In the age of Google, a headline is your first opportunity to capture a reader’s attention. In fact, some online writers spend 80 percent of their time crafting the perfect headline.

Top headlines rely on emotion to get readers engaged. Often, they are questions that ask the reader to think of their own response. If the question is a surprise, it can be particularly effective. It’s important to use questions sparingly, though; overuse can make them less effective and may alienate your audience.

Headlines that describe what a story is about are another way to draw reader’s attention. However, these kinds of headlines should never be misleading, and they must clearly tell readers what the article is about. In the days of print journalism, writers used to be able to rely on colons, journalese and partial quotes to convey meaning in a limited number of characters. But on the web, where reader’s are most likely to find your articles in search results, those types of shorthand aren’t as effective.

In general, headlines should be brief and snappy. Avoid using jargon, and skip the little helping words like articles (a, an and the) and verbs in favor of nouns and adjectives.