How to Write a Blog Headline in 202426 Blog Headline Writing Tips (That'll Capture Attention) and Get More Readers

Learning how to write a blog headline (for your blog posts) that’ll actually capture reader attention, is a rite of passage for every blogger and content marketer, regardless of the niche you’re in. In this guide, we’re going through all of my best blog headline writing tips that’ve helped me generate 500,000+ monthly readers.

How to Write a Headline for Your Blog Posts (Top Blog Headline Writing Tips and Guide) icon
Get My 25+ Free Blogging Tools Delivered Straight to Your Inbox

"*" indicates required fields

Enter your first name*
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Believe it or not, there’s a true art and science behind writing effective blog headlines. It’s a skill that can make the difference between whether your blog succeeds or fails in the long run—because if your blog headlines fail to attract readers… you’ll have a difficult time making meaningful progress in your traffic growth.

Whether you’re just starting your blog or you’re already reaching an audience, if you’re unable to write a headline that effectively convinces readers to consistently click on your articles, come read, and decide to stick around for the long haul, then you’ll have an incredibly difficult time making a lasting impact in your blog niche.

How to Write a Headline for Your Blog Post: 26 Blog Headline Writing Tips

  1. Conduct Audience Research
  2. Use Psychographic Data to Make Decisions
  3. Use Persuasive Language in Your Headline
  4. Paint a Picture of What Readers Will Gain in Your Headline
  5. Avoid the Passive Voice in Your Headline
  6. Use Keywords to Write a Headline (for Search Engines)
  7. Align Your Headline with User-Intent
  8. Your Headline Must Answer the “What” Question
  9. Your Headline Must Answer the “Why” Question
  10. Your Headline Must Answer the “When” Question
  11. Your Headline Must Answer the “Who” Question
  12. Your Headline Must Answer the “How” Question
  13. Use Dates to Make Your Headline Feel More Current
  14. People Love Numbers: Use Them in Your Headline
  15. Don’t Sacrifice Clarity for Cleverness
  16. Your Headline Should Be Direct
  17. Observe Headline Length Best Practices
  18. Agitate the Problem and Offer a Solution
  19. Master the Skill of Word Play
  20. Add a Touch of Mystery
  21. Don’t Be Afraid to Ruffle a Few Feathers
  22. Use Software to Learn How to Write a Headline That Works
  23. Learn from Competitor Headlines
  24. Avoid Writing Clickbait Headlines
  25. Don’t Write Vague Headlines
  26. Never Use the Third Person Point of View in Headlines

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and at no additional cost to you, I’ll earn a commission. Know that I only recommend products and services I’ve personally used and stand behind. When you use one of my affiliate links, the company compensates me, which helps me run this blog and keep all of my in-depth content free of charge for readers (like you).

Need Catchy Blog Title Ideas?

Blog Title Generator Tool (AI-Powered) SEO Blog Titles Screenshot of Tool

Try my free AI-Powered Blog Title Generator Tool to get dozens of SEO-friendly headline ideas to make your blog posts stand out today.


So, why is it important to know how to write a headline for your blog posts? Let’s take a look at some research.

3 Data-Backed Reasons to Learn How to Write a Headline that Gets (More) Clicks

One of the mistakes many bloggers make when writing a blog post is to focus all of their attention and effort on just the quality of the blog post at hand—then slap a quick headline that feels right onto it and hit publish. After all, it’s the information within the blog post that readers want, right?

While that may be true… it doesn’t mean you can neglect the importance of learning how to write a headline (that’ll bring you those readers in the first place). If anything, the blog headline you write should receive as much love, attention, and research as the rest of your blog post.

Here are three data-backed reasons why blog headline writing is important:

  • 80% of people will only read your blog headline (and nothing else)
  • 95% of searchers never go past the first page of Google’s search results (so a headline that helps land you on page 1 is key)
  • Studies show that a great headline has the potential to increase your traffic by as much as 500%

Not convinced yet? Here’s an analogy for you: Writing a weak headline for your blog post is like sticking a cheeseburger on the end of your fishing hook… no fish are likely interested in that. And if you can’t (first) hook your readers with a headline they’re interested in—and write a headline that’s strong enough to help make it to the first page of Google search results—those readers will never even come to your blog.

  • Blog Headlines: What’s the Fuss? You’ve seen the data, blog headlines are a powerful tool in the grand scheme of attracting readers to your blog. However, if a headline is poorly written, getting eyeballs on your content is next to impossible. Aside from the data above, let’s cover a few more quick reasons why you should invest a lot into writing a headline for your blog posts. Even if you have hundreds of blog post ideas you want to cover, if you don’t know how to write a headline that captures the attention of readers, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll manage to consistently attract people to your blog over the months and years to come.
  • A Great Headline Makes Your Blog Post Stand Out: There are approximately 6 million blog posts published every day. Standing out and grabbing attention will require that you do more than write an amazing article. You’ll have to write a headline that sticks out like a sore thumb.
  • Strategically Written Headlines Improve Search Engine Rankings: With so much competition to appear on the top of search result pages (SERPs), you need to pull out all the stops to give your blog post a better chance of ranking. And that includes optimizing your headline for blog SEO best practices.
  • Your Headline is a Personal Invitation: Your headline’s purpose is not just to tell readers what your blog post is about. More than that, it should serve as a welcome mat that invites readers to dig deeper into your content. To achieve this, you must write a headline that’s compelling to the right audience you’re trying to reach.

Alright, now let’s dive into my ultimate guide about how to write a headline for your blog posts—and get more readers to click on your content from both social media & search engines.

