Is my title limiting my traffic?

1. 73

   LetitiaFTposted 11 years ago

   2 days ago I published my 8th and what I thought would be my most successful hub yet, which is about thieving foxes (the animals). According to google, however, I've only had 5 pageviews, my record low. It finally occurred to me that the title, which is supposed to be funny and is totally pertinent to the subject, may sound too kinky for the search engines. Then again, maybe it's something else. I'd appreciate feedback. http://letitiaft.hubpages.com/hub/Why_foxes_steal
   Thanks

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   1. 74

      Hauntyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, the title is bad because your key phrase should be somewhere near the beginning, but I think very few people search for this topic anyway. Have you checked with the Google keyword tool?

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2. 60

   janesixposted 11 years ago

   Plus your title is confusing at first glance. If people need to decipher it, they are going to just move on immediately.

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3. 73

   LetitiaFTposted 11 years ago

   Thanks Haunty and Jane. So basically, I don't get the topic across quick and easy enough, but neither of you seem to think the use of Vixen and Fetishist are the problem.
   What if I change the original title:
   "Petanque Ball Vixen and Fetishist Fox: A Look at Why Foxes Steal"
   to something like
   "What do Foxes Steal and Why: the Case of the Petanque Ball Vixen"
   Or is that still too wordy?
   Thanks, Letitia

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   1. 70

      aguasilverposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, I would go with:
      
      'What do foxes steal?' which apparently has 60k+ searched globally per month, whereas 'What do foxes steal?' came up with no searches logged!

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      1. 73

         LetitiaFTposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks aguasilver, I'll get right on it!

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      2. 70

         aguasilverposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Below are the keywords from the hub analysed:
         
         Keyword Competition Global Monthly Searches  Local Monthly Searches 
         obut Low 60,500 170
         
         pétanque shop Low 5,400 36
         
         pétanque set Low 880 < 10
         
         obut boules Low 8,100 < 10
         
         obut match Low 2,400 < 10
         
         what do foxes Low 60,500 28
         
         what is petanque Low 550,000 4,400
         
         Is the highest ranker, so maybe:
         
         "What is petanque, and why do players have their balls grabbed?"
         
         May be the line you need!

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         1. 73

            LetitiaFTposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Hilarious! I was planning to do one on petanque, I'll see how I can work all that in between the two hubs! Thanks so much.

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         2. 94

            Susana Sposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            You need to be looking at "phrase" or "exact" match rather than "broad" otherwise you'll get very erroneous data about the actual amount of search traffic for a keyphrase.
            
            Broad Match
            what is petanque 550,000
               
            
            Exact Match
            [what is petanque] 210
               
            
            Phrase Match
            "what is petanque" 260
            
            If Letitia was to get number 1 position for "what is petanque" she'd get about 50% of 260 ish per month - so 4 or 5 hits per day.

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            1. 70

               aguasilverposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks, I will remember that, I don't bother with keyword research, as you can tell!

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            2. 73

               LetitiaFTposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Wow, Susana, this is a revelation, and I know you know what you're talking about (I recognized your fantastic photo from the success stories page)! I'll look into this immediately. Thanks so much.

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4. 74

   Hauntyposted 11 years ago

   I've just checked and your hub is 1st in Google SERPs if you search for 'why foxes steal.' So if this is your key phrase then the title probably doesn't need changing. The problem is no one really searches for this.
   
   If you did indeed get Google hits less than two day after publishing the hub, why don't you check your hub stats for the actual keywords that led people to your hub and try to focus on those?
   
   I also agree with Jane that the title is funny, but it doesn't give a clear impression of whether the hub contains actual useful information or if it's just a funny piece for entertainment.

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   1. 73

      LetitiaFTposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Haunty, I've changed it to: "What do Foxes Steal and Why? A Humorous Look at Fox Theft" I'm hoping that indicates that it is--hopefully--both informative and funny! Strangely "what do foxes" ranks well too! Thanks again!

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