A well-crafted headline plays a key role in reader engagement with an article. It sums up the main point in an enticing way and sparks curiosity, encouraging readers to read more. The headline also helps readers decide if the article is worth their time and can influence whether they share or click the story.
Headlines appear not only on article pages but also anywhere your website serves up content — homepages, landing pages and Apple News, for example. Because they’re visible in so many places, it’s important that they remain consistent. A stale, dated or misaligned headline can have a negative impact on your audience and search engine visibility.
Long-time newspaper editors have their methods and rituals when it comes to writing headlines. Some resort to Rhymezone, IMDB or that idiom dictionary to generate puns and snowclones; others follow the siren song of colons, journalese and partial quotes. Regardless of the approach, good headline writers know that their work isn’t easy: They have to be savvy, entertaining and clever in limited space and a world full of competing news and fanciful ideas.
The best headlines use concise language and keywords while answering the who, what, where, when, why and how of an article. They also use the present tense, which is the default for most news stories. Headlines that are overly sensational can erode reader trust and make it harder for journalists to earn their reputations. And while there are many tools to assist in the process, such as Google Trends, they can never replace the editor’s experience and expertise.
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