• Graywolf's SEO Blog, Friday, February 15, 2008 12:15 PM

When is an article title that contains 23 words overkill? When it's on the Web, according to Michael Gray. He snags the title in question from DN Journal, an online trade pub devoted to the domain industry, and points out that it's not at all search-engine-friendly.

"If it's all about new media how about you write a title with a search engine in mind and not a magazine or trade paper," Gray says. "How about you write with some keywords that people might actually search for?" He then offers three more pithy title suggestions, all within the five- to seven-word range.

What's most interesting is the discussion that ensues in the comments stream, with some readers arguing that despite the need for search traffic, you can't always write article titles with the lowest common denominator in mind. "Maybe it doesn't look good in a feed reader and it may not drive as much search traffic - but in the context of his site and his audience I actually prefer his title vs. any of the suggested ones," quipped one reader.

Read the whole story at Graywolf's SEO Blog »