Areyoureadingthisanddidyounoticeisaidfcuk?

Headlines! They serve a very important role and especially in today’s Internet driven business landscape. It’s called ‘click bait’ by most and it’s pretty true. 

We use headlines to catch the reader’s attention, we entice them with our news and in fact, they also help the reader discern whether or not to read the article. From an SEO perspective, headlines help the search engines decide if what we are saying matches to what people are searching for and want to read.  The best headlines will match with the most commonly searched topics.

As a PR that has written countless pieces, headlines matter to me and the success of my editorial.  I give it thought and I make it relevant. I will also try and add in my client name, all in the aim to entice readers and rise to the top of a rather large heap of news disseminated every day.  To be clear, I don’t write for SEO, that would pretty much kill my PR angle, but I do keep it in mind. Mostly, I want as many clicks as possible and shares would be fantastic too.  I don’t think clients fully appreciate or understand the role of headlines, which prompted this short blog. Like graphic designers really think about font and text placement and guard the whitespace with all they have, us PRs pride ourselves on good headlines.  So next time you approve a story, don’t forget to check the headline and remember that it is a strategic part of the written work and plays an important role.  Consider too that a lot of thought went into it and making random changes to suit what you think works is probably the last thing you should do.