Need Catchy Blog Title Ideas?

Blog Title Generator Tool (AI-Powered) SEO Blog Titles Screenshot of Tool

Try my free AI-Powered Blog Title Generator Tool to get dozens of SEO-friendly headline ideas to make your blog posts stand out today.


Understand Who You’re Writing a Headline For

The very first step in learning how to write a headline for your blog posts is to understand who you’re writing for in the first place.

Blog Headline Writing Tips (Screenshot of Bloggers Writing)

Knowing about who your audience is, will be instrumental in learning how to write a headline for your blog posts—in a way that’ll feel personalized to them. We’re going to start by breaking down how to write blog headlines that’ll make readers feel like you’re talking directly to them. Of course, with the result, your target audience will be more likely to click on your headline (and read your content).

So, how do you write a headline that feels personalized?

1. Conduct Audience Research

Audience research means studying up and learning about your target audience to get to know them better (which always helps if you’re within your target audience too). Some questions you’ll want to answer during your audience research:

  • What can you learn from their key demographic data points? (Age, gender, race, location, employment & marital status)
  • What’s their preferred style of language? (Clever, informal, formal)
  • What types of blog posts do they like to read? (Informative, controversial, personal stories)

The answers to these questions will help you frame your headlines in a way that’ll appeal to your target audience’s preferred consumption style and format.

2. Use Psychographic Data to Make Decisions

Not to be confused with demographics, psychographics is the study of influential factors that determine a person’s behavior.

Demographics vs Psychographics Graphic (Image)

Psychographics include (amongst other things) the values, interests, personalities, opinions, lifestyles, and attitudes of your target audience. In other words, psychographics are the traits that drive why people do things—including clicking on a particular blog post headline over another right next to it.

To determine your target audience’s psychographics, ask yourself (and them) questions like:

  • What are their interests?
  • What are their goals (as about your blog niche)?
  • What are their biggest challenges?
  • What kind of writing tone do they relate best to?
  • How are they going to consume your content?

If you want to write a headline that captures their attention, then use psychographic data to your advantage. It’s the key to getting into your readers’ heads.

Knowing your audience and giving them what they want, is the best way to write a headline that feels personalized. These are the kinds of headlines your audience will find most relevant in their world, and feel like you’re speaking directly to them.

Know the Goal of Your Blog Post (Before You Write a Headline)

Every blog post should have a clear goal in mind, which is why virtually all successful blogs are built upon a strong blog business plan that informs your content decisions at its foundation.

Know the Goal of Your Blog Posts Before Writing a Headline (Blogger Writing Image)

Now, what does your content goal have to do with writing attention-grabbing headlines? Turns out, it has just about everything to do with your headline.

Your headline should act like a mini Call-to-Action (CTA) that starts the reader’s journey toward your ultimate goal for the blog post. Here’s how to optimize your blog headlines to become a more persuasive call to action:

3. Use Persuasive Language in Your Headline

One of the most important skills you need to develop to learn how to write a blog headline is the art of persuasion. A headline should not only attract readers, but it also needs to convince them to take the next step and actually read your blog post.

And that’s why you need to use persuasive language in your headlines.

Persuasive language can come in many different forms, but put simply it translates into using words that appeal to your readers:

  • Logic: What do your readers want to know? Strive to write a headline that demonstrates the value they’ll receive from coming to read.
  • Emotion: What emotions do you want your headline to evoke? Write a headline that makes your readers feel compelled to click through and read more.
  • Ethics and values: What do your readers value most? Write a headline that draws them in with an appeal to their values.

By appealing to these 3 core aspects of our built-in human nature, you’ll be able to learn how to write a headline that’ll much more easily draw readers into your blog posts.

4. Paint a Picture of What Readers Will Gain in Your Headline

Want to better understand how to write a headline that’ll drive more clicks? You’ll need to use your headline to paint a picture of what readers will benefit from as a result of reading your blog post.

How to Write a Headline That Shows What Readers Will Benefit From (Screenshot of Headline Example)

For example, the headline in this image above (pulled from my roundup of freelance job sites), promises readers that they’ll be able to browse a list of all the best websites for landing a freelance job—and get more freelance work quickly.

The headline I wrote for that article is designed to very clearly explain what my readers will get by coming to the article—a list of freelancing sites to get work quickly. It’s a pretty straightforward headline, but attempts to immediately connect browsing job sites with the real ultimate goal my readers have in mind… getting more freelance work.

5. Avoid the Passive Voice in Your Headline: Use an Active Voice Instead

The active voice tends to be easier to understand when scanning through multiple different headlines and trying to decide which article is best for you.

Active vs Passive Voice in Blog Headline Writing

And as long as you’re not running a news organization, the active voice will be a more natural headline structure to help capture the attention of your readers.

  • Passive voice headline example: “Defendant Found Guilty by Jury”
  • Active voice headline example: “Jury Finds Defendant John Smith Guilty for His Heinous Crimes”

Which of these headlines would you click on? To me, the active version is much more appealing, because it’s rooted in a current action that sounds like it’s happening right now.

Using an active voice in your headlines also has the added advantage of:

  • Making your headline more exciting
  • Subtly turning your headline into a more definitive statement (or command)
  • Placing your readers in the moment and transferring your action-oriented mindset

As much as possible, try to avoid a passive voice when you write a blog headline, as the passive voice tends to result in weaker, less exciting headlines.

