7 Headline Formats That Drive Clicks

It’s not easy being a headline in today’s crowded online world.

In fact, eight out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only two out of 10 will read the rest.

Whoa. For marketers, this means our content is at a disadvantage from the get-go. And our headlines need to work extra hard if we hope to drive any website traffic.

Lucky for you, we’ve taken the guesswork out of how to write a smart headline. Here are seven headline formats tested by the Approach copywriting team and proven to compel people to read on.

1. The “Number + Adjective + Keyword + Promise” headline
   Think of this as your go-to simple headline-writing formula. [It was created by best-selling author Jeff Goins.] The inclusion of a keyword makes this formula super SEO-friendly, and it’s a fool-proof way to ensure you make a promise to your reader.
   
   Let’s test it using “holiday cocktail recipes” as our topic. We could write something like:
   
   7 Holiday Cocktail Recipes You Can Easily Make at Home
   
   

2. The “Best way to” headline
   This headline is another SEO powerhouse because it’s an exact match to how people search for things online. Want to know how to plant a tree? Teach a child to swim? People will often start these searches with “best way to…”
   
   Your headline could look like this:
   
   Best Way to Teach Your Toddler to Swim in a Pool
   
   Keep this headline type in mind if you’re writing online content like blog posts that you want your audience to find organically while researching a topic.
   
   

3. The “Why X people do X” headline
   People care about and are influenced by what others do. If your audience looks up to or trusts a particular person or professional, tell them how these people do something.
   
   For example, if a peanut butter brand wants to educate moms on how to introduce peanut butter to babies, they could share tips from trusted sources such as pediatricians, nutritionists or dietitians like this:
   
   How These 5 Pediatricians Introduced Peanut Butter to Their Babies
   
   This formula works for B2B organizations, too. Influential sources could be successful business professionals, C-suite executives or other inspirational thinkers and decision-makers. No matter your business, think about who your audience seeks advice from, then identify how you could include this kind of source in your content.
   
   

4. The “Proven by science” headline
   People are much more likely to accept a statement as true if they trust the source. And when that source is scientific research, you’ve hit the jackpot. This type of headline is especially effective if you want people to change a behavior. 
   
   Take for example a financial services company that wants to educate young people about the benefits of saving for retirement. If the company can build its case around research, it’s more likely a reader will be compelled to take action.
   
   A headline could read:
   
   The Science of Saving: Why Putting Money Away for Retirement in Your 20s Will Make You Happier at 65
   
   

5. The “Superlatives” headline
   Positive superlatives like best, biggest and strongest are solid options for headlines. But research shows negative superlatives perform even better. In fact, research by Outbrain found that the average click-through rate on headlines with negative superlatives was 63 percent higher than headlines with positive ones.
   
   There are various reasons for this, including positive superlatives may feel cliché and overused, while negative superlatives spark surprise and may be perceived as more authentic.
   
   Let’s say you’re sharing tips on how to effectively allocate a digital media budget. You could write:
   
   The 5 Best Ways to Spend Your Digital Media Budget Today
   
   Or, you could flip it and offer something unexpected:
   
   The 5 Worst Ways to Spend Your Digital Media Budget Today
   
   

6. The “Why you should” headline
   This headline format focuses on showing readers why they should do something, rather than simply telling them to do it. It also can spur cognitive dissonance—something humans try hard to avoid—priming us to click in an effort to reconcile this new information with what we thought to be true.
   
   Take, for example, this top-ranking article from The Independent:
   
   7 Reasons Why You Should Stop Eating Meat Immediately
   
   For the average meat eater, this headline is jarring (why would I give up my favorite protein source?) and pushes you to read on. Conversely, a title like “How to Stop Eating Meat” is unlikely to have the same effect.
   
   

7. The “Ask a question” headline
   Use open-ended questions to spark discussion around a topic and gather feedback. For example:
   
   How Much Should Your Brand Spend on Social Advertising?
   
   Or, try close-ended questions to prompt curiosity. Take the following example—a reader will want to read more to learn how his or her efforts stack up.
   
   Are You Maximizing Your Social Advertising Spend?

Thanks for sticking with me to the end. I’ll leave you with this:

More than half of all the links shared on social media are never clicked. People simply share them because the headline sounded interesting. The takeaway: If you believe content is king, it’s fair to say headlines are the queen.

Ready to get writing? Our copywriting team is here to help. Drop us a line to get started.