You’ll use around 7,400 words today. At least, that’s the average according to research. If you’re a marketer, some of those words may make their way into pages on your website and posts in your social networks.
Even though we choose words thousands of times per day, don’t do it unconsciously. When our words have marketing goals, we must choose them carefully, deliberately, and with traffic in mind. Because some words have the power to increase traffic.
Here’s a list of words that increase website traffic, both from search engines and social media and instructions for using them in your marketing.
Search engines are used in all kinds of ways. But in marketing, there are really only two kinds of searchers and two kinds of keywords.
It’s that second group that are ready to buy. If you can attract these visitors, they are more likely to take action than the first group. Targeting them isn’t difficult if you choose the right words for your webpages.
Here’s a list of 84 keywords that are used by people who are ready to buy (originally published by CloudLiving).
Alleviate
Avoid
bargain
Best
Bonus
[Brand Names]
Budget
Buy
Cheap
Cheapest
Code with
Compare
Comparison
Coupon
Cure
Deal with
Deals
Discount
Discount code
Easily
Eliminate
End
Fast
Fix
For children
For couples
For girls
For guys
For kids
For men
For newbies
For sale
For seniors
For students
For women
Gain
Get rid of
Guide (s)
Heal
How can I
How do I
How do you
How to
How to get rid of
How to make
Improve
Increase
Inexpensive
Learn
Low cost
Low priced
Method (s)
[Model Numbers]
Need
New
On sale
Order
Overcome
Plan (s)
Prevent
Program(s)
Protect
Purchase
Quick
Rebuild
Recover
Reduce
Reduced
Relieve
Remedy
Repair
Restore
Review
Reviews (s)
Scam
Software
Solution
Solve
Technique
That Works
Top
Training
Treat
Vs
Combine these words with your topic to create target keywords.
Next, use a Keyword Tool to see how many people are searching for the phrase. Even if the phrase gets a low volume of searches, the few people who do search for it are very targeted and very likely to take action.
Trust me, someone is searching for the phrase somewhere. If not today, soon. Write the page anyway.
Make the writing on the new page very detailed. Your goal is to make the best page on the internet for the phrase. Follow SEO best practices when using the keywords and make sure to link to the new page from older pages.
As Google evolves, search results are based less on specific phrases and based more on general meanings. This benefits websites that have sections of many pages relevant to the wider topic, all related and interlinked. Creating several pages using buyer keywords helps indicate that your site is relevant for the broader, semantic meaning.
Ranking in search engines does not mean automatic traffic. People who search still have to click! They decide to click (or not) based on the “snippet” or listing in the search results.
Snippets are generally made up of a link with a few lines of black text below. Although there are all kinds of things that appear in snippets these days, in most cases the link is the title tag of the web page and the black text is the meta description of the page.
The snippet either convinces them to click …or it doesn’t. And the words matter. When Neil Patel analyzed 63 Google Search Console accounts, he found correlations between word choice and clickthrough rates.
To improve click through rates from search engines to your website, use these words in your title tags and meta descriptions.
PRO TIP: Remember, title tags should be no more than 55 characters in length and meta descriptions should be no longer than 155 characters. Use this content checklist if you need more help.
Iris Shoor and her team analyzed 100 blogs and thousands of headlines to find which words generated the most sharing. Not surprisingly, she found that headlines with numbers get shared the most, especially when used as digits, not spelled with letters.
Also, headlines with big numbers get shared more. The headline of this post is an example!
Shoor also uncovered the power of negative words. Posts that framed the topic from the darker perspective tend to get shared much more often:
Why? Because people have a natural bias to avoid loss, so negative words quickly grab our attention. Using fear and loss aversion is a well-researched aspect of neuromarketing.
So a headline such as “How to Keep Your Plumbing Happy” won’t likely generate as much traffic as “11 Things That Will Instantly Kill Your Garbage Disposal”
Fear not! It’s not necessarily cynical to use negative words in marketing. It’s often just a way to empathize with your readers. Your audience has pain points and using words that describe their problems is a useful way to connect.
