Google has put its foot down. According to the Bad Pitch Blog, Google has advised Business Wire that media release headlines that are longer than 22 words will be ignored by the search engine’s spiders.

Here’s a tip: Headlines longer than 22 words will be ignored by editors too.

Back in the day, I would write what I like to call “management headlines.” These are headlines that management wants, and they are the exact opposite of what the editors want. Mark Mathis’s book Feeding the Media Beast has some great ideas about headlines. In a nutshell, headlines are never published so they should be used to get the editor to read the first sentence of your release. Of course, they must pertain to the subject, but they can be off-beat, funny, thought-provoking – anything to get the editor to read your lead. Be creative!

I’ve found that using more creative headlines than a regurgitation of my lead has gotten my clients more coverage. Sure some of those headlines were hard to sell to management, but at the end of the day, it’s the coverage that they want.