How to Write Compelling Headlines That Grab Attention

Snatching your reader’s attention is the first way to leave an impression. If you’ve spent any time on social media, you know that people make assumptions about an entire article based on its title alone; it’s worth spending the time to make it perfect.

Balancing intrigue with accuracy generates eye-catching titles that get the right readers’ attention. You want readers to feel compelled by the title, but you must also keep it relevant to the content’s material. Today, we’re reviewing several headline-generation methods that produce engaging titles you can’t help but read.

1. Tell a Story

Summing up your article’s content in the headline might feel like giving it away for free, but it actually draws readers in. Using a long headline is an excellent way to surmise your content in a way that captures attention. Your headline will likely be the only part of your article that many people read, so make sure it’s informative and compelling.

You can use the same principles you would for a fictional story when you write your headlines. How can you convey the message of your story in a single sentence that makes readers want to learn more? Give enough detail that readers are curious, and they’re sure to click to find the answers.

2. Keep it Short

If you find the more extended, story-telling version of a title doesn’t work for you or your brand, perhaps this direction will be more effective at grabbing your audience. Shorter headlines can encourage people to read your article by being concise and accurate. Google recommends titles with 70 characters or fewer for the best ranking. This article has 57 characters for context, so there’s plenty of wiggle room for 5 – 8 word headlines that pack a punch.

The average person scrolls through their phone, only scanning over headlines for 1 – 2 seconds, so that a short article title can give you a significant advantage. Focus on clarity for short headlines; making it obvious what your article is about is paramount to generating clicks and conversions.

3. Stay Honest

Don’t ever fall into the trap of over-promising or click-baiting in your article title. Clickbait article headlines make bold, groundbreaking, shocking statements, but the content delivers very little. In clickbait articles, the content frequently isn’t even related to the dramatic title.

Writing clickbait headlines makes your content look bad and tarnishes your brand integrity. Plus, Google hates clickbait, and your rankings will undoubtedly suffer. Always make your headlines truthful to the content you’re promoting. Honest headlines improve your trustworthiness and help you rank well in the search results when paired with great content.

4. Use Data

It’s easier to make a point in your content if you can use data to back it up. You can use it to extrapolate meaning and inform your opinions about various aspects of your niche. Articles that use supported data get more readers and look more authoritative and trustworthy to Google.

See if you can improve your headline with an eye-catching or surprising statistic. Readers will view you as a credible source of information, making it more likely that they click on your article. If your content writing is as good as your headline, they may even return to you as a research point.

5. Ask a Question

We are social creatures, and we feel an innate need to answer questions when asked. Posing your headline as a question is an excellent way to engage readers immediately. You can tap into their problems with a question as your headline and use your content to highlight your products and services as the solution.

Stick to close-ended questions to get that precious click. An open-ended question comes across as too vague. It’s hard for readers to tell what your content is about from an open question. They’re also more likely to lose interest when faced with a less specific or relevant question.

6. Use Keywords

Hopefully, you already know the importance of proper search engine optimization (SEO). Using keywords, you can target your content toward users searching for those terms or variations on them. Optimizing a blog means finding a primary keyword as well as a few secondary keywords or phrases that make it more likely for your content to show up in your audience’s search results.

You can optimize your metadata and content to improve the chances of the right readers finding it. Optimizing your headline is another way to make it easier for your clients to find your content. Conduct the appropriate keyword research beforehand so you know you’re not wasting good content on an overused keyword.

7. Add Numbers

Headlines with numbers in the title (like this one) are more eye-catching for searchers who want results. If your content lends itself well to the list format, specify the number of items on your listicle in the title. It’s an attention grabber, leaving the reader wanting to know more. What are these ‘10 surprisingly easy ways to boost organic traffic’?

Readers are also more likely to click on your article because you’ve given them a concrete idea of what to expect. Offering a number in your headline lets readers know how deep your content is; it also makes it easier for them to gloss over the article to find the exact content they want.

8. Get Descriptive

Using adjectives or adverbs in your title gives readers an immediate impression of what they can expect. Why say your article explores ‘new technology that will change content marketing’ when you can say it covers ‘shocking new technology that will drastically change content marketing’? Including adjectives in your headline distinguishes between being dramatic and compelling.

