News headlines are the first taste a reader has of an article and are often their first impression of whether they should commit time to read it. Carefully crafted headlines inform and entice readers in just a few words, allowing them to get the information they need quickly and efficiently. In addition to summing up the news, these headlines can also tease the story in a clever or interesting way depending on the article’s tone. However, this style of headline must still follow the same guidelines as straight news headlines for readability and credibility.
The headline of this Atlantic article, for example, clearly states what the article is about and why it’s important to readers while still enticing them to click through for the full story. This headline is well-written and follows AP Style guidelines for capitalization, punctuation, and word choice. It’s also concise, using a single verb, and avoids acronyms. It also avoids using jargon or slang, as these will confuse or alienate the reader.
While it may be tempting to use sensationalism or appeals to curiosity in a headline, this can backfire on you. Headlines that rely on these methods are often viewed as clickbait, and they don’t typically perform well in search results. Instead, it’s better to focus on including relevant keywords naturally within your headlines. Our free News Headline Analyzer Studio helps you do this by scoring and providing feedback on your headlines, giving you the tools to craft compelling news headlines that perform.