How to write headlines that work online and in print

Knowing how to write headlines starts with knowing how people read them. In usability research by Nielsen Norman Group, users typically saw about two words of most items in a list, and only the very beginning of each item.¹ When researchers showed people just the first 11 characters of links on real websites, users had no idea where 35% of those links would lead.¹

That applies to every place a headline appears: a list of news items, a search result, a social media card, an email inbox, a report contents page. Readers decide in a moment whether something is for them. If the opening words are empty, the rest of the headline is never read.

The strongest headlines in the Nielsen Norman Group study front-loaded words that mattered to users and to the action they wanted to take, in plain and specific language.¹ The weakest started with bland, generic words or made-up terms. A link beginning "Introducing" was chosen by only 15% of users even when it was the right answer.¹ For organisations, the equivalent is "Launch of", "Update on" or the name of a programme nobody outside the office knows.

Specific beats general. GOV.UK guidance says a title should give full context, so users can see straight away whether they have found what they are looking for, and warns that being general leaves the reader asking what the page is about.² It also advises using the same words as your audience, so they can find your content.² Write numbers as digits, not words, because scanning readers notice numerals quickly.³

• Weak: "Introducing our new initiative"
• Better: "Free maternal health checks now offered in 12 Huye health centres" (an illustrative example)
• Weak: "Annual Report 2025" as the only words in a news post
• Better: "Annual report 2025: how 4,000 farmers changed their harvests" (using your real figures)

On the web, a page has more than one headline. There is the title element in the page code, the main visible heading (usually the H1), and often a separate social media title. Google says it generates the title shown in search results from several sources, including the title element, the main visual title, heading elements such as H1, og:title meta tags, other prominent text and links pointing to the page.⁴ If those sources disagree, Google may choose a title you did not write.

Google's best practices are simple: give every page a title, keep it descriptive and brief, avoid repeating keywords, make each title distinct from your other pages, and make it clear which text is the main heading.⁴ GOV.UK recommends keeping titles to 65 characters or fewer, including spaces, because Google cuts off the rest at around that length.² Put your organisation's name at the end, or leave it out where it only repeats.⁴

For organisations that publish in Kinyarwanda, French, English or Swahili, Google advises using the same language and writing system in the title as in the main content of the page.⁴ If they do not match, Google may replace your title with one of its own.⁴

Subheadings are headlines for the reader who is already on the page. Digital.gov's plain language guidance describes three kinds. Question headings work well when you know what your audience will ask. Statement headings are the next best choice, because they are still specific but bold and direct. Topic headings such as "Application" feel familiar in official writing but are often so vague that they do not help.⁵

Headings should be shorter than the text they introduce and never so long that they overwhelm it.⁵ A quick test: read only your headings, in order. If they tell the story of the page on their own, they are doing their job.

An email subject line is a headline competing in a crowded inbox, and it has even less space. Litmus notes that a typical desktop inbox shows about 60 characters of a subject line, while mobile devices show only 25 to 30.⁶ It suggests no more than nine words and around 60 characters.⁶

Litmus also advises avoiding capital letters, exclamation marks and clickbait, which can look like spam and erode trust, using specific numbers that relate to the content, and testing two versions to compare open and click rates.⁶ For a newsletter, name the most useful item rather than the issue number: "New school feeding data for 2026, plus three job openings" tells a partner more than "Newsletter No. 14".

Print gives a headline more help. In a magazine, a printed annual report or a newspaper, it sits beside a photograph, a standfirst and a layout that sets the tone, so there is room for a shorter or more evocative line. Online, the same headline often travels alone, into a search result, a WhatsApp preview or a LinkedIn card, with nothing around it to explain it.

In our own practice, we write the plain, specific version first and adapt from there. A printed feature might run "Water, at last" above a strong photograph, while the web version might read "How a new water network reached 30 villages in Nyagatare". Keep a short headline sheet for each major piece, with the print headline, the web title, the social title and the email subject line side by side, so each one is written for its setting.

Google asks content creators two questions worth putting on every editor's desk: does the main heading or page title give a descriptive, helpful summary of the content, and does it avoid exaggerating or being shocking?⁷ A headline that overpromises may win a click but loses trust, and for public institutions and development organisations trust is the whole point.

A practical test borrowed from the research is to cover everything except the first two words, or the first 11 characters, and ask whether a stranger could guess what the item is about.¹ If not, rewrite it. Then read the full headline aloud and check it against the content: every claim in it should be supported by the text below.

• The most useful words come first
• Specific enough to make sense on its own
• Uses the words your audience would search for
• Numbers written as digits
• Web title of 65 characters or fewer, distinct from your other pages
• Title, H1 and social title tell the same story
• Email subject line readable in its first 25 to 30 characters
• No exaggeration: the content delivers what the headline promises