Positive or negative, words that evoke strong emotions will be shared more often.
(source)
Social media scientist Dan Zarella analyzed 10,000 tweets to discover the words that appear most often in re-tweets. He came up with the following list.
Notice the words “please” and “retweet” make this list at numbers three, four and eleven, showing the power of calls to action. Want people to share something? Ask them politely!
Note: Zarella’s findings actually conflict with Shoor’s research. Takipi found that the words “you” and “how to” didn’t have an effect on sharing. But Zarella was researching Tweets and Shoor was researching headlines. Possibly, the ideal words for a tweet are not necessarily the ideal words for the actual headline on the page.
A MailChimp study analyzed the effect of word choice in subject lines on email open rates. The data covers personalization, capitalization and difference across industries.
One of the most dramatic findings relates to words that indicate urgency. Take a look:
Just as emotions can be triggered by negative words, some words trigger the loss aversion bias in a different way. These words tell your subscribers that the information in the email is time-sensitive and that by ignoring the email, they may miss out.
If your email is relevant to the moment, let your subscribers know by using these words in the subject line.
Driving traffic is only half the battle. Getting visitors to take action once they’re on your site is the other half. And yes, words are a factor here too. In an excellent post on Copyblogger by Gregory Ciotti, these are the five most persuasive words in the English language:
Ciotti recommends using these words carefully. Don’t just make everything on your site new, free, and instant. If you understand the psychology behind these words, you’ll inspire more of those new visitors to become leads, subscribers, followers, and customers.
Recommended: Increase Blog Traffic by Nadya Khoja on Venngage.
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Awesome article! One of the best ways to make a blog popular is to engage on multiple platforms and create a niche base of readers. Writers are known for a particular field of expertise, or a way of writing, and some have made their blogs popular by commenting on other blogs. The whole idea is to create a special place for oneself and writing for one particular audience.
Thanks for the SEO power words. Enjoy your snippet click through words
This is really very informative & interesting article Andy ! Thanks for sharing great information 🙂
Such a helpful post! Printed it out and ready to refer to!
Thank’s for sharing great information
I keep coming back to this guide – it’s so good! Great work, Andy!
In fact, I linked to it from my SEO case study: http://billwidmer.com/white-hat-seo-case-study/
I’d love to hear your thoughts on it! 🙂
Definitely bookmarking this one. Thanks for great tips (as always) Andy!
Thank you so much for this article. Extremely helpful!
great article
You wrote a smart and surprising blog post, Andy. Lots of great tips and tricks
Excellent work. “Andy” and “Crestodina” words that ALWAYS get me to click!
Ha! Those are the top 2 on my list, too.
Reminded me of an awe-some book titled “words that sell”. Have you read? I used to build my ad copies around that book. Few here I hadn’t thought of, thanks much I love these types of articles!!
Hi Andy,
Thanks for a great resource!
I saved it to share with my writing staff.
Will you follow up with a similar list specific for B2B websites?
Great advice – taking notes!
Interesting article Andy!
Will be incorporating this into my website shortly, thanks for the research!
I have only one word to say, WoW. I read the article what a awesome article, improving my website google ranking thank you for sharing. I have a lot of work you will find a lovely support.This post is very inspiring me. I always take your advices very seriously, keep posted.
I’m glad you liked this one, Ravi! Hopefully you’ll find some other useful SEO posts here. Enjoy!
I love it! Being totally new at online marketing, your article was exactly what I needed to get started. Thanks!
Thanks, MaryAnne. If you look around, I hope you find a lot of other useful posts here. We’ve also written a book called “Content Chemistry” which is sort of a round up of the best content from this blog.
Enjoy!
The fact that this post is still attracting comments, a year after it’s original publication, speaks volumes about the value of evergreen content…from selecting topics to execution. Lots of lessons to be learned.
Excellent, excellent article. I have to write about very technical regulatory topics for both informed and uninformed audiences. I realize now that I need to simplify the language for BOTH groups. The informed audience still needs the relevant information quickly, expressed in easily digested language.