You don’t want your headlines to sound overly dramatic because that’s too close to producing spam content that reads like clickbait. However, you can use adverbs and adjectives to add some flair to your article that helps it stand out from the competition.

9. Get Emotional

Much like adjectives and adverbs, emotive language can engage readers and sway them to click on your article over others in the same niche. Read your content and think about how you expect readers to react to your content. Then, use those emotions to inform your word choices for the article title. For example, if new technology emerges that could displace workers in your industry, you could use terms like ‘disturbing,’ ‘unnerving,’ or ‘disheartening’ in your headline.

You can tell from watching the news or reading a paper that negative, sad words generate the most interest and engagement from audiences. However, don’t make your headline negative if your content is positive. Again, this is misleading, making you look untrustworthy in Google’s eyes.

10. Consider the Shares

In an ideal world, the best in your industry will share and discuss every article you produce. With this mindset, ask yourself what you would want other publishers to write about your article. For example, envision what you would want a journalist to tweet about your writing.

From there, you can use those ideas to find a headline that would fit being shared and discussed across the social media stratosphere. Only 20% of people read an article after reading the headline, so get into your reader’s mindset to generate ideas for your content’s most influential and compelling titles.

11. Experiment with Alliteration

Alliterative, catchy, and cool headlines are excellent for grabbing readers’ attention. If you’re willing to experiment with different takes on the idea, you can brainstorm various approaches and find the most effective headline for your content. You can use alliteration to inject a specific tone or emotion into your writing before readers even have to click.

For example, suppose you’re writing about something light-hearted or positive. In that case, alliteration is a great method to project that cheeky tone without readers having to read the body of your article. Using alliteration to engage your readers invites them to join in the mood of the piece.

12. Test Theories

You can use your headlines to determine precisely what your target demographic wants to read. Try various styles, including renaming older content pieces, and keep track of the click-through rate, engagement, and overall interest in your articles. This approach lets you learn what type of reader you should write for.

Some readers love a melodramatic title, while others prefer something data-driven. Analyze your market and use buyer profiles to generate theories for which headline style should be the most effective. Then, enjoy testing them out and recording the outcomes. You can use A/B testing to refine articles until you have the perfect title. The most significant benefit of this approach is that, even if one method fails, you’ve still learned valuable lessons from the data you can use going forward.

13. Try a Negative

Sometimes, going for a title like ‘Don’t do this’ to achieve a desired goal is the best way to engage readers. In the ever-changing tech world, we’re all doing our best to avoid pitfalls as best as possible. You project very appealing confidence when you signal your content as a guide for unsure people.

Finding a definitive difference between this approach and using negative language in your headline makes it easier for readers to understand your content at a glance. This method isn’t about using negative language to highlight your content. Instead, it’s about creating content to guide readers away from danger and giving it an appropriate title.

14. Use a How-To

Making a bold statement with your headline using a how-to makes you sound authoritative and experienced. Google is biased towards trustworthy and authoritative content written professionally with expertise. The clarity of a how-to format makes it appealing to readers.

Similar to the negative approach we just covered, your how-to content is ideal for readers who want guidance. You can combine several methods, including numbers or adjectives, in your headline. E.g., ‘How to Improve your Digital Marketing Skills in 7 Delightfully Easy Steps’.

15. Use Parentheses

Recently, using parentheses in a headline has proven to be an effective attention grabber. You can put brackets in your headline that add extra information about the article’s content. For example, perhaps you’ve written an article about different ways to edit your writing to be as concise as possible. You might call it ‘How to Make Your Writing More Succinct (with Examples).

You can also include a parenthesis to reference information that readers might find important. One of the most common uses for parentheses in an article headline is to talk about money. Imagine you’ve written a piece about the best tools for SEO optimization; you might include a parenthesis that says (Free and Paid). Readers know from what type of content they’re reading from the get-go.

To Sum It All Up

There are many ways to improve your reach by upgrading your article titles. More readers can find and share your content with the correct title style. The next time you write content to promote your products and services, consider using these methods to elevate your headlines and make them irresistible to readers.