Having a plan and clear vision for your blog is crucial to knowing what kind of content you should be creating in the first place. It also helps immensely in writing blog headlines that’ll act as the call-to-action to get your audience to come and read your content.

Optimize Your Headline for SEO

As much as you’re writing headlines for real people, you also need to keep in mind that your headlines need to be optimized for search engines as well.

Writing SEO Friendly Blog Headlines (Screenshot of Google Search Browser)

After all, for your target audience to find your content in the first place—it helps immensely if your blog posts eventually rank well in search engines like Google.

Here’s how to write a headline that’s optimized for blog SEO best practices:

6. Use Keywords to Write a Headline (for Search Engines)

One mistake many bloggers make when incorporating keywords into their content is to not give as much attention to the importance of keyword usage (in the right place) within their headlines.

Your headline is the first place you need to highlight your main target keyword phrase. Best practices for learning how to write a headline that’s keyword-friendly, include:

  • Placing the keyword as close to the beginning of your headline as possible
  • Avoid keyword stuffing, but consider including a related phrase in your headline

A perfect example of these two best practices is in the headline for this article you’re reading right now: “How to Write a Headline for Your Blog Post: 26 Blog Headline Writing Tips

  • The #1 target keyword phrase I’d like this article to rank for is right at the beginning (how to write a headline)
  • An alternative version of my keyword phrase is also used toward the end of the headline (blog headline writing tips)

Not all readers will search for the same terms when they’re looking for answers online—so employing a slight variation of your main keyword phrase somewhere within your headline (if done tastefully without keyword stuffing) can be very powerful in the eyes of search engines like Google.

Use My Free Keyword Research Tool

Free Keyword Research Tool (AI-Powered) SEO Keyword Research and Ideas

Try my free AI-Powered Keyword Tool to get dozens of research-backed ideas for keywords & topics to write about on your blog today.


Another keyword-focused writing tip that I talk a lot about in my guide on how to write a blog post, is to include your target keyword phrase throughout your subheads within the body of your article as well. Just make sure they fit naturally into the context of your content.

7. Align Your Headline with User-Intent

To better optimize your headline for SEO ranking ability, be sure to write it with user intent in mind.

What is user-intent? User intent simply refers to understanding exactly what searchers are looking for (when they type in a search query) and meeting those expectations for what they’re hoping to find, with your headline and the rest of your blog content as well.

A well-optimized headline quickly shows search engines that your blog post has the answers their users are looking for. And if readers tend to bounce less from your blog post—or spend more time on your articles than that of competitors, then you’re on the right track. For example, in my guide about how to write faster blog content, the headline promises 10 actionable strategies to improve your writing practice.

As a result, your content has a better chance of being rewarded and ranked higher by search engines.

Write a Headline that Answers Your Reader’s (Burning) Question

Another fundamental need when it comes to learning how to write a headline is to make sure your headline answers a reader’s burning questions. Not in full, of course, but enough to show them that your greater blog post will give them all the information they’re looking for. To do this, your headline must answer the following crucial questions.

8. Your Headline Must Answer the “What” Question

What will your reader gain from clicking through and reading your blog post?

Blog Headline Example (Creating a Content Marketing Strategy Screenshot)

Above all else, the what should be clearly evident from quickly scanning the blog post’s headline. In my guide to building a content marketing strategy, the what (a content strategy) is extremely clear and concise right inside the headline.

Remember, people always want to know what’s in it for them first and foremost. And if you write a headline that can accomplish that objective, you’ll grab their attention.

9. Your Headline Must Answer the “Why” Question

Why should a reader choose to click on your article (compared to all the rest appearing in search results alongside it)?

Why Start a Blog (Headline Example for Answering the Why Question)

Aside from showing your audience what they’ll gain from reading your blog post, your headline should also illustrate why they should read your post.

For example, the promise of my article that talks about whether or not you should blog, is to guide readers down the path of discovering their own why behind starting a blog—and whether or not they should, through a series of questions, reasons, and a free quiz).

10. Your Headline Must Answer the “When” Question

When should your readers click through to come and read your post?

Remote Jobs Post (Blog Headline Writing Example) Screenshot of When Urgency Words

Of course, the answer is now. That’s why you should write a headline that contains words that inspire a sense of urgency. Examples include words like now, today, instantly, and a whole host of others.

Take for example the blog headline I wrote for my guide about how to get a remote job—which frames the entire article around getting a remote job this weekend. Adding that timeframe to the headline makes my guide feel more attainable and arguably easier for readers to commit to.

Strive to answer the when question within your blog headline, by showing readers a time frame in which they can achieve the results promised by the blog post. If you’re writing a blog post in the weight loss niche, a good headline could be: “How to Lose Your Belly Fat in 21 Days (Without Sacrificing Your Favorite Food).”

11. Your Headline Must Answer the “Who” Question

Who will benefit from reading your blog post?

Example of Writing Blog Headlines (Blogging Books Screenshot)

This is where knowing your audience well, also lends a helpful hand, as it’ll guide you in learning how to write a headline that captures the attention of a specific group of people. Using my roundup of the best books about blogging as an example, it’s very evident within the headline that this list of books has been curated specifically for bloggers to read (on a related note, check out my guide about how to write an eBook if you want to become the author of your own book one day too).

Another touch of personalization you can consider is the use of the word you inside your headlines. While it may seem like an ordinary everyday word, it can be surprisingly powerful in making readers feel like you’re speaking to them directly.

12. Your Headline Must Answer the “How” Question

How will readers achieve a particular result by reading your blog post?

