Why Clickbait Is Bad For You

Table of Contents

1. What is Clickbait?

2. Why Do People Dislike Clickbait?

3. Why Clickbait is Bad For You

4. How To Use Clickbait To Your Advantage

5. What Makes Clickbait Popular?

What Is Clickbait?

Have you ever come across a striking headline online like, "10 ways to make $1 million without capital in a week?" Then you tap on the link and the content is just basic or discussing something different. It feels like an ad scam, like you have been deceived into reading an article you wouldn't have read or watching a video you wouldn't have watched. That my dear friend, is clickbait.

Clickbait is an exaggerated or sensational headline and or text that is written to make people click on a link to read, watch and listen to created content. The aim of clickbait is to increase click rate and draw attention to a specific article, online video or audio. Clickbait often relies on misleading headlines, false claims and words like "You won't believe" to drive traffic to specific pages. In other scenarios, clickbait uses unverified assertions and images to convince people to click on links for content that they would not usually want to consume.

Why Do People Dislike Clickbait?

The main reason people dislike clickbait is because of deceit. Clickbait makes false impressions and overpromises but in most cases, doesn't deliver. Imagine the disappointment you feel when you come across a link to a cure for back pain or ten ways to look younger on the internet and find out it's a link to a health supplement. Clickbait makes your audience lose trust in your brand because of the dishonesty and increases the bounce rate. There is also a reduced share rate and general reduced number of organic viewers. You may get a lot of first-time users with clickbait tactics, but defining and retaining your audience will be much harder. In addition, algorithms are much more effective at detecting clickbait content now and your content may be flagged. This means that your content may not rank high on search engines and it may be difficult to find, as compared with regular organic content.

Clickbait annoys your audience: attaching an image of a celebrity and creating a news headline for random information that anyone can find on the internet is annoying. It is also linked with the spread of false information as sensational headlines can be misinterpreted and falsely reported as factual information. In addition, clickbait works by creating curiosity in your audience and playing to their emotion. On most occasions, the content doesn't live up to the hype and your audience loses interest in your content.

Why Clickbait Is Bad For You

You are scrolling on your phone and then the link to an article pops up: your favorite musician is retiring from music and the article claims to know the reason why. You tap on the link and you discover that the truth is that the musician is taking a short break to focus on their health. That is an annoying user experience that clickbait provides. The worst thing about clickbait is that most people do not read the full article or watch the complete video before sharing the link and sensational text. This is why clickbait is linked with the spread of false news. The false news is shared on social media and is very difficult to debunk in the long run.

As a content creator, using clickbait makes you focus on getting clicks rather than the quality of your content. If your website is known for using sensational headlines and false claims to lure viewers, your brand reputation will suffer. Your page authority scoring and page views may diminish. Your content may also perform poorly on SEO after search engines identify the content. In addition, social media platforms like Facebook may place restrictions on your page. Cybercriminals and scammers can also use your sensationalized text for their phishing scams: there may be legal implications. Your brand can also be easily linked to irrelevant pages, distorting the brand image you want to maintain. This is bad for business, your brand and customer relations.

How To Use Clickbait To Your Advantage

Clickbait is not always bad: it can be good if you deliver relevant content that matches your sensational headline or body of text. If you use clickbait to increase click rate and your content is stellar, you will organically increase your audience because more people will see your content and share it online. One way you can use clickbait to get a larger audience is by creating content that teaches your audience something new. The content could be about your brand, helpful facts or stories that play on your reader's fear of missing out on information. Topics that include words like "7 Facts about '', "History of" and " You need to know '' can be used to educate your readers and boost your click rate.

Clickbait uses emotion and the element of curiosity to drive traffic to pages. Use numbers and compelling headlines to achieve that goal. When using clickbait, ensure that your content lives up to the headline and that the information you share is true for your audience. If your facts are right, you are likely to build trust with your audience and create a consumer base that will continue to engage with your content. Ensure that your content is great and deliver on any promises that your clickbait strategy includes. In all you do, avoid using ads that include negative events like death, natural disasters and illness to evoke emotions in your audience. You should also avoid making false promises and using headlines that can be misinterpreted as false information. Your consumers may lose trust in your brand and you may never be able to recover your brand reputation.

What Makes Clickbait Popular?

Clickbait has been used for years: it was formerly known as yellow journalism, a tactic used by journalists in the 1800s to get people to read the papers. Sometime in 2006, a blogger known as Jay Geiger first used the term "clickbait" in a blog post. Over the years, clickbait became more popular because of the need for increased click rate among bloggers, vloggers and content creators in general. Most content-sharing platforms like YouTube, Medium and Facebook rely on clicks for revenue generation. Content creators who need to make their income off these platforms may rely on clickbait to get clicks from their audiences.

Clickbait has been embraced by many content creators and it is now seen as the norm. Brands like Buzzfeed and Distractify are known for their sensational content: many other brands have since then followed in the tactic. Small businesses use clickbait to create more awareness about their products. Publishers use clickbait to get more readers for their articles and blog posts. These content creators, brands, businesses and publishers have gotten more clicks with clickbait tactics. Despite these success rates, cybercriminals have been using clickbait to send phishing links to a large audience and defraud people. Clickbait is thus associated with the dark web, making the tactic more popular.