What are the best practices for writing SEO-friendly headlines and meta descriptions?

I work for Tandem.Buzz, a full-service digital marketing agency. This gives me access to all of the programs mentioned in the intro - SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Moz, plus many others. If you don't work for an agency, some of these tools can make getting a program cost-prohibitive....but don't give up hope. With the more recent use of AI in copywriting, you can use free versions of tools like ChatGPT and Bing to help you find the proper keywords. By placing your primary keyword and secondary keywords strategically and appropriately throughout your copy, you will let your audience know what you are writing about. Even better is these keywords will let Google know that your piece is relevant, and it will show your content to your audience.

Based on my experience helping do this manually for just a few key pages and automating this at scale of hundreds of millions of page websites, keyword research is an important step that's hard to do manually. I'd recommend using GSC data as a starting point to collect the top one hundred keywords. Use a keyword clustering tool to identify the 3 to 5 most diverse keywords. Then write headlines and meta descriptions that have high relevance to these keywords. Some of the more modern SEO platforms use AI to automate the process end-to-end. When working on a large set of URLs, these platforms can also help A/B test a few variations before you scale to the full scope of URLs.

Serve thy customer. You can have all the keywords you like stuffed into a headline, but if it doesn't speak to your ideal clients then it's a waste of pixels. You need to have researched your audience so you know them, and what they need. Definitely also research your keywords, using a suitable tool (I use SparkToro). You can't trick the algorithm so easily any more, so don't try clever ways to rank, try ranking for original, quality content instead. The EAT principle still stands, so expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness are important, and most content will fit into the FEAST framework, so will be fun, educational, advertising, story-based or testimonials. Speak to your perfect customer and build your brand.

I'm a writer. I leave the keyword searches to the SEO specialists. They love what they do, as I love what I do so they can handle all SEO aspects of the project.

Start by conducting thorough keyword research to identify relevant and high-traffic keywords related to your content. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs to find valuable keywords that align with your content.

Analyze your competitors' headlines and meta descriptions to gain insights into what's working well in your niche. Identify common keywords and strategies used by successful competitors and use them as inspiration for your own content.

Boy, if people need software to write powerful headlines, they are in the wrong business. The content dictates what heads and subheads should appear, and if you have written the content, you should know exactly what to write in the meta description and which headlines are most effective.

Craft compelling headlines that not only incorporate your target keyword but also entice readers to click through. Your meta description should be a concise and informative summary of the content, encouraging users to click while still maintaining accuracy.

Experienced, trained writers and editors do not need these tools. This is because they have the knowledge and background to write great copy. No machine is ever going to replace a thinking, feeling, intelligent human being.

Above all, relevance is key. Producing content that is relevant to your industry and area of expertise is crucial to gaining the trust of your peers and potential visitors. Try to ensure your content is easy to read and not too technical. Avoid using numonics and instead use clear concise language that is easy to understand.

Create high-quality, engaging content that provides value to your audience. Make sure your content delivers on the promises made in the headline and meta description to improve user satisfaction.

Content formatting / UI often runs in direct competition with SEO best practices; Search engines want one thing, users sometimes want another, and the website has to merry those two things with company goals/needs. So… where do you start? Write the content; that fuels design, which then can be manipulated to meet in the middle.

Best practices for SEO-friendly headlines and meta descriptions? Numero uno, think about your audience. You gotta pack in those relevant keywords, but remember, you're writing for humans, not just search engines. Second, keep it short and snappy. For headlines, aim for 60 characters or less. Meta descriptions? 160 characters tops. Finally, make it enticing. You're not just providing information, you're selling a click. Your headline and meta should give folks a sneak peek into what they can expect. It's all about stirring up curiosity and delivering value. So, go ahead, charm those readers and algorithms together!

Optimize your content for both search engines and users. Use header tags (H1, H2, etc.) to structure your content, include relevant keywords throughout the text (without overstuffing), and use bullet points, lists, and visuals to make the content easily scannable and reader-friendly.

Wow, so writers are also supposed to analysts, too? No wonder copy gets so messed up. Allow the analysts to do their jobs while we writers concentrate on ours.

Regularly monitor the performance of your content using tools like Google Analytics. Keep an eye on metrics like click-through rate (CTR), bounce rate, and time on page. If a piece of content isn't performing as expected, consider updating and improving it to better meet the needs of your audience.