Recently updated: August 19th, 2025
Love it or hate it, clickbait is very popular among digital marketers to attract the attention of online users and encourage them to click on a link. Clickbait can be a post title, thumbnail link, or text designed to entice internet users to click, follow, read, view, or listen to that particular piece of online content.
When we think of “clickbait,” we usually think of those annoyingly misleading, deceptive, or sensationalized titles or headlines for web links and YouTube videos with an intention to attract clicks. Users may come across a video or web page that has nothing to do with the mentioned topic in the title. Though click-baiting is the deliberate act of misinterpreting or over-promising about something it isn’t necessarily bad.
According to Andrew Selepak, director of a graduate social media program at the University of Florida:
“While we often view clickbait negatively because it is associated with fake news and online hucksters, if your company has a solid product that can actually help consumers, getting people to your site by hook or crook isn’t such a bad thing.”
When used correctly, clickbait can be an extremely effective marketing tool for content marketers. It does what they want – it attracts attention and encourages more clicks to a particular landing page. Clickbait entices people to consume your content by making them believe it will be better than it is.
Sometimes it is not bad at all if you serve a little useful/relevant content to your audience when they come to your page. This article will discuss more clickbait, how to take advantage of clickbait marketing to draw in more traffic to your website, and when you should avoid it. Clickbait strategies are also frequently used in SEO packages to enhance organic search performance.
What is Clickbait?
In simple words, as we discussed, clickbait is a marketing technique used to entice more users to click on content. Clickbait is any type of content that is written specifically to generate as many clicks as possible. Clickbait could be any clickable content, such as videos, infographics, blog posts, news stories, interviews, and so on – packaged in a specific way to divert users’ attention away from their initial search.
You can make any web content clickbait by including some of the following elements:
- A captivating and eye-catching headline
- Easily skimmable
- Images/videos that are amusing or memorable
- A humorous tone or a strong appeal to a specific emotion
- Designed to encourage social sharing
Many content creators and marketers look down upon these elements when creating clickable content to gain more clicks, likes, views, shares, and followers. Not all clickbait has all of these elements, but most of it has at least two or three characteristics to attract the attention of users.
Clickbait is not a new topic. You’ve probably seen clickbait a few times while scrolling through your Facebook timeline or searching YouTube videos with titles or thumbnails with some elements that could make you curious to know more about the topic. Nonetheless, we will talk about how to use clickbait and when to avoid it in the marketing world. But before this, let’s see how clickbait can benefit you to gain more traffic, views, and followers.
Why Clickbait Works?
Clickbait is effective because it taps into deep psychological triggers which drive our interest and decision-making. It is a fundamental strategy that exploits to bridge the the curiosity gap–the anxiety that we feel when confronted with an unfinished story. Our brains crave closure, and we click to ease the tension.
Another aspect is another factor is the dopamine impact. When we see emotional-charged headlines, whether shocking or shocking, our brain releases dopamine. This produces excitement and prompts us to be more engaged.
In the end, clickbait is effective not just because people like being manipulated, but rather because it meets our psychological desires for excitement, novelty, in addition to emotional stimuli.
Pro Tip: Use curiosity-driven headlines, but ensure your content delivers genuine value. Otherwise, you could be at risk of excessive bounce rates and loss of credibility.
Benefits of Clickbait
So, you’re considering creating some clickbait content but aren’t sure how it will benefit you? Clickbait can help you achieve your traffic goals as it creates the curiosity gap in viewers’ minds. Here’re some of the benefits of clickbait in your content marketing.
More Pageviews/Video Views
There is no surprise that the primary goal of clickbait content is to get more page views or video views. And, if it is your only goal, then clickbait is a fantastic way to get them. Clickbait has the potential to increase views on your blog, social media posts, YouTube videos, and other publications.
Increased Opportunity for Social Shares
A good clickbait is almost as appealing to share on social media as it is to click. People don’t share just anything on social media because the type of content they share reflects their personality. You have to appeal to people’s emotions, such as fear, anger, sadness, joy, surprise, and disgust with your clickbait content to encourage social sharing. The stronger the emotional reaction, the more likely it is that they will share the content.
Increased brand awareness
The third advantage of clickbait is increased brand awareness. If clickbait increases pageviews and social shares, it results in more people will be exposed to your brand. Creating appealing clickbait is an excellent way to increase brand awareness in content marketing, particularly when integrated into SEO services.
Also Read: Brand Slogan vs. Tagline: How To Create Yours?
Ethical vs. Misleading Clickbait
All clickbait is not made in the same way. Certain headlines draw readers in a genuine way and others trick readers into feeling disappointed.
Ethical Clickbait:
- Inspires curiosity, yet gives actual answers in the material.
- Employs the emotional pull, however it is in line with the facts.
- Creates trust and long-term commitment.
Misleading Clickbait:
- They overpromise and do not deliver (“This One Trick Will make you a Rich In a Day“).