How to Make Money Blogging Screenshot (Blog Healine Example)

Your headline should hint at how your blog post will help readers achieve the results you promise from reading the article. With the headline for my guide about how to make money blogging, I’ve achieved that by previewing how many ways to generate revenue are being covered within the article (as well as mentioning a dollar figure I’ve earned, to help boost the credibility of the piece).

This is why how-to articles are some of the most popular content formats out there today. In most cases, people are searching online for a way to solve a problem, find an answer, or perform a particular task. Therefore, your blog headline should clearly show that your post contains the solution.

Remember, as much as you’re creating content for your blog, the articles aren’t just for yourself.

Your content should always have the primary focus of serving your readers—and that means learning how to write a headline that clearly shows that.

Take the Scientific Approach: Write a Headline That’s Specific

As much as writing is more of an art, learning how to write a headline is truly more of a science.

Don’t worry though, as we’ve already learned here… it’s a science that’s relatively easy to understand and master. It may take a little time and repetition, but you’ll get better at writing blog headlines the more you do it. Here are a few principles you can follow to increase the effectiveness of your headlines by being specific.

13. Use Dates to Make Your Headline Feel More Current

The world is always changing so quickly that keeping up can be a struggle. Especially when it comes to blogging and internet marketing best practices—if you snooze for a minute you get left behind.

That’s why, if you want to learn how to write a headline that captures the attention of your readers, you’ll have to show that your article contains current and relevant information. One of the best ways to do that is to add a date inside of your headline—especially if the content is timely (like my list of the most relevant blogging statistics this year).

Blog Headline Example (Blogging Statistics Screenshot)

What if a new year rolls in? Simple! Just update your blog post with more relevant, up-to-date information, statistics, facts, case studies, examples, and of course… the date.

14. People Love Numbers: Use Them in Your Headline

Numbers are a great trigger to stop potential readers in their tracks as they scroll through the web looking for information. This is because numbers often promise:

  • A specific outcome
  • Clear structure (and a defined endpoint)
  • Scannable content

Aside from my more list-focused posts that cover topics like the 137+ best business ideas or 72+ ways to make money online—another way to use powerful numbers in your blog headlines, is to showcase dollar amounts that are relevant to the topic at hand. Take, for example, this guest post I have on my blog about how to earn with Amazon affiliate marketing:

how to write headlines use numbers

In essence, numbers are brain candy for people—they promise both order and logic, which is something our minds deeply crave—especially when digesting complex information.

15. Don’t Sacrifice Clarity for Cleverness

We all live pretty busy lives, right? Because of that, most people want things to be simplified for them—which includes the resources they read.

When you want to learn how to write a headline that gets through to your readers (without scaring them away), make sure it’s easy to understand at a glance.

While clever headlines may be cool and useful for some audiences and content genres, using them on content that’s designed to rank well in organic search results can increase your risk of losing readers to competitors that are being more straightforward in their blog headlines. This is especially true for those readers who don’t have the time to decipher the true meaning behind wordplay in your headline.

16. Your Headline Should Be Direct

Get straight to the point in your blog headlines. What’s your blog post about? State that clearly, quickly, and without room for confusion.

Your readers should immediately know what your headline means and get a clear picture of what’s being covered in your article. If they have to think twice about the meaning of your headline, or try and figure out what you’re attempting to say, you’ll lose them. A great headline doesn’t require much cognitive effort to understand.

So, be direct and get to the point as quickly as possible.

17. Observe Headline Length Best Practices

Believe or not, the length of your headline is an important factor to consider. Here are a couple of reasons why:

  • If your headline is too long, it could get truncated (thereby losing impact and meaning)
  • If it’s too short, it may lose its ability to drive action from your readers

So what’s the perfect blog headline length?

According to studies, the best-performing blog headlines have an average of about 6-12 words in them. That’s usually between 50-80 characters.

While it may be tempting to unleash all your creative energy in crafting a verbose headline, remember that there are also constraints on what’ll be displayed by search engines and social media sites.

Marry the two together (creativity and science) and you’ll learn how to write a headline that readers won’t be able to ignore.

Appeal to Emotion: How to Write a Headline that Caters to Reader Emotions

Research shows that humans tend to make more decisions based on emotion, than logic. In short, we’re often driven more by the emotions we feel, than any logical analysis of a particular situation.

Using Emotion in Your Blog Headline Writing Process (Screenshot of Surprise Image)

When it comes to the basic drivers of our decision-making process today, they usually include:

  • Ego
  • Desire to succeed
  • Inspiration
  • Security and survival
  • Curiosity

That’s why some of the best-performing blog headlines target these types of emotions. And you should too.

18. Agitate the Problem and Offer a Solution

Effective blog headlines agitate a problem and offer a clear solution. This could be a problem your reader knows they have, or even one they don’t know about until you point it out. To learn how to write a headline in this format, take this simple two-step approach:

  • Introduce the problem in simple terms
  • Hint at the solution in your headline

For example, many bloggers struggle with getting readers to their blogs (a known problem). The solution is learning how to drive traffic to your blog and experiment with what’s going to work best within your blog niche like I’ve broken down clearly in this headline:

Example of Blog Headline (Driving Traffic Screenshot)

Positioning the problem and your proposed solution together when you write a headline (and especially as you outline a blog post), promises relief for the reader—and thereby encourages them to dig into your blog post.

19. Master the Skill of Word Play

Writing an effective blog headline isn’t only about putting words together… it’s about being strategic in the way you construct those words.

