What is Clickbait?

Clickbait is one of the concepts we frequently encounter in the recent media lexicon. This English word translated as “click bait or click trap” is a news and presentation technique that many of us complain about the most. With the digitalization of journalism and the shopping world, the real indicator of success for companies and journalists has become internet traffic. In this sense, the chance of any news or product to be successful has become dependent on its visibility in internet traffic. Clickbait emerged as a product of this new era. If we briefly describe Clickbaiti: It is a technique of generating special titles to attract the attention of internet users on any subject and to make them click on the content in question by provoking their curiosity. Although Clickbait is frequently used for internet journalism or e-sales area, this manipulation and attention technique has been used in the print media sector for a long time. This technique, which has come to the fore since the 19th century, has entered our lives as one of the most frequently used presentation methods of the years.

Clickbait Technique How to apply?

While creating any title in this technique, “brevity, simplicity, simplicity” are the most important elements. While writing the title, the main purpose is to create sensation and to arouse magazine curiosity. Clickbait is essentially a manipulation-based marketing and internet traffic generation technique. If we look at the examples:

“You will be shocked to hear this news”

“Shocking words from the well-known artist”

“He did something like that.”

“Those who saw could not believe their eyes”

“You will be shocked when you see the final version.”

“Those who do not know this will not be hired.”

“The inhabitants of that city lived.”

“Those who do this get rich.”

“You will never believe this news.”

“This product will change your life.”

It is possible to extend these examples; Because clickbait is so common that even the simplest internet vendors, advertisers, and streaming services use this technique. Although Clickbait is known and used for its negative aspects, it can actually be a successful and ethical technique when used in moderation. For this, it is sufficient to pay attention that the content is compatible with the title, does not disappoint readers or customers, and does not compromise honesty.

Another clickbait technique is the gallery creation technique that has become popular especially on news sites. News sites try to keep users on the site by adding one or two lines of news texts to photos that are almost identical about the same event.

Ckickbaitin Advantages

When the Clickbait technique is used successfully and based on ethical parameters;

– Provides more page views for the site in question, ie web traffic, thus increasing the site recognition.

-Brand awareness increases.

Advertising revenues increase.

-For those who collect user statistics, it provides faster and cheaper acquisition of this data.

– Affecting people’s perceptions and ideas faster

– Creating artificial agendas.

-Provides users an emotional escape promise.

Clickbaitin Disadvantages

– When the Clickbait technique is used in an exaggerated and uncontrolled way, the reputation of your site or product can quickly lose reputation in the opposite way.

– You can permanently lose members because users will lose their trust in your site. It can prevent your potential users from coming too.

The viral ad of your products can spread in the opposite direction much faster than you want.

– Because of any exaggerated clickbait header you use on your site, users may ignore other quality content on your site.

-You can become the target of scratch campaigns.

– Since the clickbait titles you use cannot keep users in the site much, your chances of getting higher in searches may be reduced by the algorithms of search engines. It is known that large platforms such as Google and Facebook develop serious algorithms against clickbaite and penalize sites that use more clickbait by lowering them to the lower rank.

Quality Content Instead of Clickbait

Both the researches and the data revealed by the major search engines show that quality content is much more useful and effective than clickbait. However, it is also recommended not to overdo it by observing ethical criteria in the use of clickbait.