12 Headline Writing Tips To Drive Traffic & Clicks.

Wondering how to inspire skimmers to click on your article? A powerful headline is an essential tool for driving traffic to your content.

Picture this: You’ve spent hours researching and writing a phenomenal article. Obviously, you want people to read the article since you worked so hard to create it. But here’s the sad truth: on average, 6 out of 10 people only look at the headlines before sharing an article.  And only 49% claimed to read the articles. What is a content creator to do? There’s a clear connection between the value and interest of an article’s headline and whether people are intrigued enough to click on it. Writing a strong headline isn’t an exact science, but plenty of data has been compiled and studied over the years to provide some clues as to what makes a strong headline great. Here are some headline-writing tips to win those readers over and earn more clicks.

So here are our 12 Tips To Write Click-Worthy Headlines.

Your headline serves the essential role of making a first impression on a potential reader. We all know how important first impressions are. Being average isn’t better than being bad. Your headline is either exceptional, or it’s forgettable. There isn’t much gray area. The following tips and methods below will help you turn a poor or average headline into one that earns clicks and pulls in readers.

1. Look At Google Search Results.

Once you’ve researched the keyword(s) you’re planning to target, analyse the search engine results page (SERP) to see the articles you’re competing against.

2. Make An Emotional Connection

Emotional headlines dependably perform better than neutral ones. Using power words to evoke emotions in your reader enhances their first impression of your content while building curiosity, dread, or anticipation to read more.

The best emotional headlines target:

However, exercise caution when using emotional headlines. You don’t want to fall into the clickbait trap of not delivering what you promised readers.

3. Use Names.

For this headline trick to be successful, the names need to be well-known to your target audience.

Brand names can be just as powerful as people.

For example, when targeting SEO topics, using “Google” in your headline will bring in clicks, as will using “John Mueller.” These are widely recognized brands and figures within the industry. The names you choose to feature in your headline should be tailored to your specific brand niche.

4. Use Numbers.

Numbers are natural eye-catchers. In an endless sea of words, numbers snag our attention and make us pause. We remember numbers because they help our brain organize information. Use the power of listicles and numbers to beat your SERP competitors.

5. Make The Benefits To Your Reader Clear.

When a reader is deciding whether or not to click on an article, the question they’re asking themselves is, “What do I get out of this?” Your headline should indicate the value a reader can expect from clicking through and reading it.

High-performing content serves one or more of these purposes:

When a reader decides to click on your article and invest their time and attention, they’ve already set expectations based on the benefit your headline promised. Make your reader benefit clear, but don’t overpromise.

6. Optimize For Humans And Search.

Your first priority is optimizing so your human audience will find your content and want to click on it.Your second priority is optimizing for search engines, especially Google.

The good news is, humans and search engines can generally agree on what they like to read, including content that is:

Conclusion:

Be sure to include your primary keyword in the title to optimize it for Google and help people find your content when searching for the topic.