Headline Hacks

Why Word Placement Is Important in Headlines

Readers are attracted to the first 3 words and the last 3 words

What you do when you’re confronted with emails and social posts each day? How do you browse through news websites and Medium articles? Do you click on each one?

Most likely, you skim through the headlines to get the gist of it without having to click each one. Only clicking on the ones that call out to you at that moment, if you’ve got time.

A Kissmetrics study discovered that users pick out the first three words and the last three words of a headline. Headline expert Bnonn recommends keeping a headline to six words so that readers can quickly understand it.

Copyblogger informs us that on average only two out of ten readers will read your article — eight out of ten will only read your headline copy.

That’s why it’s worth paying attention to word selection and word placement.

It doesn’t mean we need to stick to only six words, although I came across several sites with headlines that consistently hovered around six words.

For longer headlines, it helps to consider the first three words and the last three words.

“As a rule, if it won’t fit in a tweet it’s too long. But let me suggest that rather than worrying about length you should worry about making every word count. Especially the first and last three.” — Kissmetrics

This discovery fits into the concept of frontloading for headlines. This is where you place the most important words first, and we can complement that with also carefully selecting the last three words. It will also help your headline’s SEO by making sure your reader can find the keywords they’re searching for.

Let’s begin with examples of headlines with six words and six and more words where the first three words and the last three words have been carefully chosen. You’ll find helpful resources to help you with word selection. And finally, you’ll discover a simple way to assess your headlines.

6-Word Headlines

• Want to Feel Loved? Get Cancer.
• The Business Plan That Always Works
• China’s chilling decision as deaths spike
• Massive storm sparks food shortage fears
• Surprise new SUV from Aussie favourite
• The Most Successful Viral Articles Ever
• How I Deal With Hateful People
• How To Stop Yourself From Quitting
• Why Long Walks Will Change Your Life
• Coaching Will Not Change Your Life

The Case for 6-Word Headlines

On February 7, three of the four most popular articles on Medium happened to be…. six words!

The American Life Is Killing You Gen X Will Not Go Quietly The Actual State of the Union

Another site, news.com.au tends to gravitate toward six-word headlines too:

Secret quarantine sites for virus cases MAF’s star unveils dramatic new look Preschooler’s ‘harsh’ daily schedule sparks outrage Frenzy over Kmart dupe of $530 item

Practice 6-Word Headlines

Have you noticed something about these six-word headlines?

There’s little room for wasted words, especially common filler words such as some, one of, thing, very, just, that, only, really.

Writing six-word headlines is a great way to tighten our writing. One of my favorite types of poetry is haiku because it follows the same concept. With only 17 words and three lines, it’s a challenge to share a message.

Practice writing six-word headlines.

6+ Word Headlines

Uber Stock Soars After Wall Street Gushes Over Its Profitability Forecast

• Gets straight into the big news: Uber stock soars. We understand immediately it got a favorable profitability forecast.

Antarctica registers hottest temperature ever at nearly 65 degrees Fahrenheit

• Dives into the global warming issue, providing credibility through a number.

How to Create A Marketing Consultant Proposal to Win More Clients (Template)

• “How-to”s never get old and is the typical question we form when we have a need and we don’t know how to fill it — as a business, getting more clients is a common desire.

21 Beginner-Friendly Tips for Landing Freelance Writing Jobs

• Promises a simple guide to achieving the goal many writers have.

5 Questions to Ask When Naming Your Startup

• Sparks curiosity and slight anxiety in the reader. What haven’t they considered? Promises insight that may help a startup avoid unnecessary mistakes.

Blogging Success Depends on Finding Your (Narrow) Marketing Niche

• Addresses the reader’s biggest desire and offers a specific solution.

I Earned 50K With a 6-Week-Old Email List

• Numbers lend credibility and the first-person view strengthens that credibility by promising to share juicy how-to material gained from experience. We’re attracted to secrets and short cuts. This headline promises both.

A Simple Framework for Capturing and Organizing Your Blog Post Ideas

• Offers a solution to a common problem for readers.

