In this post, I’m going to walk you through the process I use to write great headlines, and show you how the CoSchedule headline analyzer does most of this work for me.
You’ll be able to use the information provided as a step-by-step guide for creating your headlines & blog titles.
If you’re ready to improve your headlines and increase your click-through rate, this post is for you!
Let’s jump right in..
Why are headlines so important?
It’s your first (and only) chance to have them read your article. This is what makes your headline the most important part of your content.
If you treat your headline as an afterthought, all the time you spent writing an article is wasted.
Start with your headline.
Your headline will be the first thing a potential reader sees. If you haven’t written a catchy headline, it’s all they will see.
3 Keys To A Great Headline
I use a simple, 5-Step Formula for writing headlines, which has been developed over the many years I’ve been writing.
But rather than talk about how to write a great headline, let’s look at what makes a headline great.
Before You Begin
This should go without saying, but you should have your topic and keyword sorted out before writing the headline. You’ll also need to observe the competition.
Look at the other articles written on your topic. Are they informational, a list post, or tutorial?
Try to find a unique angle of approach that will stand out, but still provide what your potential reader is looking for.
1. Cadence
It helps to read headlines out loud. Something that looks good in text form might sound awkward or clunky when you hear it. Try to write a headline that has a natural cadence and flow.
2. Clarity
Don’t get too carried away using nice sounding words or speaking in general terms. A great headline needs to be clear. Let readers know exactly what your article will provide them with.
3. Conciseness
Keep it brief. You want the headline to be totally visible in search results so your audience can see the entire message. Rarely will a reader click through just to see what was truncated.
Start Writing
Start with your keyword, and massage it into a basic phrase or sentence based on the unique angle of your post.
At this point, you should create somewhere between 5-25 versions of your headline to get to the right one that works.
But that’s where it falls apart for many people, myself included.
Sometimes they sound better, but the character count is too long. Sometimes they sound mediocre, but they look nice on the page.
It’s often hard to pick which version is the best one. Which is why I started looking for the best free headline analyzer I could find. Here’s the one I settled on:
Headline Studio By CoSchedule
I tried this tool a while back, but didn’t really see the value of great headlines vs average headlines. As my blogs began to (slowly) grow, I noticed that my ‘good’ traffic was coming from a massive number of impressions.
When I analyzed my CTR, I was embarrassed. Many posts were below 1% and very few were above 4%.
Clearly people were finding my blog posts, but the headline wasn’t drawing them in.
That’s when I revisited CoSchedule's Headline Studio.
Using The Headline Studio Analyzer
While you can start with a Headline Studio free account, you’ll likely outgrow the free headline analyzer and want to upgrade to a Pro account to access these premium features:
- Word Banks
- SEO Score
- AI Suggestions
- Version History
So as you can see in the screenshot below, the first iteration of this post’s headline scored a 61. Not very good, but this was my starting point.
The type of headline I’m writing uses the formula:
"(problem) ? (This Product) (solves it)"
“Embarrassing CTR? Headline Studio By CoSchedule Will Fix That” (Score 61/100)
At this point, I went through several more iterations, following the suggestions provided and adding emotional & power words, increasing uncommon words while decreasing common words, and so on.
16 attempts later, I had a much better headline with a score of 83 and no further suggestions from the tool.
“Bad CTR? Headline Studio By CoSchedule Has The Right Cure” (Score 83/100)
I usually stop making changes when the headline score reaches somewhere between the low 80s and 90, which usually makes it better than most of the competing headlines.
Flexible Workflow
Additionally, there is a browser extension (for Chrome, Firefox and others) and a WordPress plugin, giving you the flexibility to integrate Headline Studio into your existing workflow.
While I have occasionally used the browser extension to log an idea before it disappears, I mainly prefer to work inside of Headline Studio so I don’t have any other distractions.
Pricing
Headline Studio by CoSchedule has multiple pricing options.
- Free (with Limited features)
- Pro Monthly starting at $19
- Pro Annually starting at $96
I went with the Pro Annual account, since you get a big discount paying in full, and the lowest tier provided enough headline credits for my needs.
I’ve had my Pro plan since early 2022, and can see myself maintaining a membership for years to come.
Final Thoughts
Often, reviewers are really giving you their initial thoughts on a product and not a true review, where much more time is needed with the product.
That’s why I waited to write this review until I had created 20+ headlines for both new and old content, and got to see the actual results in my analytics.
Roughly 9 out of 10 headlines have seen a significant improvement in CTR, meaning my traffic has increased while the average number of impressions has stayed the same.
About 1 in 10 of these headlines have taken more of a sidestep than a move up or down. I’ll likely spend a bit more time on these few headlines to get a better understanding of where I went wrong.
All in all, using this tool has helped me understand the important factors to consider when writing headlines, and it has been taking me far fewer tries to go from my initial basic headline to a great one.
I can give Headline Studio Pro my full recommendation.
Start by opening a Free Headline Studio Account (which includes 1 premium headline), and see for yourself.
What about you?
What’s your process for writing great headlines?
Let us know by leaving a comment below..
Very nice post! My click through is generally bad, hopefully this tool can help me.
Thanks, I use it for posts on several different sites, and our CTRs have seen a huge improvement.
Good luck, Sal!
I recently started using Headline Studio, and can attest that the AI suggestions are phenomenal. Great review!
Thanks, Joyce!
I first start with search intent. I want to make sure the keyword isn’t related to a movie, song lyrics, or local business. This alone has given me the best results.
Excellent point, Nigel! Search intent is huge.
I once wrote an in-depth article tailored to what I thought was a great keyword. Turned out, that keyword was mostly used by people looking for a specific documentary.
Your section about what makes a headline stand out helped me a lot, quick question – is the AI any good?
The AI is really good. You get 10 rewrites based on how exactly you want to improve the headline. The suggestions tend to be a few characters too long to fit in the search results, so I either edit them down or use them for social posts.
Whenever I see a great headline that grabs my attention, I copy it down in a document. Later on, when I’m writing a blog post, I use those headlines for inspiration.
Great tip, Barry! Thanks for sharing!