Here are two common types of words you need to master (and use) when learning how to write a headline for your blog posts:

  • Superlatives: These are words that take comparison to the highest possible level. Examples include words like: best, biggest, most, highest, baddest, prettiest, and so on. Both positive and negative superlatives are great for capturing your reader’s attention.
  • Power words: Power words evoke strong emotions (like curiosity and excitement). Examples of power words include: save, easily, instantly, discover, capture, and so on.

So, the next time you write a headline for your blog post, try, and use words that strategically elicit an emotional response from your readers.

20. Add a Touch of Mystery

People are curious creatures, and we often respond to mystery with an instant reaction to want to learn more.

How to Write a Blog Headline Using Mystery (Example Image)

Appeal to that nature when you write a headline, and you’ll craft headlines that drive more clicks. A few simple ways to evoke curiosity in your blog headlines include:

Use Open-ended Questions

Open-ended questions are those that can’t be answered with a simple yes or no.

Write a headline that uses an open-ended question to lure readers into your content, as they’ll likely want to get the answer to that question.

Here’s an example of a headline that uses an open-ended question: “Informational Blogs: How Do They Actually Generate Revenue?

Leverage the Curiosity Gap

The curiosity gap represents the space between what a person knows—and what they’d like (or need) to know. To leverage the curiosity gap in your headline writing, your headline will need to:

  • State a fact the reader may or may not already know
  • Highlight something they don’t know but would like to

Need an example? Check out the headline I use in my guide about how to start a blog:

How to Write a Headline for Blog Posts Leveraging the Curiosity Gap (Example)

In this example, “how to start a blog” is the piece of information, while the “and make money” aspect highlights something more readers want to learn how to do, but don’t yet have that knowledge. This sparks a lot of curiosity and leads to readers click in and read my post.

21. Don’t Be Afraid to Ruffle a Few Feathers

Everybody loves (or hates) a bit of controversy. And that’s why controversial headlines grab attention.

If it works well within your niche or for your blog name, don’t be afraid to ruffle a few feathers by writing a controversial headline. The trick, of course, is to understand your audience so well, that you’re able to steer clear of being offensive—while still providing a useful take that may run counter to the beliefs of some readers.

Great headlines create an emotional connection with your readers. Remember that the next time you write a headline for your upcoming blog posts.

Leverage the Best Headline Writing Tools and Technology

Technology has made life easier in more ways than one, including when it comes to writing headlines for your blog posts.

Using Software Tools to Write Better Headlines (Stock Image)

Let’s look at a few blogging tools that can specifically help when it comes to writing better blog headlines.

22. Use Software to Learn How to Write a Headline That Works

Using powerful algorithms and AI technology, there are a surprising number of great free tools that can help in writing more effective headlines.

The #1 tool I use for writing better headlines, is my own AI-powered blog title generator tool.

Blog Title Generator: Free Tool for AI-Powered SEO Blog Title Ideas

Blog Title Generator Tool (AI-Powered) SEO Blog Titles Screenshot of Tool

Try my free AI-Powered Blog Title Generator Tool to get dozens of SEO-friendly headline ideas to make your blog posts stand out today.


Because different headline writing tools use unique algorithms and data to score your headlines, they’ll each naturally give you different scores. However, they can all be immensely helpful in taking a pretty good headline you’ve already written—and supercharging it into a headline that’s much more likely to attract clicks & achieve higher engagement with your readers.

Another simple tool that’s also worth mentioning here, is WordCounter. This tool allows you to quickly see the number of characters (and words) being used in your headline.

23. Learn from Competitor Headlines

Another way to ensure you learn how to write a headline that captures attention is to check out your competition. Of course, you’ll only want to take a little inspiration from headlines that perform well, not duplicate them (which would instead be likely to lead to punishment from search engines).

Tools that can help you see the kind of headlines that are performing well (in your niche, of course) are a dime a dozen.

Buzzsumo Homepage Screenshot (Tool for Competitor Research)

However, the top two competitor research tools I recommend for better blog headlines are:

These tools serve the main purpose of analyzing the best content on the web. By checking out the top-performing articles and blog posts for a particular topic, you can easily reverse engineer top-performing headlines based on what’s already doing well. Of particular note, when checking out the blog posts that get the most shares, note if the headlines are:

  • Long vs short
  • Listicles (10 Top Ways to Get Fit During a Pandemic)
  • Instructional (How to Write a Blog Headline)
  • Question-based or statements

Analyzing the blog headlines that are already out there, will help you better understand what your audience wants. As a result, you can design your headlines to align with their needs.

Tools are a great way to make your headline writing more efficient. Not only do they help speed up the process, but they’ll also help improve the quality and effectiveness of your headlines over time.

Avoid These 3 Mistakes (When Learning How to Write a Headline)

Alright, so we’ve covered a lot of blog headline-writing tips that you should follow.

Now, let’s highlight a few of the biggest mistakes you should avoid in your journey of learning how to write a headline for your blog posts.

24. Avoid Writing Clickbait Headlines

Have you ever clicked on a headline, only to be disappointed by the content inside? It’s a very frustrating experience.

Bad Blog Headline Examples (Buzzfeed Clickbait Screenshot)

The same way these bad clickbait headlines put you off, is the same way it gives your readers a negative experience if you try to employ these tactics with your headlines.

As much as it may be tempting to try and lure people into clicking on your headline, clickbait does more harm than good.

The problem with writing a headline that’s clickbait is that while they do often get people to click, the negative experience a reader has on the page causes you to lose integrity (and more readers will bounce off of the page once they realize they’re going to be let down by the content at-hand).

