A top headline is the best way to catch the eye of a reader and encourage them to click on your article. Whether you’re trying to increase shareability or search visibility, the most important thing is that your headline is compelling and accurate.
In a digital environment, it’s often the sub-editor or section editor who writes an article’s headline rather than the reporter who wrote the story. This helps ensure the headline has a consistent editorial tone-of-voice and that it’s relevant to the tactics and distribution channel being used.
Often, the first step in creating an effective headline is to define two key factors: what’s the point of the article and where it will be published. A headline that’s designed to be shared on social media will look very different than the one optimized for search engines.
The best headlines are conversational. Write the headline as if you were talking to a friend and keep it clear and concise. In lab experiments, it’s been found that readers are more responsive to simple writing and less to complicated writing.
Lastly, be sure the headline tells your audience what they’ll learn or get out of clicking on the article. This could be a benefit statement, a number or an emotional hook. A good technique is to place the target keyphrase at the front of the headline (to give it “keyphrase prominence”) and then leverage human psychology by adding a word or phrase that will grab attention.
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