Writing headlines on your own Web site

Here are some excerpts from Jakob Nielson's latest alertbox on the topic:

The guidelines for writing microcontent, such as links, headlines, and page titles, have been very clear:

• Start with highly information-carrying words, because users often scan only the beginning of a content container.
• Avoid starting with your company name on your own site.

Every news item starts with the words "Highway Holdings," which raises two key problems:

• The news is about this company, on its own homepage, making the repetitive use of the company name largely uninformative and a waste of extraordinarily precious real estate (each list item's first two words).
• Starting all links with the same words makes the choices harder to differentiate, and thus harder to use.

When to Frontload the Company Name

• Start search engine links with your company name when both of the following conditions hold:
  • The link appears as a hit for queries that typically produce a SERP (search engine results page) that's full of junk links.
  • You have a widely recognized and well-respected company name.

Related Reading

• Jakob Nielson Alertbox: Company Name First in Microcontent? Sometimes!