Free Headline Analyzer

Your headline is the first thing a reader judges, in search results, social feeds and inboxes alike. Type one into the box and this analyzer scores it from 0 to 100 with a fixed set of published rules, then shows its word count, character count, power words and emotional words, and four checks on length, numbers, power words and question format. It runs in your browser and updates as you type, so you can try variations side by side.

The exact scoring. Every headline starts at 50. Length: 6–12 words adds 15; 4–5 or 13–14 words adds 8; fewer than 4 or more than 20 subtracts 10; 15–20 words changes nothing. Each power word adds 8, up to 20. Each emotional word adds 6, up to 15. Any digit adds 10, and starting with one adds another 5. Ending with a question mark adds 5. If more than half the words are common function words such as the, a, to, of, is or for, the score drops 10. The total is capped between 0 and 100.

How words are counted. Only runs of letters count as words, so numbers are not words ("7 Proven Ways" is two words plus a digit), and hyphenated or apostrophe words split in two ("don't" is two). The power word list has 31 entries, including free, new, proven, secret, ultimate, essential, simple, quick, discover, best and top; the emotional list has 23, including love, fear, happy, worried, awesome, terrible, brilliant and heartbreaking. Matching is exact, so "proves" or "discovered" don't count, and "amazing" is on both lists and scores twice. Characters, spaces included, are shown but not scored.

Reading the grade. 90 and above is an A+, 80–89 an A, 70–79 a B, 60–69 a C, 50–59 a D, and below 50 an F. The number turns green from 70, amber from 50 and red below that. A B or better usually means a headline in the 6–12 word range plus at least one extra cue: a power or emotional word, a number or a question. It says nothing about whether the headline fits the article or the person searching.

Worked example. "Tips for Writing Better Blog Posts" has 6 words (+15) and no power word, number or question, so it scores 65, a C. "7 Simple Tips for Writing Blog Posts People Finish" keeps 8 counted words (+15), adds a power word in "simple" (+8), a digit (+10) and a leading digit (+5), and scores 88, an A. The rewrite is better for a reason the score can't see: it promises a specific number of tips and a specific outcome.

The limits are worth knowing, because every rule-based headline analyzer shares them. "Shocking Secret: 10 Free, Proven, Ultimate Hacks" scores 95, an A+, because five power words max out that rule and the number adds 10, yet it promises nothing a reader can check. The score is a checklist, not a prediction of clicks: it doesn't know your audience, the search intent behind the query, or whether the article delivers. Stacking power words and ending every title with a question both raise the score, and both cost trust when the article doesn't back them up.

For search results specifically, Google says there is no limit on how long a title element can be, but it truncates title links as needed to fit the device width, and it may also draw on the page's main visible title, its headings or og:title when it builds the title link. Put the words that matter first, keep the title consistent with the H1, and check how it looks with the SERP preview tool before you publish.

Already published and getting impressions but few clicks? Skribra's Hook agent finds pages whose click-through rate falls below what their position should earn and rewrites the title and meta description, without touching the content.