Readers prefer simpler headlines—unless they are journalists

What’s the issue?

Readers have many options to choose from for online news. So how can news organizations get more people to click on and read their articles? One way is through simpler headlines.
 

What does the research say?

Researchers from Ohio State University, Michigan State University, and Harvard Kennedy School found that readers prefer simpler headlines to more complex ones, even when the stories are about complicated topics.

They reported over 30,000 field experiments across a traditional news source, The Washington Post, and with a storytelling site with uplifting content, Upworthy. In these experiments, actual online news readers were presented with either a simple or a complex headline associated with a news story. They measured headline complexity by considering the use of common words, style, readability, and character count. They then studied which kinds of headlines received more clicks.

Readers tended to prefer the simple headlines. In follow up laboratory studies, the researchers found that just minutes after reading the headlines readers were less likely to recognize the phrases in the complex ones. They seemed to just skip over the complex writing. However, journalists—readers who are also expert writers—did not show the same preference for simple headlines.

In a crowded information environment where everyone competes for reader attention, headline writers would do well to keep things simple and be aware that as journalists their preferences may not match those of their readers.