Dear Andy, thanks for the list of useful words which can help us to drive traffic to our websites. The explanation is awsome.
I would like to add these two :
Price Cut, Price Drop
Thanks for your input, Kamal!
Thanks for posting such a very helpful post. I’ve used you’re list of keywords in creating title and formulating long tail keywords. It was really a big help! Another tip that greatly helps me in generating traffic is Responding to comments on the social accounts and engage with readers. Doing so increases the chance that they will come back and share the page with friend.
Thanks for your comment, Dirk! FYI, I would have responded to this comment even if you hadn’t said that responding to comments increases the likelihood of sharing. 🙂
The 84 ready to buy keywords are perfect for entering into the KW Planner “Include” box. I’ve been looking to add to my list. These are wonderful. Thanks so much.
Those words are also fun to check in Ubersuggest.org. Sometimes they match up with other words to make super specific, but non-competitive phrases.
Glad this was useful!
Andy, was this the post you mentioned on #BBSradio you were going to write? We love and appreciate your brilliance and making us think smarter.
Yes! This is the post we talked about on your last podcast, Michele. I’m glad if the #BBSradio listeners find this useful!
We can implement the suggestions in this article into our posts today. That’s the sign of an informative piece of writing.
Hi Andy,
I love this post, it’s so useful. I’ve copied sections of it into evernote!
Its a great piece outlining some essentials words to be included in headlines and descriptions of the articles. Plus these words also helps indicating the readers the content is written for. I usually try to use the word “You” so i can relate with my reader upfront and urge him to read what i have written exactly for him/her.
Thanks, Saad. I’m also a big fan of using “You” in marketing. But I have a theory about buttons. Although I think second-person language (“you”) is great for marketing copy, I think first-person language (“me”) might be slightly more effective in buttons and calls-to-action. Such as “sign me up.”
I haven’t seen data on this. If come across anything, please let me know. And thanks, as always, for the comment!
Great post. I find your stuff amazingly helpful. Thank you, Andy!
Andy:
This post is the perfect complement to your Content Chemistry; the book tells you what to do, the other tells you how to do it.
Thanks for the inspiring case study of top-shelf content marketing and writing.
Roger
This means a lot coming from you, Roger. Thanks for the encouraging words.
To the readers of this blog, I highly recommend checking out any of Roger’s content, including his books.
Brilliant post Andy – I agree that the key is using these words intelligently, and in the right places so they are read in context with your main content to increase traffic, shares, or whatever your objectives may be..
True! Use them wisely and in context. I was just joking with some friends on Twitter how ridiculous it would be to try to use them all in one post. I’m sure it would be a terrible piece of writing, but it would be fun to try. 🙂
Really useful post Andy, thanks. It’s good timing for me too: I’m just putting together an email about power words in copywriting. You’ve given me a few more ideas! I’d also add a few words that really trigger people’s emotions. The short, emotive, Anglo-Saxon words that connect directly to the reader’s brain and make them feel. Words like: love, hate, sex, risk, chop, child, cash, crash, best, worst, rage, lose, burn…
Winston Churchill knew his power words. This is one of my favourite examples. If you want to stir people to action, you could do worse that steal from Winston: “We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.”
Anglo-saxon words beat out the latin-based words for directness every time! It’s a great point, Vicky. I love the curt, almost percussive impact of these words. If this advice is included in your post, I’d love to read it.
And thanks for the Churchill quote. What a great way to start my day.
Hi again Andy,
Ask and ye shall receive: my email about Winston Churchill and the power of a good old Anglo-Saxon word went out today. You can find it here: http://archive.aweber.com/sunflower-news/EvwGr/h/How_Winston_Churchill_can.htm.
My next one will focus more on which words to use – and my research is what led me to your post (and onto your subscriber list). I’ll link back to you if you don’t mind, because your focus is slightly different from mine.
Glad I gave you a great start to your day! TTFN.
Love it, brilliant write up!
