What is clickbait?

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What is clickbait?
Clickbait is a technique that attracts users to our content within a list of results.

If we look at Wikipedia the explanation of clickbait would be:

Clickbait is a neologism used pejoratively to describe Internet content that aims to generate advertising revenue by using headlines and thumbnails in sensationalist and misleading ways to attract the highest possible click-through rate. Clickbait headlines typically aim to exploit the "curiosity gap," providing just enough information to make the reader curious, but not journalist email database enough to satisfy their curiosity without clicking on the linked content.

In the end, for me, it is nothing more than a legitimate technique to attract the user's attention, as long as we give the user what they are looking for, which is why it is important to make a correct and ethical clickbait above all.

Grow with us!
A little history about clickbait
The term clickbait dates back to around 1999, but it did not become popular until 2010, when media outlets such as Buzzfeed used it massively, and it began to become unpopular with people.

It should be noted that in August 2014, Facebook announced that it would take measures to reduce the impact of clickbait on its social network.

Examples of clickbait
Below we show two clear examples of clickbait, which in some way perfectly meet the parameters necessary to attract the user to the content.



The Psychology of Clickbaiting
The question is simple: how can it be that at this point in the Internet, we are still attracted by these headlines that, in 99% of cases, are not going to provide us with the content they promise? Well, the answer is very simple: curiosity gets the better of us, and that is where most headlines that try to use the Clickbait technique attack .

Below we will explain some techniques from the point of view that will help you work with Clickbaiting in an ethical way.

Use a title that is as descriptive as possible of the content the page will contain.
It is important to think about what the user is searching for, and think about the exact keyword, so that the user identifies with this keyword, which will normally be a long tail keyword.

Use numbers in the title, as we like lists.
Although this technique could be considered ancient, it still works, and that's because humans like lists, which is why headlines like: "The 3 pillars of SEO" or "The 7 keys to positioning a video on YouTube" really catch our attention.

Use words that catch our attention.
There are many ways to attract attention through the use of words. Below is a short list that you could use.

Use demonstrative pronouns: By using pronouns like this, that, that… we will activate the lever of human curiosity.
Use action verbs: Imperative verbs such as: Read, Look..., spark our curiosity because in some way they force us to look inside the content.
Draw attention: We must analyze the results where we want to appear, and stand out there with images, videos or emojis that are different from those of our competition.
Work on pain points: Pain points are those negative situations that a customer has experienced at one of the points of contact with a company. Therefore, by working on these possible pain points in the headlines and resolving them in the content, we will be able to improve our CTR .