Why your press release headline should be fewer than 70 characters

Last week, Gawker Media owner Nick Denton told employees to keep headlines under 70 characters. Why? Google search.

Denton explained, “Why this drastic measure? Google and others truncate headlines at 70 characters. On the Manti Teo story, Deadspin’s scoop fell down the Google search results, overtaken by copycat stories with simpler headlines.”

This announcement has implications for communications professionals writing and distributing releases over the wire. The lesson? Keep those headlines short and to the point.

Historically, headlines have been way too long. According to Schwartz MSL Research Group, 76 percent of news releases in 2011 were longer than 70 characters. In fact, the average headline length was 123 characters.

At The Hodges Partnership, we’re not huge fans of the press release to generate publicity. We much prefer to study up on journalists and write tailored, well-crafted pitches. But, if you’re going to distribute a release, why not optimize it to boost your company’s search results?

For the most impact, follow the advice of Gawker and write headlines that are short and succinct. Of course, a headline is just one part of optimizing a release. For more tips, check out this BusinessWire article.

A good rule to keep in mind: Whether you’re writing for search engines, journalists or readers, everyone prefers conciseness.

If Shakespeare were alive today, maybe he would’ve had a career in communications; as it turns out, brevity really is the soul of wit.