I decided to figure out why blog post titles work better when they're between 15 and 30 words. Heard somewhere it hooks readers more. So last Thursday, I grabbed my notebook and scrolled through five years of my old posts.
The Ugly Truth
Started counting words in every title. Man, it was bad. Found titles as short as 3 words, others dragging to 50 words. Some sounded like clickbait trash, others boring like tax forms.
- Too short: "Gardening Tips" - nobody clicked this crap.
- Way too long: "A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding Soil pH Levels for Beginner Home Gardeners in Urban Environments" - fell asleep typing it.
My Messy Experiment
Next morning, brewed strong coffee and rewrote every crappy title. For "Budget Cooking", I stretched it to "19 Cheap Dinner Recipes That Won't Make Your Family Hate You". Felt ridiculous but hit 15 words exactly. For long ones, I chopped useless fluff like "very" or "extremely".
The Disaster Test
Posted three rewritten articles side-by-side with old versions. Checked stats every hour. The 22-word title got 3x more clicks than the 6-word one. But when I slipped and made a 33-word monster? Comments roasted me: "TLDR your title dude" and "get to the damn point".
Real Life Screwed Everything Up
Was gathering data when my laptop crashed mid-count. Lost two days of word counts. Wife got angry because I kept muttering numbers at dinner. She took my notebook and wrote: "Fix this stupid experiment or sleep on the couch".
What Actually Worked
Learned the hard way - 15-30 words works but feels awkward if forced. Best titles sounded human, like telling a buddy: "That Time My Tomato Plants Died & Why Compost Saved My Ass (23 Words)".
Funny thing? This whole post's title is exactly 27 words. Proves the point without making me sound like a robot. Mostly.