Great post, Andy
Marketing Experiments once tested several headlines and concluded that the simple word “get” is powerful: http://www.marketingexperiments.com/marketing-optimization/optimizing-headlines.html.
Also, the word “announcing” might be a good alternative to “new”. I can’t remember whether I’ve seen a test of its effectiveness.
That’s great input, Henneke. I can imagine how “get” would work well. I also agree with your thoughts on the word “announcing” since it implies new. You don’t announce something after it’s been out for a while. It’s often the meaning, and not the specific word, that makes the difference.
Thanks for your comment. Glad you liked this one!
“Introducing” would work in the same way as “announcing” and is one I’ve been known to use from time to time.
Awesome article by the way! Definitely one to bookmark and return to often 🙂
Wow! Thanks for this comprehensive list.
I’m always testing email subject lines. After all, I don’t think you can use “Urgent” all of the time. Or can you? 🙂
I suppose if everything you send is “urgent,” the word may lose it’s effect. It’s like the little boy who cried wolf. Some of these are best saved for when there’s an actual wolf. There are probably 131 clever ways to cry wolf, but if you use them at the wrong time, you’ll lose trust with your audience.
Wolf! …no wait, it was just a squirrel.
Exactly!
I created a Newsletter and Email Subject Line swipe file. Whenever I’m stuck, I read subject lines and newsletters. It’s been a big help.
131 words is a great start, @persado works with several million combinations.
Andy, this is an excellent article and very thoroughly researched and organized. Thank you very much for sending.I have already forwarded it to a few clients!
Nice to see you here, Michelle! And thank you for sharing it. I hope your clients take full advantage of the research.
Great Article Andy , Thank you , very helpful
But First I Have to work on First Half …. Traffic
Great post Andy! I love to think about words and how they are used and organized! This article made me think more carefully about the words I used to describe “before and after” photos on my business Facebook page today.
These would be great words to use on Facebook posts, especially the words that lead to more sharing. Thanks for the comment, Cindy!
I noticed that the word weird gets used a lot as in “One weird trick ” obviously trick is a special word… but adding the word weird does something…. Maybe someone has insights
I love it–It’s not only WHAT you say, but also HOW you say it. Pick your words well. Happy marketing, Heidi Cohen
Out of the 141 words mentioned in your 5 lists, there are 5 words that repeat twice. Let’s call these the magical words. 😉
* Great
* How to
* Reduce/Reduced
* Top
* You
Good catch, Matt. I wasn’t sure how to handle these so I just let it ride. “How to” didn’t surprise me, but the others were unexpected. If you try writing a headline with all 5 magical words, let me know!
Nice composite of lots of research in one post. Helpful!
Thanks, Teri! It’s been a looong time. Nice to see you here. Hope things are going well for you and the words in your marketing. 🙂
I’ve found that in some circumstances “official” is also a good word to get clicks.
Interesting. Thanks, Sarah. I can see why that would work. I wonder if “unofficial” might also be a good word in some cases…
Excellent article, Andy. As always it’s “how you say it!”
You wrote a smart and surprising blog post, Andy. Lots of great tips and tricks! 🙂
Thank you, Lauren. I was hoping it would also be an instantly urgent post, but I’ll settle for smart and surprising. 🙂
So on-point, Andy. Another excellent piece of writing, and you clandestinely set yourself up to get a LOT of organic traffic to this post. LOL. Brilliant as always. Thanks!
Thanks, Tim. Actually, I didn’t do much to optimize the title or header of this post, but there’s more to life than search engine rankings.
Glad you liked this one. Of course, you’ve been carefully choosing words for years. Was any of this new to you?
This is one of the best resources I have seen in a long time. Posted to our non-fiction marketing blog, letting them know to substitute book sales for traffic. While it is great for blog traffic, the ideas work beyond blogging for writing book descriptions or sales pages also. Thank you for putting this together!
Happy to help, Tara! Every marketing writer knows it: words matter a LOT.
Really nice article, Thanks Andy.
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