Titles, subtitles, length, structure, timing. One month of real data. And a few findings that should make you rethink the advice you've been following.
The data exposes something most writers won’t admit: they’re optimizing for what feels bold and what looks minimal. Short titles feel punchy. No question mark feels confident. But the data says those instincts are backwards.
What’s actually happening is a trust gap. First-person titles, negative framing, longer specificity, they all do the same thing: they make a promise the reader can verify. “On Burnout” asks the reader to take a leap of faith. “What I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Burned Out” gives them something to grab before they decide to click.
35 years of communication taught me this: people don’t engage with ideas. They engage with people who seem to have lived them. The “I” in the title isn’t ego – it’s evidence. And evidence earns the open.
Amazing analytics! I will definitely use these suggestions. Except MAYBE using no capital letters in the title. I'm an English teacher and it would actually kill a little piece of my soul to skip capitalizing even the first word of the title. 😂 Question: What's the suggested practice for using all caps like I did above for emphasis?
Unlike most of these how I built a Substack with more subscribers than the population of Tokyo while you drank your morning coffee, this post was really helpful. Love the data driven approach!
As a page that trying to deal with hope and opportunities it wild to see that the data says Negative titles outperform positive 60 pert . No wonder our media is a constant negative .
Or maybe that’s the whole point . Disempower and keep disconnected
I’d say I’m an algorithm worst nightmare as I feel so many things connect . 😂
A lot to take in and a lot is happening in this article. So we can find in the near future titles etc that has been generated by …people asking an Intelligence algoritme …give me in 10-17 words a title about… and then the following can happen 1000 notes or article all with the same way of working, and then the system finds another way of engagement and find something new to promote or ‘push’ us towards again another way that scores or is simply ‘placed as advanced and rewarded ‘ kind of way. The analytics are there, yes … but frankly if I can’t write the way I want, then I make a book out of it.
I've worked in journalism, in print and online, for decades, and some of these findings subvert old rules, practices and taboos about headline length et al. I love it. Thanks for this new perspective!
This is awesome thank you!! I adopted Substack early and started returning to my passion for writing as I went through cancer. I started Chemo Yogi and am now trying to build want started as a personal journal into a business that will support women going through breast cancer. I guess the question would be ways/ success stories of how to best with authenticity grow something personal into something that is more public and accessible to the masses?
I just got an audit from Juri (highly recommend!), and he gave me feedback about titles. I've been going back and updating mine, and I agree…it makes a difference!
I think, in most cases, a post’s popularity isn’t about the headline — it’s about the author. If a well-known author publishes a post with a short headline, and an unknown author publishes one with a long headline of 9–17 words, it’s not hard to guess which one will get traction. I like short titles and short posts. But in my case, they all hit the mark. They aren’t unpopular because the titles are short — it’s because nobody knows me. Yet.
To give you an example of what I mean:
A few years ago, I was following Jason Derulo’s Facebook page. In one post, Jason Derulo put a single period. Yes — just one period, nothing else. Not a single letter. And that post got over 5,000 likes on the first day.
On the other hand, if an unknown person writes something insightful, no one will even notice. That’s how it works in most cases. First, you work on building your name — only then does your name start working for you.
The data exposes something most writers won’t admit: they’re optimizing for what feels bold and what looks minimal. Short titles feel punchy. No question mark feels confident. But the data says those instincts are backwards.
What’s actually happening is a trust gap. First-person titles, negative framing, longer specificity, they all do the same thing: they make a promise the reader can verify. “On Burnout” asks the reader to take a leap of faith. “What I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Burned Out” gives them something to grab before they decide to click.
35 years of communication taught me this: people don’t engage with ideas. They engage with people who seem to have lived them. The “I” in the title isn’t ego – it’s evidence. And evidence earns the open.
Good stuff.
I agree with you, Todd!
I thank you for the data. They're priceless to newbies like me.
Amazing analytics! I will definitely use these suggestions. Except MAYBE using no capital letters in the title. I'm an English teacher and it would actually kill a little piece of my soul to skip capitalizing even the first word of the title. 😂 Question: What's the suggested practice for using all caps like I did above for emphasis?
Unlike most of these how I built a Substack with more subscribers than the population of Tokyo while you drank your morning coffee, this post was really helpful. Love the data driven approach!
As a page that trying to deal with hope and opportunities it wild to see that the data says Negative titles outperform positive 60 pert . No wonder our media is a constant negative .
Or maybe that’s the whole point . Disempower and keep disconnected
I’d say I’m an algorithm worst nightmare as I feel so many things connect . 😂
A lot to take in and a lot is happening in this article. So we can find in the near future titles etc that has been generated by …people asking an Intelligence algoritme …give me in 10-17 words a title about… and then the following can happen 1000 notes or article all with the same way of working, and then the system finds another way of engagement and find something new to promote or ‘push’ us towards again another way that scores or is simply ‘placed as advanced and rewarded ‘ kind of way. The analytics are there, yes … but frankly if I can’t write the way I want, then I make a book out of it.
I enjoyed reading this your provided us with a lot of key information. Thanks for your time and effort and creating this report. Time to edit lol
I've worked in journalism, in print and online, for decades, and some of these findings subvert old rules, practices and taboos about headline length et al. I love it. Thanks for this new perspective!
This is awesome thank you!! I adopted Substack early and started returning to my passion for writing as I went through cancer. I started Chemo Yogi and am now trying to build want started as a personal journal into a business that will support women going through breast cancer. I guess the question would be ways/ success stories of how to best with authenticity grow something personal into something that is more public and accessible to the masses?
Strong points. Thank you for the info!
Love, love, love - the tweaks!
Fascinating but how does this compare with effectiveness for email delivery? Do 17-word titles also work as email subject lines? (I suspect not).
It’s a changing landscape. I love short, punchy titles, but I also trained as a journalist in newspaper writing.
That ship sailed.
There is now more real estate and more opportunity.
It’s hard to break the habit, but the data says we must.
I just got an audit from Juri (highly recommend!), and he gave me feedback about titles. I've been going back and updating mine, and I agree…it makes a difference!
Did you notice with first person titles, if it mattered if the I/my was up the front of the title? Or could it be in the middle.
Eg. My number one lesson from being made redundant vs. Redundancy sucks, but here's the biggest lesson I learned.
Good question.
I think, in most cases, a post’s popularity isn’t about the headline — it’s about the author. If a well-known author publishes a post with a short headline, and an unknown author publishes one with a long headline of 9–17 words, it’s not hard to guess which one will get traction. I like short titles and short posts. But in my case, they all hit the mark. They aren’t unpopular because the titles are short — it’s because nobody knows me. Yet.
To give you an example of what I mean:
A few years ago, I was following Jason Derulo’s Facebook page. In one post, Jason Derulo put a single period. Yes — just one period, nothing else. Not a single letter. And that post got over 5,000 likes on the first day.
On the other hand, if an unknown person writes something insightful, no one will even notice. That’s how it works in most cases. First, you work on building your name — only then does your name start working for you.
Yes, 💯 analytics should be accounting for size, because that skews the data.