To maximize earnings, content creators resort to clickbait—a strategy that utilizes headlines to attract readers. While this strategy can quickly boost content performance, the long-term becomes the expense for its quick benefit.
Clickbait provokes potential readers to click and view the content. The strategy doesn’t fail in doing what it is intended to do. However, because of its nature, clickbait has its own controversy.
For creators, the clickbait strategy has drawbacks that are worth considering. Additionally, with the changing landscape of the digital world, making clickbait headlines may not be so easy.
What is clickbait and how does it work?
Clickbait is used to attract attention and boost user engagement through headlines. It works by using a curiosity gap, which urges readers to click on the article to satisfy their curiosity. It also works by using a provocative headline without giving away too much.
Clickbait also often uses emotional triggers such as surprise and excitement. These headlines provoke a strong reaction and encourage clicks. Techniques like exaggeration, provocative questions, or bold statements further drive readers to engage despite the actual article often falling short.
Notable clickbait examples are "The Shocking Truth About [Popular Product] That No One Told You", "10 Surprising Facts About [Someone] That Will Blow Your Mind", and "This One Simple Trick Will Change Your Life Forever".
Short-term benefits of clickbait
Clickbait headlines are specifically made to grab attention, resulting in a significant increase in traffic and engagement. A BuzzSumo study confirms the effectiveness of this strategy. Clickbait titles urge readers to click to satisfy their curiosity, leading to a rise in pageviews as more visitors explore the content. This can give short-term success for websites by significantly boosting their visibility and interaction metrics.
As the content gains more viewers, the rise of traffic results in more ad impressions and potentially higher click-through rates, providing revenue gain for content creators.
Clickbait headlines often perform well on social media platforms, where their provocative nature leads to more shares and engagement. As users share these intriguing headlines, the content spreads quickly, further increasing traffic and interaction.
Additionally, social media algorithms tend to favor content that generates high engagement, which gives clickbait an additional boost. These algorithms prioritize posts with lots of clicks, likes, and shares, ensuring that clickbait content remains prominent in users' feeds, thus sustaining its short-term success.
Long-term drawbacks of clickbait
Although clickbait may appeal in the short term, its long-term consequences are worth considering. As it relies on the spark ignited within potential readers, even though the content isn’t as sensational, it would lead to disappointment in the creator.
While clickbait may work once or a couple of times, readers would eventually grow distrustful. Even once loyal readers might give up their loyalty. Because the contents didn’t satisfy the curiosity sparked by the headline, it would also result in the low time readers spent on the site. A 2020 study confirms the harmful impact clickbait has on audience perceptions.
On a broader scale, clickbait might result in misinformation and fake news. The misleading headlines used in clickbait can distort the information to be out of context, which could lead readers to make false impressions or believe in inaccuracies. As these headlines are widely shared on social media, they could quickly spread misinformation, making it more difficult for accurate and reliable information to reach the public.
It is not just readers; even search engines aren’t so fond of clickbait. As the most used search engine, Google prioritizes high-quality content and constantly refines its algorithms. Sites that heavily rely on misleading or sensational headlines might see a decline in search rankings, which would lead to reduced visibility in search results.
Usage of clickbait also raises ethical concerns regarding the responsibility of content creators to provide factual and accurate information. Reliance on clickbait shows how the creator prioritizes profit over public interest, as the focus shifts from delivering valuable content to simply gaining traffic and ad revenue.
Balancing clickbait and quality content
Quality content offers valuable information that provides lasting value to the audience, contrary to clickbait’s immediate but short-term spike. Quality content lets content creators gain loyal audiences who return for reliable and informative material, leading to sustained growth and a positive reputation over time.
Balancing clickbait and quality content helps gain attraction while retaining integrity. Create headlines that grab attention and are informative. Use engaging language that sparks curiosity, but ensure that the headline accurately reflects the content. This attracts readers without misleading them, providing a clear expectation of what they will find.
Case studies
Upworthy gained its rise from using clickbait. After its initial success, the site saw a sharp decline because it relied on a clickbait strategy. The platform was known for its sensational headlines that maximize clicks and shares.
While its headlines drove massive traffic, the content often failed to fulfill readers’ expectations, leaving them disappointed. Over time, this led to a significant drop in engagement. Changes in social media algorithms, such as Facebook's penalizing clickbait content, further contributed to Upworthy's decline.
On the other hand, the Daily Mail gains popularity through sensational headlines. However, it also diversifies its content to deliver high-quality journalism alongside its attention-grabbing headlines.
In 2023, Daily Mail launched a subscription service to sustain its commitment. Balancing quality content and clickbait can keep its present audience and attract new readers. As of August 2024, it gained over 30 million visitors and ranks 4th as a UK news and media publisher.
Conclusion: Balancing the ideals
Clickbait offers appealing short-term benefits, such as increased traffic and higher engagement. However, the long-term drawbacks often outweigh the short-term gains. Reliance on clickbait can harm a brand’s reputation, contribute to the spread of misinformation, and even negatively impact search engine rankings.
What’s ideal for content creators and marketers is to balance between clickbait and quality content. They may build loyalty with the audience through value and transparency while actively engaging with them. Quality content that informs, entertains, and engages readers will be more sustainable than sensational headlines.
Looking at the future, clickbait undoubtedly won't just go away. However, as seen with Upworthy's decline, gaining the benefits from clickbait headlines will be more challenging than before. Search engine algorithms continue to prioritize quality content and are constantly updated, making it harder for misleading or sensational headlines.
The advancement of Artificial Intelligence plays both sides. While it can help make smoother clickbait, it may also be used to advance search engine algorithms to filter clickbait further.
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