At first glance, knowing how to capitalize your blog titles may not seem like a big deal. After all, how much difference can a few capitalized words really make?

But if you look at your blog posts long enough … you’ll begin to notice a distinct pattern.

But wait, what is the big deal? 🤦‍♂️

Actually …

If your blog post titles look all over the place with their capitalization, it can really make your whole website seem a bit sloppy and unprofessional.

This inconsistency, no matter how subtle, can subconsciously influence how your audience perceives your content.

If you wanna be taken seriously as a writer, you need to capitalize your titles. 😤

What Is the Best Way to Capitalize a Title?

There is no BEST!

I always use the AP style though …

AP What?

The Associated Press (AP) style, it’s one of if not the most widely used standards.

Here are the main ones:

The Associated Press (AP)
Title Style
American Psychological Association (APA)
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Wiki Style (Wikipedia)
You can also consider Google and Apple styles …

Or it can even be one of these unpopular options which I don’t recommend (except for sentence case):

Sentence case, UPPER CASE, lowercase, AlT CaSe, tOGGLE cASE, Hyphen-style?, Under_score

Is Capitalizing a Blog Post by Hand Manual Labor?

Capitalizing a blog post title by hand is honestly almost impossible.

Too much work! 😢

And needs to be automated!

That’s why I created the Auto Capitalization tool.

You’re welcome …

Blog Title Capitalization Rules

We already mentioned what they are above.

You can also find details of each standard here.

But let’s look at them using this weird sentence as an example 👇

“The quick brown fox, ‘jumps’ over the lazy uncapitalized title gap.”

Okay, so what exactly is the AP Style?

The Associated Press (AP) style

Here is what that would look like in AP style:

“The Quick Brown Fox, ‘Jumps’ Over the Lazy Uncapitalized Title Gap.”

You see how “the” is not capitalized?

Yeah?

That’s because it’s a definite article.

But when it comes as the first word in the sentence, it is capitalized.

By the way, the AP Stylebook is at its fifty-something Edition!

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Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS)

“The Quick Brown Fox, ‘Jumps’ over the Lazy Uncapitalized Title Gap.”

In CMOS, the main difference is that you lowercase conjunctions, articles, and prepositions (unless used as adverbs or adjectives).

It is very similar to MLA, and in the Auto Capitalization Tool, you will not find it, instead, I’ve replaced it with the “Title Style” rule, which is more often used than CMOS. ✌️

APA Style (American Psychological Association)

“The Quick Brown Fox, ‘Jumps’ Over the Lazy Uncapitalized Title Gap.”

In this example, it’s basically the same as AP.

But the difference is APA capitalizes all “major” words in the title/heading, including the second part of hyphenated major words.

In practice, AP will mostly capitalize all those as well …

It’s so nuanced …

I know right?

Next up …

MLA Style (Modern Language Association)

MLA style will capitalize the first and last words, as well as all principal words in between while lowercasing articles, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions … except for the first or last word or those following a colon.

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Wiki Style (Wikipedia)

Wikipedia Style, also known as the style manual for all English Wikipedia articles, follows these capitalization rules:

Capitalize the first letter of the first word, capitalize proper nouns, and use lowercase for everything else, except in cases where more specific rules of capitalization apply, such as titles of works, names of organizations, or trademarks.

What About Subheadings?

Subheadings are typically capitalized using the sentence case …

Me? I prefer the AP Style, you know?

It just feels more polished and professional to me.

FAQs

•••

What is Sentence Style?

“Sentence style” refers to a capitalization convention where only the first word of a sentence and any proper nouns are capitalized.

What is the Title Style?

Title style, also known as headline style or title case, is a capitalization convention where the first letter of each major word is capitalized.

What are the general rules of capitalization for titles?

The general rules of capitalization for titles vary slightly depending on the style guide being followed (such as APA, MLA, or Chicago Manual of Style), but here are some common guidelines:

Capitalize the First Word. Always capitalize the first word of the title, regardless of its part of speech.
Capitalize Proper Nouns. Capitalize all proper nouns, including names of people, places, organizations, and significant historical events or periods.
Capitalize Major Words. Capitalize the first letter of all major words in the title, including nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. This typically excludes articles (a, an, the), conjunctions (and, but, or), and prepositions (at, by, for, in, of, on, to, with) unless they are the first or last word of the title or are an integral part of a proper noun.
Capitalize Subordinating Conjunctions. Some style guides, such as APA, capitalize subordinating conjunctions (e.g., “Because,” “Although”) if they are four letters or longer.
Capitalize Hyphenated Compound Words. Capitalize the first element of a hyphenated compound word in the title.
Capitalize Quoted Titles. If a title is enclosed in quotation marks within another title, capitalize the first word of the quoted title and any proper nouns.
Capitalize Abbreviations and Initialisms. Capitalize all letters of abbreviations and initialisms in the title.

What are the general rules of capitalization for titles?

In title case or headline style, certain words are typically not capitalized unless they are the first or last word of the title, or unless they are an integral part of a proper noun. These words include:

Articles. “a,” “an,” “the”
Coordinating Conjunctions. “and,” “but,” “or,” “nor,” “for,” “so,” “yet”
Short Prepositions. “at,” “by,” “for,” “in,” “of,” “on,” “to,” “with”
Short Subordinating Conjunctions. (depending on the style guide): “as,” “if,” “than,” “that,” “when,” “while,” etc.

Summary✨

Well, now you know. We’ve discussed various aspects of capitalization in titles, including the rules of title case or headline style. As long as you stick to one style, it doesn’t matter which one you use.

I hope this article and the Auto Capitalizer tool were helpful to you. If you have any requests or comments on the tool of course feel free to let me know.

How to Capitalize Your Blog Titles Like a Pro