Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Numbers vs #'s For Blog Titles
-
For your blog post titles, is it "better" to use numbers or write them out? For example, 3 Things I love About People Answering My Constant Questions or Three Things I Love About People Answering My Constant Questions?
I could see this being like the attorney/lawyer, ecommerce/e-commerce and therefore not a big deal. But, I also thought you should avoid using #'s in your url's.
Any thoughts,
Ruben
-
Thanks everyone.
Happy Friday,
Ruben
-
When it comes to people, '3' is easier for them to process than 'three'. You may even get a minor speed boost when the CMS queries the DB, but I haven't tested that. It may only apply to example.com/2014/08/28/sample-post and example.com/?p=123. Basically, the numeric version is easier for machines to process as well.
However, Michael Gray at Gray Wolf SEO has one good reason why you might want to avoid using the numeric equivalent. He definitely has a point. So keep the number in the title and avoid using it in the URL, unless the information in the post - or the post itself - will never change.
There are plenty of other effective ways to increase page load speed, and that wasn't your concern anyway.
-
I would try to use both, maybe use one in the title then the other or both in the blogs posts so that you can try to rank for both, I've done that a few times.
-
I would use the number: '3'
When searching, most people will use the number instead of writing it out.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Is it necessary to have unique H1's for pages in a pagination series (i.e. blog)?
A content issue that we're experiencing includes duplicate H1 issues within pages in a pagination series (i.e. blog). Does each separate page within the pagination need a unique H1 tag, or, since each page has unique content (different blog snippets on each page), is it safe to disregard this? Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks!
Algorithm Updates | | BopDesign0 -
Wistia vs. YouTube
Hello, Mozzers! Sorry if I've missed a thread on this, but I didn't find anything after searching for a while... I've used Wistia for years - LOVE the service and the company! Had great luck getting Rich Snippets, ranked well... until the recent Google change. Now all of my Wistia thumbnails have disappeared (though my rankings have stayed strong, thank goodness!) M question is, does it make sense to now embed YouTube videos on our site, and to create a video sitemap with those pages, with the hope that Google will rank the page better than it otherwise would have, knowing that there is valuable (video) content on the page? This is new videos, I'm not thinking of replacing my Wistia videos at this time. I'll probably need to clarify as I see your responses, since this is a tricky set of interrelated decisions. Thanks for any thoughts that anyone may have! 🙂 ~ Scott
Algorithm Updates | | measurableROI1 -
Homepage Index vs Home vs Default?
Should your home page be www.yoursite.com/index.htm or home.htm or default.htm on an apache server? Someone asked me this, and I have no idea. On our wordpress site, I have never even seen this come up, but according to my friend, every homepage HAS to be one of those three. So my question is which one is best for an apache server site AND does it actually have to be one of those three? Thanks, Ruben
Algorithm Updates | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
While doing directory submission, We should submit unique description and title ?
Hello Moz Members, I just want to clarify that, We do directory submission in 50 of sites. For Example: I have to target 10 keyword's, and i am doing directory submission. I have 10 Unique titles and 10 unique description. I just need to submit these 10 keywords in 50 directory's 10 keywords * 50 directory = 500 submission. I will just submit the same 10 Unique titles and 10 unique description to these 500 directory. So it wont be count as duplicate content and duplicate title in every directory. Or Every time i do directory submission i have to submit unique description and unique title. Please help me with these question, I am really confused how shall i proceed to directory submission. If any one have fast approval directory sites list then please share the information with me. Regards & Thanks, Chhatarpal Singh
Algorithm Updates | | chhatarpal0 -
How long does it take for a new website to start showing in the SERP'S
I launched my website about 6 weeks ago. It was indexed fairly quickly. But it is not showing up in the Google SERP. I did do the on page SEO and followed the best practise's for my website. I have also been checking webmaster tools and it tells me that there is no errors with my site. I also ran it through the seomoz on page seo analyzer and again no real big issues. According to seomoz I had 1 duplicate content issue with my blog posts, which i corrected. I understand it takes some time, but any ideas of how much time? And f.y.i it's a Canadian website. So it should be a lot easier to rank as well. Could my site be caught in the Google 'sandbox effect' ? Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.
Algorithm Updates | | CurtCarroll0 -
Google automatically adding company name to serp titles
Maybe I've been living under a rock, but I was surprised to see that Google had algorithmically modified my page titles in the search results by adding the company name to the end of the (short) title. <title>About Us</title> became About Us - Company Name Interestingly, this wasn't consistent - sometimes it was "company name Limited" and sometimes just "company name. Anyone else notice this or is this a recent change?
Algorithm Updates | | DougRoberts0 -
Why doesn't everyone just purchase a .org tld?
Hi, I am new-ish to SEO, and something just dawned on me today. I have read in many places that .org domains rank higher (even if slightly) than .coms. Then why doesn't everyone just purchase .org TLDs? For example, in my industry, most good .com domain names are taken, but .orgs are almost all free. Why not purchase a .org and capitalize on exact match search results? seomoz is .org and it's far from being a non-profit 🙂
Algorithm Updates | | Eladla0 -
How long does a news article stay on Google's 'News' section on the SERP?
Our site is recognised as a news source for our niche - was just wondering if anyone had any idea how long the news story stays on the front page of the SERP once Google picks it up?
Algorithm Updates | | DanHill0