- The trick is to manipulate readers by using fake pressure as well as shock.
- This can damage credibility, increase bounce rates and hurt SEO rankings.
The most important difference is: ethical clickbait teases false clickbait tricks.
How to Use Clickbait
Over time, content marketers have decided to try to create their own viral successes by mimicking the style and format of clickbait content to generate instant web traffic and pageviews. There is no specific rule to create clickbait web content, and every content marketer has their own set of rules to create viral content. Clickbait can be used in the form of:
- An Enticing Headline
- An Eye-Catching Image
- A Brilliantly Descriptive Caption
Marketing experts believe that the most powerful headlines are the ones that get the most clicks from internet users. Also, a picture is worth a thousand words, and your clickbait with enticing images helps you attract the attention of people to your content because a picture is worth a thousand words. Many content marketers use captions as a form of clickbait by providing a brief descriptive snippet of the story to create more curiosity in people’s minds.
The trick to get the most out of your clickbait marketing strategy is to write a killer headline with a captivating image and follow it up with an equally compelling article. Don’t be afraid to experiment with post titles, headlines, and thumbnail texts to catch the attention of your target audience. The ability to use clever and attention-grabbing headlines is the key to success. It is like optimizing titles to achieve high click-through rates.
Examples of Effective and Bad clickbait
Effective Clickbait Headlines:
“10 Copywriting Secrets That Professional Marketers Don’t Want You to Know”
“How One Small Business Doubled Sales with a $0 Marketing Budget”
“This Common SEO Mistake Could Be Costing You Hundreds of Clicks”
Bad (Misleading) Clickbait Headlines:
“Doctors HATE Him! See How He Lost 50 Pounds in a Week”
“You will be shocked by what happened Then …” (with zero payout)
“This Simple Trick Will Make You Rich Overnight”
The difference is that The first one attracts attention while offering useful insight however, the other set is overhyped without delivering worth.
Metrics to Measure Clickbait Success
Utilizing clickbait in a way that isn’t only concerned with receiving clicks–it’s about generating an actual engagement. To determine the success of your campaign, you must track these important indicators:
CTR (CTR): Measures how many people have clicked your headline. A high CTR means a good headline performance.
Bounce Rate: In the event that users abandon your site within a couple of minutes, it means that your website’s content doesn’t meet the headline’s claim.
Average Time On Page: Longer dwell time means that your website’s content is delivered to you with real value once you click.
Social Shares: Content that is viral often indicates that your clickbait was interesting and reliable.
Conversion Ratio: The ultimate measure–did your clickbait attract subscribers, leads or sales?
A useful rule of thumb is If CTR increases, however bounce rate increases the headline you are using is false. When you see both CTR and engagement increase the clickbait is operating in a way that is ethical.
Dos and Don’ts When Applying Clickbait to Your Marketing Plan
You should follow certain rules while using clickbait marketing to drive traffic to your landing pages. It can be very frustrating to come across misleading content. If a company does not use clickbait correctly, it can eventually cause a site or business to lose all credibility.
Do’s
- Fulfill your promise while keeping some of your products and services available to paying customers. Don’t make it completely misleading at times that will make things frustrating for your visitors. Serve the purpose of your content to some extent, and then ask them to subscribe to your newsletter or meet some other requirements to gain further access.
- Try to appeal to your potential client’s emotions to make sure that their voices are being heard. It can be very beneficial in increasing your brand awareness.
- To increase the shareability of your content, use simple phrases and hashtags. It encourages your potential customers to share your content easily and quickly.
Don’ts
- Avoid pairing clickbait with completely irrelevant or useless content. As humans, we’re never satisfied, so make sure your visitors are not clicking on something completely worthless to their expectations.
- Never mislead your customers about your products or services. Misleading clickbait will result in a broken relationship between the company and the customer.
Clickbait Marketing is Here to Stay
Clickbait will not or probably shouldn’t disappear from marketing because it is an effective tool to generate instant and high traffic/pageviews as soon as you share. Content platforms such as Google, YouTube, and Facebook are designed to promote clickbait headlines. As a content marketer, you should focus on creating headlines that stand out in the crowded search page to encourage searchers to click and connect with your content. A simple title may not be enough to attract the attention of searchers.
The goal of clickbait is to entice users to click on a link by using highly engaging headlines, thumbnails, and captions. Good clickbait remains true to the content of the article and serves the purpose of your marketing without disappointing your visitors.
Conclusion
The rule to applying clickbait to your marketing is very simple – create the bait, entice people to click, and don’t let them down when they do. Your content must deliver on the promise to some extent. Clickbait can be tricky for your marketing strategy. The key to success is to ensure that you know what you are doing and how to use clickbait effectively to win over happy customers. If you want to give your customers a sneak peek at what you have to offer, don’t be afraid to use clickbait.