Australia fires: Smoke to make ‘full circuit’ around globe, Nasa says

• Addresses a current news topic and instantly gains attention and credibility with its reference to an authoritative source.

World’s shortest man Khagendra Thapa Magar dies aged 27

• Novel topic.

Sites With 6+ Word Headlines

Reuters leans toward longer headlines:

• Kobe Bryant helicopter engines showed no sign of ‘catastrophic internal failure’: NTSB
• UK’s Prince Harry speaks at JP Morgan event in Miami: royal source
• Airbus likely to acquire Bombardier’s remaining stake in A220 passenger jet: sources
• Blue collar boom? College grads, baby boomers big winners in Trump’s economy
• Indexes drop from record highs, but tally strong weekly gains

Longer headlines are cited in science journal articles more often

A cross-sectional study of 22 scientific journals found that science journal articles with longer headlines are linked to higher citation rates — readers are more likely to reference an article with longer headlines.

This research challenged editors who insist on brief titles, instead recommended more flexibility in title length within publishing guidelines.

Longer headlines give the reader more detail about scientific findings. When coupled with the carefully chosen first three words and last three words, it can:

• Provide specificity about the research
• Share research findings immediately
• Spike curiosity

So there’s a good case for long headlines. But when is long too long? Consider how long headlines look when viewed outside a desktop screen.

How Long Headlines Look on Different Devices and Channels

Consider this report headline:

National Hazard Exposure Worker Surveillance: Exposure to dust, gases, vapours, smoke and fumes and the provision of controls for these airborne hazards in Australian workplaces

Or

National Exposure Worker Surveillance: Vibration exposure to the provision of vibration control measures in Australian workplaces

iPhone

The headlines appear on 4-5 lines on an iPhone 6/7/8.

Compare this to the typical Reuter headline which appears on up to two lines, sometimes three lines, though not often.

Google search

On Google, web page title tags display between 60 and 70 characters — you won’t be penalized for going beyond but it helps to optimize the words that appear to your reader.

Email subject header

Frontloading is particularly helpful in email subject headers, where it’s been found around 41 characters is the optimal email subject line length, considering readers use different browsers and email clients.

How to test what your reader will see

A couple of great tools I use regularly that help me see what the reader will see on mobile and search results include:

• Coschedule’s Headline Analyzer: Previews Google search and email subject lines.
• Coschedule’s Email Subject Line Tester: Helps write email subject lines to drive more opens, more clicks, and more conversions.
• Developer tools on your browser: For instance, here’s a guide to Chrome’s tools.

Practice

Practice 6-word headlines

These will help us tighten our headlines by making sure no words are wasted. One of my favorite types of poetry is haiku because it follows the same concept. With only 17 words and 3 lines, it’s a challenge to share a message.

Practice longer headlines

Here’s where you can use proven headline templates or write headlines from your first thoughts. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be concise, yet you can take a more conversational, casual approach.

Word selection

Since the first three words and the last three words matter, choose your words carefully.

• Use power words. Here are 320 powerful words.
• Use the highest-rated sensorial words.
• Use common phrases that naturally spark curiosity: How, What, Why, Where, When.
• Use uplifting words that will capture readers with positivity.

One Simple Way to Assess Your Headline

In the article Long or Short: Which Headlines Are Better? I share a range of often conflicting research about the ideal headline length. What I concluded is that there’s more to headlines than length.

The same applies when it comes to word selection and word placement. These are important, but there’s more to a great headline. No matter what words you use, where you place them, and how long your headlines are.

Aim for a headline that’s helpful and will be quickly understood.

Focus on clarity

When you’re writing your headlines, gift your reader with clarity.

Give them the crux of your article in your headline.

Don’t be afraid that you’re giving too much away. Clarity can spark curiosity. And don’t forget to make your headline shine with a carefully crafted subtitle.

Summary

Capture your reader’s attention with the first three words and the last three words in your headline. You can do this with six-word headlines or longer headlines. For longer headlines, it’s helpful to consider how your reader will view your headline on mobile, email, and search.

Finally, be careful with the words you use and where you use them, yet above all, focus on being helpful and clear in your headlines.