What makes a good blog title?

Before jumping into how to generate 100+ blog topics quickly, let's discuss the importance of having good titles.

I think of blog content development as having two parts: blog articles that form the core of my SEO or inbound marketing strategy, and a backup list of blog ideas I can pull from in a pinch. Both types benefit from having great titles.

Good topics generally follow some basic rules, including:

  • Your posts should answer common/valuable questions.
  • They should focus on your target buyer's search intent.
  • They should tap into sufficient organic traffic to make them worth blogging When it comes to generating a great backup list of blog topics quickly, it can be hard to identify titles that meet those criteria without succumbing to . There are several blog title generator tools available, but I find that they tend toward click or "catchy" titles that are more useful for paid channels rather than the long-term value expected from organic search.

    More tips for professional marketers

    As you analyze results from the Keyword Suggestions feature in Keyword Explorer, here are some additional things you can do to learn about your target customers:

    Look for trends in the questions people ask. Do most questions center on a specific pain point, such as cost, quality, or ease of use? Consider segmenting your users based on these different pain points and their associated value drivers.

    Find the "best question." In your list of blog titles, look for the one question that best aligns with your target customer. Then run a Keyword Explorer query on that question by selecting the magnifying glass icon on the right side of the webpage. Often, these results will display an even longer, more targeted list of questions to choose from.

    Hope this helps your blogging efforts! Tell us about your experience using Keyword Explorer to generate targeted blog titles. If you want to keep mastering keywords and blog titles after your  Pro free trial ends, check out the  subscription.





    • When faced with a saturated or overly competitive topic area, what do you do?

    More ideas for the same saturated topic won’t necessarily help grab attention if there are already hundreds of thousands of published posts.

    There are two mental models we find helpful to expand topics for saturated content areas.

    Hierarchical expansion begins with a broad topic and looks to more and more specific themes. Andy  described this concept as “niching down.”

    For example, if social media marketing is the topic I write about, and it’s saturated with content, I may want to consider narrowing my focus:

    • Facebook marketing
    • Facebook Live
    • Facebook Advertising
    • AB testing
    • Facebook ads
    • Average Facebook ad spend for an SMB
    • Saving money on
    • Facebook ads as an SMB
    • Which type of ad goal is the best value for an SMB
    • Creating an a lead gen ad for an SMB
    • Content marketing

    However, the concepts of lateral and hierarchical expansion are useful for developing blog post ideas, especially if our main topic area is heavily competitive or already saturated with great content.