configure the best content strategy and maximise sharing with behavioural drivers?

The study quoted by Kohlben looked at the role of emotions in sharing of online content. It found that the sentiment, as well as type and intensity of emotion, played key roles in determining shareability.

For example – and contrary to popular belief – the study found that content with a positive sentiment was more likely to be shared than one expressing negativity.

Furthermore, the study also found that evoking high-arousal emotions, such as anger, anxiety, fear or humour, improved the chances of content being shared repeatedly.

This is known as an ‘affect heuristic’, and is the mental shortcut that prioritises emotional content over consumers’ analytical thought process.

At CPL we recently found this with one of our clients, when a blog went viral, racking up more than 22,000 views and almost 4,000 likes in just a few days.

The headline (You’re like me, I like me, so I like you – and you’re hired) engaged viewers and created intrigue. However, when put through the blog post headline analyser, it came out as ‘generic’ and ‘way too wordy’.

As well as taking the fun out of things – and potentially putting expert writers like us out of a job (!) – the headline analyser focuses too much on the SEO, instead of copy that readers will find engaging.

And, no matter what computer algorithm is used, surely no headline will ever beat ‘Man bites dog’!