Last edited on July 18, 2021 by Digitiz
You read about them every day on your Facebook news feed, on Twitter, on blogs… they are everywhere. They follow you in the subway, at home and even to the bathroom, you want to run away from them but you can’t get past them because it has become almost a standard. You will of course understand that I am talking to you about the famous “putalic”.
Omnipresent in web writing, touting titles seem annoying and aggressive in the way they make us click on links, and those, simply with the aim of inflating click-through rates to the detriment of quality. How did we get here ? Can we avoid falling into the putaclic trap? And above all, is it possible today to do web writing without using putaclic?
What is a putaclic title?
Putaclic, also called “Clickbait”, is a term that is used to describe links that try to attract Internet users with hyped titles as bait. Most often, the title of a clickbait link will provide little information about the content itself, while arousing curiosity with sensational or emotional elements. We can also characterize the putaclic with the editorial poverty or the false promise hidden in said content.
To give you some examples, just go to new generation “media” like BuzzFeed, Démotivateur or even Minutebuzz which truly make putaclic their business.
Here are titles to illustrate that we can really consider as putaclic or clickbait:
“The photo of this grateful pitbull tenderly cuddling the woman who saved his life is moving the entire internet! »
- “A mother is capable of doing anything for her little ones… This moving video of a street dog proves it! »
- “This newborn getting his hair washed is probably the cutest thing you’ll see today”
As you can see, these headlines attempt to manipulate the reader by either playing on emotion or exaggeration instead of simply describing what is actually hidden in the content.
Why is everyone starting to putaclic?
Over the past year, putaclic has become increasingly popular, especially on social networks like Facebook. We encounter clickbait in the form of posts, article titles, tests, online games or videos. The putaclic is thus found in most media which target a broad audience, and now even in certain newspapers which want to keep up with current tastes.
The excitement of putaclic can be explained by its simplicity to be implemented in an editorial strategy. Indeed, there is no need to produce rich content requiring expertise or fundraising. Most of the time, it is enough to take up subjects already existing elsewhere or current events to readapt them in a desire to amplify the message in order to make it more viral and thus generate a buzz effect.
But the main reason why everyone does putalic is that it arouses our natural curiosity which pushes us to click on the headlines with sensational or emotional effects in order to discover the famous promised revelation. For the media, this most often translates into a dazzling generation of traffic and therefore an increase in advertising revenue.
What are the impacts for websites?
On the site and media publisher side, we can actually see rather positive results in terms of click rate, however the side effects can quickly be felt.
An effect only in the short term
As explained above, a putaclic title will therefore have an effect of increasing traffic. On the other hand, the expected effect unfortunately occurs in the short term, especially if the subject deals with a current issue. An article can thus generate 5000 visits, but this will only happen over a few days, especially if the content is disappointing for the Internet user.
Conversely, an article which deals with a real substantive subject could be re-exploited by the media and could even have recurring traffic on search engines if the content is optimized for natural referencing. Thus, and for comparison, this article could generate 500 visits per month, will have no loss over time and will ultimately generate more traffic in the long term.
A high bounce rate
In the web and particularly in SEO, you should know that the number of views of a page is not necessarily the most important factor in estimating its relevance. Indeed, if no interaction is made after reading an article, and the Internet user visits the site, this visit is considered a bounce. Logically, a page which has a high bounce rate is then poorly performing, although this must be balanced with the initial objectives.
A decline in credibility
Having a lot of visits is not necessarily a guarantee of credibility. If the content gives the feeling of being disappointed in relation to the promise of the title, it is obvious that readers will have less and less desire to return to your site.
Another consequence is the risk of building a “low-end” image. By providing little added value, it ultimately creates the image of a media preferring to benefit from the ease of recycling and sensationalism rather than quality.
Is it possible to attract Internet users without using putaclic?
Of course it is still possible to attract Internet users in a very broad way without falling into the putaclic trap.
It is important to take the time to work on your image by focusing on quality content that really interests your targets. Originality is then essential to stand out from others. For example, So Foot has managed to do well with its offbeat editorial line in the very competitive theme of football. In the same way, Vice has established itself on urban culture by offering deep and documented subjects.
We can therefore very well attract the crowd without making a fuss. You just need to think a little about the person behind the screen by providing real content while avoiding lying on the packaging.
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