Article Syndication - Is the title important?

I tend to for option two. I make the title relevant to the piece using whatever comes to mind as the best option. I'm not sitting here thinking "How can I get a keyword into this."

My personal experience has shown that my articles still get syndicated this way.

You definitely want an eye catching title more than one optimized for SEO.

For example, which you rather publish on your site?

How To Make Money With Article Marketing

Or...

7 Powerful Content Marketing Tips That Will Build Your Brand And Earn More Money

I think I'd rather go with the second one, myself.

I think the title is essential... An article that does not get opened does not get read, and leads to a massive fail.

I write the title for the reader first, the search engines second.

I want people to open the article and read it. Failure to have my article read puts the whole process in the loser category.

I write the title for the reader, with the expectation that the reader will want to read my article as a result of my title.

If I can slip keywords into the title, without losing the "reader attraction" factor, then I will do so.

If I cannot put the keywords into the title without taking away the desire of the reader to open my article, then I leave the keywords out of the title.

I think titles are very important.

I think they're "copywriting", almost, rather than "article writing".

I believe the people you're asking about don't often search by keyword.

All the people I've managed to "chat with" after they've syndicated one of my articles by browsing in Ezine Articles have told me that they look for content to syndicate in Ezine Articles because "it's where everyone looks for content to syndicate". They certainly haven't found them by looking in Google, anyway.

Don't forget (and I don't mean this dismissively in any way!) that this question covers only passive syndication, which should be only an afterthought, really. It would be a mistake to rely on this form of syndication (though I admit it was what got me started, and it can sometimes have outstandingly good results, albeit that they can also be slow-moving and highly variable!).

This, I think.

I admit I occasionally have an extravagant enthusiasm for having a "major keyword" in the title, and whenever I do that, I'll have it at the start of the title.

Titles like "5 Things You Need To Know About Keyword" are just plain misguided, in my opinion. They're neither one thing nor the other. No real "reader appeal" and no real "keyword results"/"SEO benefit" either. (I learned this one from Chris Knight, owner of Ezine Articles. He's certainly right about it! )

I think what you're really asking is not so much whether keywords in titles are important for article syndication in general, but specifically for syndication from article directories with a search function?

(IMO, if the majority of your syndication isn't "direct" and the result of active engagement with webmasters, etc., you're probably not being very proactive and are needlessly leaving a whole lotta juicy steak on the platter. )

Everyone's different in how they use article directories like EZA, anyway. Some might search and others, like myself in the past, will just sift through the categories.

But yes, for those searching, making your article as keyword-relevant as possible can gain you greater exposure. Whether that will necessarily translate into more syndication remains to be seen, because the trade-off, of course, is in how much appeal you'll sacrifice by pandering too avidly to a search engine.

... And this is part of the reason why you're so much better off writing the best articles you can and making active syndication the mainstay of your article marketing efforts - because you can then always discuss and address any "concerns" prospective publishers might have about your work, bettering your chances.

Paul's the perfect example of how to arouse curiosity...

I clicked his eDoggies link just now, all revved up for a bit of light-hearted zooerastia, and all I got was some spiel about search engine domination!

Or was it the other way around?

I don't even know, because all I can think of is that damn sig title and what the heck it means. LOL.

I think the article title is very important-almost as important as the content. It will usually be the first thing a potential reader will see.

An eye-catching title is always better than just writing something just to have a title for your article. Don't forget that your audience is the visitor, NOT the search engine!