The Defining Quality of Elite Headline Writers (You May Already Have)

HOW TO USE CONFIRMATION BIAS IN YOUR HEADLINES TO DRIVE MORE CLICKS

Does this headline grab your attention?

If so, you’re probably human.

The article is crushing it on CNBC Make It.

Sure, it’s good content.

But I honestly believe the headline has played a huge role in its success.

Confirmation bias is a psychological effect where people seek information to validate their pre-existing beliefs.

“Please tell me I’m right”.

To effectively use confirmation bias in headlines:

• Identify behaviors your audience likely has strong beliefs or opinions about

• Write a headline that appears to confirm or challenge that belief

In this headline, passive aggression is the behavior many have encountered or been accused of.

A lot of people have pre-existing beliefs about what it looks like.

The headline suggests there are definitive behaviors that passive-aggressive people exhibit.

Readers want to know whether their own beliefs will be confirmed or challenged.

So they click to find out.

It’s brilliant.

Other psychological effects that make this headline an absolute click magnet:

Authority Bias - “Harvard Professor”. Readers are more likely to click when a headline implies endorsement from an expert.

Social Identity Theory: People will always want to identify with certain groups (in-groups) and distance themselves from others (out-groups).

They’ll seek out content to determine which “bucket” they fall into.

Do people they know fall into the “passive-aggressive” bucket? Do they themselves fall into that bucket?

They can’t help but click to find out.

Examples from different niches:

Productivity: “The 7 App Habits Of Highly Productive People”

• Pre-existing belief - Productive people do or do not use apps a certain way.

Personal Finance - “The Actual Impact Of Cutting Out Coffee On Your Savings”

• Pre-existing belief - Cutting out a daily coffee will or will not have a meaningful impact on savings.

Parenting - “Does Strict Parenting Actually Lead To Academic Success?”

• Pre-existing belief - Strict parenting does or does not lead to academic success.

Disclaimer - The content needs to match the expectations set by the title.

That’s what makes a title clickworthy as opposed to clickbait.

Also, the content shouldn’t be written with the sole purpose of being provocative.

It should solve real problems and provide real value.

Giving it a juicy title is just how you make sure it’s actually read and that value is delivered.

Your Next Steps:

• Identify behaviors your audience is likely to have strong beliefs about.

• Write a headline that appears to confirm or challenge that belief.

• Write content that fully matches the expectations set by the headline.

• Let the traffic roll in.

-WANT SOME MORE?-

-TOOL OF THE DAY-

CoSchedule Headline Analyzer

CoSchedule Headline Analyzer helps you write better headlines to boost your traffic.

It provides actionable suggestions, feedback, and resources to optimize your headlines for maximum engagement, SEO rankings, and click-through rates.

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