So how do you ensure your headlines aren’t clickbait?

  • Avoid hyperbole: Hyperbole or exaggerated statements are the hallmarks of clickbait (avoid this at all costs)
  • Don’t make empty promises: As much as your headline should be designed to offer solutions, make sure your promise is fulfilled in your blog post
  • Be honest: Honesty is the biggest trust builder (particularly online), so the slightest dishonesty can cost your blog its readership and revenue

Another simple reason to avoid writing a headline that leans on clickbait is that Google explicitly frowns upon clickbait. As such, your content won’t rank as well as it otherwise should.

25. Don’t Write Vague Headlines

Vagueness is another quality problem that plagues many headlines.

As much as you may want to surprise your readers with a profound revelation in your blog post, that is by no means a justifiable reason to write a headline that’s overly vague (in hopes that readers will click through to try and find the answer to your vague headline).

Your blog headlines must clearly portray the content of your article if you hope to build lasting relationships with your readers.

26. Never Use the Third Person Point of View in Headlines

Most blog posts are not news articles. Because blog content is meant to connect you with your readers, it’s important that you avoid the use of the third-person point of view (i.e. he, she, they).

Instead, use the first (I, me) and second person (you, your) point of view as much as possible in both your headlines and throughout your blog posts.

Why? Well, the third-person narrative often distances readers from your message, as it makes them feel like outsiders looking in. First and second-person perspectives, however, make your readers feel like a friend—and that they’re involved in the process that’s happening right now on the page.

Just as there are best practices for writing blog headlines, these few mistakes must be avoided if you hope to learn how to write a headline that’ll bring you more readers.


How to Write a Headline That’ll Get Traffic: It Takes Work (but Pays Off)

Writing headlines that capture attention may be more of a science than anything—but it’s not rocket science.

The most important thing you need to understand deeply when writing blog headlines is your audience.

Rocket Launch Stock Image

Developing a close relationship with your audience (and knowing what they’re looking for) will inspire the style and format of blog headlines you write. Add to this the other headline-writing tips I’ve broken down in this guide, and you’ll soon be writing better headlines & bringing more readers to your blog.

Remember that while writing the perfect headline may require time, effort, and multiple rounds of revisions, the results are certainly worth it.

Need Catchy Blog Title Ideas?

Blog Title Generator Tool (AI-Powered) SEO Blog Titles Screenshot of Tool

Try my free AI-Powered Blog Title Generator Tool to get dozens of SEO-friendly headline ideas to make your blog posts stand out today.


Hi I'm Ryan Robinson

I'm a blogger, but I'm not my blog. I am not my business either. Occasional podcaster and very-much-recovering side project addict. Co-Founder at RightBlogger. Join me here, on ryrob.com to learn how to start a blog and build a purpose-connected business. Be sure to take my free blogging tools for a spin... especially my wildly popular free keyword research tool & AI article writer. They rule. Somehow, I also find time to write for publications like Fast Company, Forbes, Entrepreneur, The Next Web, Business Insider, and more. Let’s chat on Twitter (X?) and YouTube about our feelings (and business, of course).

Jump into the conversation

Leave a Reply:

255 replies to “How to Write a Headline (That Captures Attention) for Your Blog Posts in 2024: 26 Blog Headline Writing Tips”

  1. Hey Ryan is the title amazing results of positive thinking good o for my article.

    Reply
    • This is a great start, Mercy. It does already have a keyword focus, which is good! Here’s something more along the lines of what I’d recommend:

      The Amazing Results of Positive Thinking: 25 True Stories of Positivity

      Reply
    • This is a pretty good start, Patti! Here’s a more fully developed version I’d go with:

      What is Leadership? 10 Things Leadership Really is (and 5 Things It’s Not)

      Reply
  2. Goal setting
    Not published yet though, I’m on the process of publishing it in a day time.

    Reply
  3. I am very interested in SEO. I need the latest techniques in SEO. The latest SEO trend is in big headlines still in digital marketing?

    Reply
    • Hey Shahid! I usually recommend meta titles (the SEO headline) sticking to around 55-60 characters in length… sometimes a little longer, sometimes a little shorter, but usually right around that 55-60 character mark, so that you’re taking full advantage of all the characters at your disposal, without getting your headline trimmed down by search engines 🙂

      Reply
  4. Such a helpful article, Ryan! Thanks for sharing all these insights. I’d love a little help with titling my next podcast episode (which is also a blog post) – it features the founder of a juice bar and we talk about important tools and values for small businesses. I feel like it’s generally a good idea to include the person’s name in the title, but I’ve heard mixed feedback on including their company, too. I was thinking something like the below but definitely looking forward to your input!

    “How to Start a Small Business and Build a Community with Amir Mostafavi”

    Reply
    • You’re welcome, Joey! Always great seeing you here 🙂 To be honest, this blog headline is already good… the only change I’d consider would be to lead with a number that could make it stand out visually on a search engine results page:

      10 Steps How to Start a Small Business (and Build a Community) with Amir Mostafavi

      That’s getting a bit long already from a meta title character count perspective (aim for staying under ~60 characters), so a variation like this could also be worth testing if Amir’s company gets a lot of search volume: 10 Steps How to Start a Small Business with Amir Mostafavi of COMPANY NAME, but if the company isn’t something people are actively searching for, I’d shy away from using it in the headline.

      Reply
      • Fantastic, thanks Ryan! There’s a decent amount of search volume around the company, so I’ll give the latter one a try. This post goes live tomorrow…I’ll let you know how it goes!

