Why my blog post titles have #hashtags in them, like #UKEdTech
I have changed how I write and title my blog posts recently.
Those of you who have followed me for a while on Twitter, Facebook, or just on my blog (thank you for subscribing) will know that I used to write the post, put a Twitter hashtag in the title, publish the post then change the title so it read properly afterwards.
Now, however, I find I get more traffic and re-tweets if I leave the original title with hashtags in place.
Example in point – my last post on QR Codes has been retweeted a few times by some kind folks who have found it on my blog, and if the retweet button is pressed on my blog then the title, hashtag, and credit (@hopkinsdavid) is sent with the link.
Without the hashtag, this would have been any other tweet – with the hashtag the profile of this post is raised to new searches in the hashtag. I have seen increased traffic to my site for old (6 months and older) posts, along with comments and emails coming on the back of them.
So, while it may not ‘look’ nice on the blog, the funny #hashtag in the title has it’s purpose. Sorry!
I still do not understand why keywords need a hash before them. what exactly is the matter with hastags? you can always search twitter for any keyoword you want – what make hastags better? please xplain! Thanks!
Hi ‘guest’.
Hashtag are used to easily link your post/comment/tweet on twitter to those of your peers. Yes we could use the search feature but the hashtags are, in effect, already making the search results available for you. The way you use a hashtag also tells your readers what you consider to be the important keyword – your readers might not agree and this could get your post read by more people.
Another great use of hashtags are to collate tweets together for online conversations, conference or exhibition proceedings, class backchannel, etc – more than just a keyword identifier!
All the best, and don’t be afraid to use your real name next time ;-)
David
Hi,
Using hashtags in post titles is a great idea and I’ve been doing it for a while now myself. I use Wordtwit to broadcast to Twitter and it allows me to make a post into part of a conversation.
I don’t always do it but it is a habit to work on.
Nice post.
Ian
#Rb140Plus …take a look I’ve been doing this since ’09’ …not for seo reasons, only because I had created this blog as a twitter extension (like tweet longer); posts auto tweet, hashtag included. Check it out http://rickbischoff140plus.blogspot.com/
* Now I’m experimenting with linking “keywords” to twitter hashtags …wondering, should I be using rel=”nofollow” OR do-follow to those hashtags ??
*Would this help identify or rank my blog with keywords of my particular niche ??
…great to have found your post