What does the headline analyzer actually measure?

Six habits: length, a power word, a concrete number, an address to the reader, a question or list shape, and capitalisation. Each carries points out of a hundred, and the breakdown is shown so you can disagree with it.

Can a headline score 100 and still be bad?

Yes. The score measures habits, not truth or fit. A high-scoring headline can overpromise, and a quiet low-scoring one can be exactly right for a serious story.

What counts as a power word?

A documented list of concrete, load-bearing words such as guide, proven, essential and step-by-step. The list is shown on the page, so the term is inspectable rather than mysterious.

Why does it flag repeated words?

A word repeated inside one short line usually shows the writer circling the same idea. The check names the repeat so it can be cut or replaced with a more specific term.

Headline Analyzer

The headline

Headline

Score

Type a headline — the score updates as you write.

Checks

Checks appear once there is a headline to check.

How the score is built

Length (6-12 words): 0/25
Power word: 0/20
Concrete number: 0/15
Addresses the reader: 0/10
Question or list shape: 0/10
Readable capitalisation: 0/10

Scope and limits

The score is a fixed rubric of habits, not a prediction. A headline can score 100 and still be the wrong headline for the piece, and a quiet one can score low and still be right for a serious story.

The analyzer cannot know your audience, your publication or the fact behind the claim. Treat every check as a question, not a verdict.

The headline analyzer scores a headline against a fixed rubric of habits strong headlines share — a length a reader can take in, a power word, a concrete number, an address to the reader — and flags the habits that weaken one.

What is Headline Analyzer?

The headline analyzer scores a headline out of one hundred against six things a headline can be checked for: a length between six and twelve words, a power word from a documented list, a concrete number, a direct address to the reader with you or your, a question or list shape, and readable capitalisation. Each element carries its own points, and the panel shows the breakdown, so the number is never a mystery: you can see which habits the headline has and which it has skipped.

The rubric exists because headline advice is usually vague. Be specific, it says, without saying what counts as specific. The analyzer answers with a working definition: a number, a named thing, a claim a reader can verify. When a headline says a guide will save your team six hours a week, the score can point at the number and the addressed reader; when it says solutions for modern teams, the score points at the empty adjectives, which is a more useful conversation than an opinion.

The checks are the second output and the more important one. They flag the faults a rubric alone would miss: a headline past fifteen words, ALL CAPS on a word longer than three letters, a closing period where display type takes none, and a word repeated inside one line. Each check explains why the habit costs attention, and every one of them is a prompt rather than a rule — a serious story may earn a quiet headline that scores below sixty, and a tabloid headline may hit a hundred while overpromising.

Because the rubric is fixed and visible, the same headline always scores the same, and the score can be argued with. That is deliberate. A model with an opinion cannot be inspected; a rubric can. Writers learn the habits by watching the points move as they edit, which is the real reason to score a headline at all — not to chase one hundred, but to notice that the number came from the same three adjectives every time.

A word on the power words list, since it is the part readers question first. The list is short and deliberately concrete: guide, proven, essential, step-by-step and their kin. What it does not contain matters as much as what it does — amazing, revolutionary and world-class are absent because they describe the writer's enthusiasm rather than the reader's situation, and a headline built on them tells the reader nothing they can picture. Adding a power word should not be a matter of sprinkling; it should be the moment the writer finds the precise term that was hiding behind three vague ones, and the score moving then is a useful signal that the revision did something.

The analyzer is faithful to its limits. It cannot know the story, the audience or the publication, and it says so on the page. A headline is a promise, and whether the piece keeps it is not something any scorer can weigh. The rubric checks the surface a reader meets first; the depth behind it remains the writing's job.

Nothing is uploaded and nothing is stored beyond the tab, so a working headline for an unpublished piece stays private. Use it as a mirror, not a judge: revise until the breakdown reflects what you meant to emphasise, then stop before the headline starts sounding scored.

How to use Headline Analyzer

Type the headline you are working on.
Read the score and the six-part breakdown to see what earned its points.
Work through the checks for length, shouting, punctuation and repeats.
Try a version with a number or a direct address and watch the score move.

When to use Headline Analyzer vs related tools

Use the headline analyzer when a title needs a second opinion that shows its work. The same rubric ideas apply one line down the page to an email, where the Email Subject Line Tester scores length and trigger phrases instead of power words.

When the issue is not shape but wear, the Cliché Detector finds the tired phrases a headline reaches for first, and the Readability Grade Scorer confirms the line reads at the level the audience expects.

Privacy & Security

This tool runs entirely in your browser — no data ever leaves your device. There is no server round-trip, no upload, no logging, and no account required. Your input is processed locally using client-side JavaScript and is never stored, transmitted, or accessible to anyone else. When you close the tab, everything disappears.