        Reply
  5. Hello Ryan, with the help of this blog post, I have learned more about how to write a great headline for our blog and I am applying your given strategies to my blog to generate creative headlines.

    This is helping me to generate more clicks and good ranking in the search engines for my blog.

    I have followed you from the last 3 months. I have read your blog about Blogger Outreach and this blog impressed me and i have mentioned your blog in my article.

    How to Increase Massive Traffic to Your Blog for Free (2020)

    How can I improve this headline and make it more effective? Thanks for your valuable suggestion.

    Reply
    • That’s great to hear, Visal! Thanks for the really thoughtful comment (and for being a reader here) 🙂 Here’s how I’d make a slight tweak to your blog headline, so that it leads with a number (stands out more visually) and I also made a little change to the exact wording to better-position it for a clear keyword phrase people are searching for with “increase traffic to your blog”:

      21 Ways How to Increase Traffic to Your Blog (for Free) in 2020

      Reply
  6. One major takeout for me out of this is, we must make the reader learn how the inside-content is going to benefit him/her with a strong and emotional headline. Merely describing the inside stuff with a routine title is not going to standout in this huge competition and drive the results.

    Since I wanted to learn more about this important topic, I literally took an hour to cover your overall content and noted some important points for myself. Now I have some great ideas to write killer headlines that drive traffic and match the user intent at the same time. Thanks for this, I would like to experiment and figure out titles that work for my money-blogposts. Thanks for the help though!

    Have a great day, Ryan!

    Reply
    • Completely agree! Your blog headline is your single biggest opportunity to sell readers on WHY they should click through to read on. Looking over my own headline structure across the content on my blog should provide a lot of actionable insights for everyone else too 😉

      Let me know if there’s a headline or two that I can help workshop with you!

      Reply
      • I am hoping you could help me with a title for this detail – “I have published a review about siteground hosting, how I shifted from a cloud host provider to siteground shared host plan and still I get a great speed and performance, where I have explained how it could help beginners and how important the money investment on a better host, etc, etc.”

        Thanks in advance, Ryan.

        Reply
        • Of course! Does something like this capture the spirit of the article?

          8 Reasons I Switched to Siteground Shared Hosting (and Get Better Speed)

          Reply
          • Thank you, Ryan. I have started working on that.

            Could you please help me with an another title?

            This is my “How to start a blog” guide which I’ve been hoping to rank in India. The present title is “4 Steps How To Start A Blog In India In 2020 (And, Blueprint To Start Earning $1000 a Month)”. Could it be better? Have a good day there!

          • You’re welcome! That headline is pretty good as-is, but work on shortening the bit within your parentheses there 🙂

  7. Excellent article!
    I am still super brand new in blogging. Can my first blog title be “Welcome to My Blog”? Also the title I have is, “Childhood Cancer Experience – from ER to Emergency Surgery”

    Reply
  8. Hey Ryan,

    Such a amazing article. I have one quick question. I can see that you have been writing great blog headlines and all of them are long. But from SEO perspective, 60 character should be ideal length.

    SEO tools will mark such long headlines as a BAD, also in Search results some part of headlines will cut from end.

    So how we can handle this situation?

    I’m currently writing article “How to start side hustle” what should be ideal headline in this case?

    Reply
    • Agreed! 60 characters is usually the constraint I give myself for the SEO/meta headline as well. Sometimes going a little bit over doesn’t hurt though, especially if you’re weaving in a second variation of your keyword phrase that can signal what exactly your content is about (and get a second mention of that valuable topic into your title). I always take a test and see approach too, so I’ll usually start with a blog headline that might be a little to long, just to see what Google allows to be displayed… sometimes they’ll showcase more like 65-70 characters for some reason, to which that’ll be a nice additional win. For your article, I’d go with a headline like:

      10 Steps How to Start a Side Hustle (and Earn $XXXXX) in 2020

      Reply
      • Thanks 😊 a lot Ryan for clarity. You explain in very manner and made it very clear to me. I will definitely try your suggestion and let you know. BTW your new blog structure is super excellent and appealing. Are you using Elementor Pro this?

        Reply
        • Thanks, Amol! I’m now using a pretty custom-built theme, but it rests on top of GeneratePress Pro and uses a lot of Atomic Blocks (in Gutenberg), so the general look and feel could be somewhat replicated with enough time using pretty inexpensive pro themes & add-ons 🙂

          Reply
  9. I want to write an article about doing things that aren’t usually done by the society like following your passion.
    “How to pursue your dream and find your northern star”

    Reply
    • Nice, Guarav! I like this subject matter. This blog headline is already a pretty good starting point too. How about something like:

      How to Pursue Your Dream (and Find Your Passion): 10 Actionable Tips

      Reply
  10. Hi Ryan, Thank you for the blog on how to write a headline. My blog emphasis is on inspirational topics (management to leadership to inward growth). I started the blog for a reason (personal) more than for monetary purposes. Though it is not for monetary purpose I would like people to read it. 🙂

    The content is mostly subjective oriented than objective. My recent blog is about lotus flower and lotus mantra (sutra). I named it as “power of Lotus (Lotus Mantra). As my blog is about empowerment, I usually name all my blogs with word “power”. 🙂 So how can my blog appear in Google search?

    Thank you. Appreciate your help.

    Reply
    • Love this, Suparna! Here’s a suggestion for a blog headline tweak I’d consider making with your recent post:

      Power of the Lotus Sutra: 10 Things to Know About the Lotus Mantra

      Reply
  11. My website isn’t live yet, but I’m working on this article:
    How to Clean Up & Organize Your Personal Computer Documents In Under 1 Hour!
    Thanks for the help!

