Readers are more likely to click on clear, simple headlines — like this one

Don’t complicate things.

Our study, published in the journal Science Advances, shows that Simple headlines can significantly increase article engagement and click-through rates Compared to titles that use complex language.

In our study, general news readers preferred simple headlines to complex ones. But importantly, we found that the same was not true for the people who actually wrote the headlines — the journalists themselves.

We first use The Washington Post and worth Understand how language features, such as word length and word commonness, affect the number of people who click on an article title. The datasets include over 31,000 randomized experiments (also known as A/B tests) that compared two or more headline versions of the same underlying article to determine which one gets the most clicks.

Titles that contain more common words (e.g., “job” instead of simple words like “career”), shorter titles, and titles that are delivered in a narrative style with more pronouns than prepositions have higher click-through rates. For example, The Washington Post The headline “Meghan and Harry Are Talking to Oprah. Here’s Why They Shouldn’t Say Too Much” performed better than the alternative headline “Did Meghan and Harry Spill Royal Secrets to Oprah? Don’t Count On It.” This is an example of how sometimes a more straightforward headline can generate more interest.

In a follow-up lab experiment, we found that the average news reader paid more attention to simple headlines than to complex headlines because simple headlines were easier to understand. When journalists participated in the same experiment, they showed no preference for simple headlines. In other words: news writers seem to respond less well to simple headlines than the average reader.

Generations of communication consultants have advised communicators to follow the rather vulgar acronym “KISS”: Keep it simple, stupidWe recommend that journalists use the revised version. KISJ is not that simpleOur advice: Keep it simple, staff. Simplicity increases the number of people who click on a news headline and improves readers’ recall of the article’s content. Most importantly, simplicity increases reader engagement, i.e., how much they pay attention to the information.

Why it matters

Leading news organizations have already implemented the KISS strategy. For example, journalist Ezra Klein founded the explanation-focused news website Voxjournalists are advised to avoid Write for their editors.

Our research has found that writers and editors respond differently to complexity than news consumers. So one way journalists can avoid writing problems for editors is to simplify their writing for the reader: use shorter words, write shorter sentences, and use everyday language instead of complex alternatives. More approachable writing will reach the widest audience and get the most engagement.

Simple writing can have other effects besides generating engagement. Information has never been more abundant, but readers are always looking for reliable news providers. One potential way to improve people’s views and feelings about the news is through simplicity. Enhance trust and warmth In contrast to complex writing, a news provider may need to think deeply about word choice when crafting their next article or broadcast.

The brevity of headlines is important because the news market is highly competitive and it reduces the barrier between the public and important information. Our research does not suggest that traditional news sites should become Clickbait. Rather, it suggests that if headlines were made more accessible to the average news reader, they would be more effective in engaging readers and, hopefully, lead to a more informed public.

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