Choosing between title case and sentence case for effective article headlines

An essay about the ongoing dilemma of choosing title or sentence cases for your article headlines and content headers.

One of the core puzzles in blogging and SEO today is whether to use title case ("Python Tutorial For Beginners") or sentence case ("Python tutorial for beginners") headlines for your article or blog post.

At some point during the evolution of the Internet, it became an unspoken rule that title case symbolized brand credibility and established reputation, while sentence case symbolized a casual or personal approach. As a result, it became common practice in business circles to use title case in order to "stand out" from the rest. Even today, a title case headline is generally perceived to be more professional.

But now that about two decades have passed since the invention of the World Wide Web, title cases are no longer the unique and distinct thing they once were. Their effect is wearing thin. You see, title cases were remarkable only due to their eye-catching ability; they used to attract more attention because they stood out from the rest. But now that every uncle in the neighborhood and their dog is also writing article headlines in title case, does it still have the ability to stand out? I don't think so.

Nevertheless, most highly ranked articles on Google on most topics happen to use title case headlines, even though they no longer retain that X factor. For example, when I googled "how to improve your website SEO in 2024" today, I found that all except one article in the SERP had title case headlines. For me, that one article felt unique and distinct, and it stood out from the rest. Are you starting to see some irony here?

Sentence cases aren't that bad

1. Sentence casing follows the basic rules of English grammar. Now, let's talk about a few benefits or advantages of sentence cases. Firstly, sentence case headlines are grammatically proper. Since only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized, it's not only a more consistent approach but also enhances readability for those new to the Internet or those who don't have English as their first language, and we are only going to see more of them as the global reach of the Internet increases!
2. Helps maintain consistency in multi-lingual blogging. If your content features multiple languages or you publish articles with translations in many languages, sentence case headlines help maintain consistency due to their uniform appearance, simplified rules of capitalization, and reduced stress on translation. As we geopolitically transition into a globally multi-polar world, the scope of multi-lingual content is only going to increase.

What I have read about search engines and SEO so far is that Google doesn't have any bias towards title casing or sentence casing for ranking purposes. It all depends on the content itself and a dozen other arcane factors relating to the way the Internet works. Nevertheless, folks still keep using title case in their articles and essays, the quality of which varies. But the way I see it, title cased headlines no longer have that appeal or uniqueness they once had.