    Reply
  12. Hi Ryan, Here’s our headline:
    Self-Reliance: A double edged sword

    The article is about our CEO who has had to rely on himself for his successes and achievements in life and how this strategy has proven counterproductive in the startup world.

    Reply
    • Ah, how interesting. I like this topic… but I’d add a bit more color/context to the blog headline. Something like:

      Self-Reliance as a Startup CEO: How to Wield This Double-Edged Sword

      Reply
  13. Hi Ryan, thank you for this super indepth article on blog headlines. Your articles always provide value no matter what the subject is.

    I have step-by-step guide that published recently that I titled:

    5 Easy Step To Start A Podcast: The Definitive Guide.

    I was going with some Brian Dean vibes with this one. 😂😂

    Btw I have been downloading your podcast heavy these days. I listend to 2 episodes, the one with Adam Enfroy is so damn good. The amount of value on that one is absurd.

    Anyway, sorry for the long comment. Have a great day.

    Reply
    • You’re welcome! Happy to help and thanks for listening to my podcast, too! 🙂

      To be honest, this title is already pretty great so I wouldn’t change much. Here’s one alternate to try though (adding the year and I made “Step” into “Steps” which is more grammatically correct):

      5 Easy Steps to Start a Podcast: The Definitive Guide for 2020

      Reply
      • Thanks Ryan. That was actually a typo of my part. In fact, idk what how I wrote that comment now that I see all those grammar/typos lol.

        The year update is a good idea, I thought about but now you made it official. Thanks man.

        Reply
  14. Ryan, thanks a lot for all these tips about writing a headline!
    I am going to publish my next article:
    “Sitzpinkler – Do German men sit down to pee?”

    Thanks in advance for your tips!

    Reply
    • You’re welcome Sindy. Fascinating article topic too, ha! I’d be very curious to hear what kind of search volume that keyword phrase “sitzpinkler” gets vs say the question component of that headline—and what kind of content you’re covering on your blog 🙂

      Here’s an alternate headline to consider that moves the question up to the front of the title (in the event that question gets more search volume than the German word):

      “Do German Men Sit Down to Pee? The Adult Sitzpinkler Phenomenon (2020)”

      Reply
      • Ryan,

        Thanks so much for your suggestion!

        The German word “Sitzpinkler” actually has a much higher search volumn than my target keyword “men sit to pee”. However, I am targeting “men sit to pee” because I see mostly only German webpage results if I search “Sitzpinkler”. And I suppose many English speaking people are searching with “men sit to pee” instead of the German word. So, the English phase may be more relevant.

        In this case, do you think that I should put the “Sitzpinkler” in the front of my headline?

        Thanks in advance for your advice!
        Sindy

        Reply
        • Yeah, given that I’d lead with the word Sitzpinkler and then follow it up with the more English-oriented keyword phrase next 🙂

          Reply
  15. Hallo Ryan help me to write about children who are are marginalized, what hardship they are facing during this period of Corona virus, they are unable to access e learning

    Reply
    • Hey Sarah, that sounds like a very meaningful topic to write about! I’d consider writing about free resources/tools that are at the disposal of people looking to get some extra help in this difficult time. If you come back here with a specific topic you’re planning to cover, then I’m happy to help you craft a great headline for that article.

      Reply
  16. Thanks for your kind support,help through this I don’t know were to start

    Reply
  17. Hey Ryan, Thanks for your feedback here! I design products around Japanese manhole covers. Here is my headline. Can you help me make it better? “Japanese Manhole Cover Designs: A Bureaucrat’s Surprise Gift”

    Reply
    • Wow, this is super cool! I had never known about these custom designed manhole covers in Japan, thanks for sharing. Here’s an alternative title you could try out:

      50+ Japanese Manhole Cover Designs (and Their Rich History Explained)

      Reply
  18. Nice post. My title “10 Top unusual hair and strange hair growth ( in the unexpected body parts)”

    Reply
  19. Hi Ryan,
    such a great post and the opportunity to get you help 🙂
    My blog is running in German, so I translated the current headline.
    “Which state certified technician salery is 2020 possible?” I´m sure you can find a better option.
    Thanks for now and nice greatings
    Michael

    Reply
    • Yes! There might be some loss in translation, so you may also need to reword slightly, but I’d go with something like:

      “State Certified Technician Salary Estimates (2020): What’s Possible to Earn”

      Reply
      • Ryan, thanks for your idea 🙏

        I´ll try to do a similar kind of translation and use it in my post. Let´s see how google and my audience will act with.

        Reply
          • Hi Ryan, i want to give you some feedback.
            I changed the translated headline to “State Certified Technician Salary 2020: What is Possible?” (little bit shorter then your suggestion cause of the limit for meta tag). Very curious is, that Google changed my headline and display “What is possible? – State Certified Technician Salary 2020” in the search results!?
            Even so, after changing the headline the page rank changed from positions 6 to 4, amazing!
            So Ryan, thanks again for your help 😁

          • Wow, that’s a VERY cool early result you’re seeing! A jump in 2 positions from a headline tweak is the kind of result we’re looking for here, well done! 👏

            Interesting that Google did a little rewrite of your headline. I see that happen anywhere from 10-20% of the time, but notice that it’s often some sort of shorter-term experiment and it eventually settles back as the SEO headline I’ve given it. I’d let things settle for a while and see where you end up 🙂