8.3 Headline writing and subheadings

Crafting Effective Headlines and Subheadings

Headlines and subheadings are the gateway to your article. A headline is often the only thing a reader sees before deciding whether to keep reading or scroll past. Subheadings then act as a roadmap through the piece, breaking up long stretches of text so readers can find what matters to them. Getting both right is a core journalism skill.

Importance of Effective Headlines

A headline is the first point of contact between your reader and your story. A compelling headline pulls people in with specific, vivid language. A vague or generic one gets ignored.

• Compelling headlines use catchy phrasing, provocative questions, or surprising details to entice readers to click or keep reading.
• Weak headlines rely on generic statements or lack specificity, giving readers no reason to care.

Your headline also needs to accurately reflect the article's content. Misleading or sensationalized headlines (clickbait, exaggerated claims) might get clicks in the short term, but they erode trust in both the journalist and the publication. If your headline promises something the article doesn't deliver, readers won't come back.

Subheadings serve a different but equally important role. They break long-form content into digestible sections and highlight key points, main arguments, or shifts in topic. Think of them as signposts that help readers navigate your piece without getting lost.

Best Practices for Headline Crafting

Keep it concise. Aim for 5 to 10 words. That's enough to convey the main idea without losing the reader's attention. Avoid jargon or technical terms your audience won't immediately understand.

Use active voice and strong verbs. Active voice creates energy and clarity. Compare these:

• Active: "Scientists Discover New Species in Amazon"
• Passive: "New Species Discovered by Scientists in Amazon"
• Active: "Mayor Announces Plan to Reduce Crime"
• Passive: "Plan to Reduce Crime Announced by Mayor"

The active versions are shorter, punchier, and easier to scan. Notice how active voice also puts the actor first, which immediately tells the reader who did something.

Use present tense. Journalism headlines traditionally use the simple present tense even when describing events that already happened. You'd write "Fire Destroys Downtown Warehouse" rather than "Fire Destroyed Downtown Warehouse." This convention makes headlines feel immediate and urgent.

Incorporate relevant keywords for SEO. In digital journalism, your headline helps search engines find your article. Include terms readers would actually type into a search bar (the main subject, a location, a key name). But don't stuff keywords in awkwardly. A headline like "Climate Change Global Warming Temperature Rise Report" reads like a search query, not a headline, and can actually hurt your search ranking.

Consider your platform and audience. A print headline on a newspaper front page can afford more detail than a tweet. Social media headlines need to be optimized for sharing, which often means shorter and more conversational. A headline that works in a broadsheet might fall flat on Instagram.

Subheadings for Content Organization

Subheadings divide your article into logical sections, each covering a distinct part of the story: background, main points, counterarguments, next steps, and so on.

Here's how to use them well:

1. Place them at natural breaks in your article, roughly every 3 to 5 paragraphs depending on length. Too many subheadings chop up your writing and disrupt the flow.
2. Make them informative. A good subheading gives readers a quick preview of what that section covers. It should make sense on its own. "City Faces $2M Budget Shortfall" tells you something. "More Details" tells you nothing.
3. Use active voice and strong verbs, just like your main headline. "City Council Debates Funding Cuts" is more engaging than "Information About Funding."
4. Keep parallel structure. If your first subheading is a noun phrase, try to keep the rest as noun phrases too. Consistency helps readers process the organization quickly.
5. Make them visually distinct from body text through bold formatting or a larger font size, so readers can scan the page and jump to the section they need.

Impact of Headlines on Engagement

In digital journalism, you can actually measure how well your headlines perform.

Click-through rate (CTR) tells you what percentage of people who saw your headline actually clicked on the article. A high CTR paired with longer read times suggests your headline attracted the right audience. A high CTR with a high bounce rate (people leaving the page quickly) often signals that the headline was misleading or the content didn't match expectations. Both metrics together give you a fuller picture than either one alone.

A/B testing is a common newsroom practice for digital stories. You write two or more headline variations for the same article, each taking a different angle or using different phrasing. Then you publish them to different audience segments and compare which version gets more clicks, longer read times, or more shares. Many major outlets, including The Washington Post and BuzzFeed News, have used this routinely to refine their headline strategies.

Reader feedback also matters. Comments, shares, and reactions give you qualitative data about what resonates with your audience. Over time, tracking this feedback helps you develop a sense for which headline styles and topics your readers respond to most.