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Headline strength checker
Score a headline on length, power words, emotional language, and SERP-friendly structure. Pure on-page math, no AI in the loop.
63
Decent
10
Words
58
Characters
Breakdown
- Power words detected: 1 — how
- Emotional words: 0
- Starts with a number: no
- Uses a colon or dash: yes
- Phrased as a question: no
Quick answer
What does a free headline analyzer measure?
A headline analyzer scores a headline against the structural traits that correlate with clicks: length, word count, the presence of power and emotional words, whether it opens with a number, and whether it uses a colon or question that signals what the reader gets. This free headline analyzer runs entirely in your browser on fixed rules - no AI, no model call - so the same headline always returns the same score and you can see exactly which trait moved it.
How the score is built
Points come from five observable properties, weighted toward the two that matter in a search result - length in characters and length in words:
- 6-12 words scores highest; 13-16 scores partially; outside that range scores nothing.
- 50-60 characters scores highest, since that is the band that survives Google's truncation.
- Up to three power words ('proven', 'exact', 'without', 'stop') add points each.
- Up to two emotional words ('brutal', 'shocking', 'beautiful') add points each.
- Opening with a number, using a colon or dash, or ending in a question each add a small bonus.
What the score cannot tell you
Structure is not substance. A headline can hit every trait and still promise something the article does not deliver, which is the one failure that reliably destroys performance - people click, bounce, and learn not to trust the source. Read the score as a formatting check, then judge the promise yourself.
Other headline analyzers exist and score differently; CoSchedule's, for instance, weights word categories in its own way. Ours is deliberately simple and fully documented rather than proprietary. Comparing absolute scores between tools is meaningless; comparing two of your own headlines within one tool is useful.
Search headlines, social headlines, and H1s are different jobs
The title tag has to survive truncation and match a query, so it wants the keyword early and a tight character count. The social headline has more room and rewards curiosity. The on-page H1 can be longer and more human, because by the time it is read the click already happened.
Writing one string for all three is the common shortcut and the common mistake. Use this checker for the search-facing version, where the length constraints it scores against actually apply.
- Curiosity works when it is paid off in the first paragraph; withheld information reads as a trick.
- Numbers and brackets add specificity - '(with examples)' tells a reader what format to expect.
- Avoid stacking superlatives; one strong claim beats three weak ones.
- If two headlines score similarly, ship the more specific one.
Where this data comes from
Scoring is deterministic and computed in your browser: word count and character count are measured directly, power and emotional words are matched against fixed published word lists, and structural bonuses are awarded for a leading number, a colon or dash, and a trailing question mark. Points are summed and capped at 100. No model is called, nothing is uploaded, and no click-through-rate is predicted - the score describes the headline's structure, not its future performance.
Frequently asked questions
Is this the CoSchedule headline analyzer?
No. This is Auto SEO's own free headline analyzer with its own published scoring rules. CoSchedule's tool is a separate product with a different, proprietary model. Scores from the two are not comparable, and neither one predicts click-through rate - both are structural checks on the way a headline is written.
What is a good headline score here?
80 or above means the headline sits in the productive length band and carries specific, motivating language. 60-79 usually means one lever is off - most often length. Below 60 the headline is typically too short to be specific, too long for a search result, or written in flat language with nothing a reader can grab onto.
How long should a headline be?
For a search-facing headline, 50-60 characters and 6-12 words. That is the range Google renders without truncating on most desktop results, and it is long enough to state a topic and a qualifier. Social and email headlines can run longer because they are not truncated the same way, and on-page H1s have no hard limit at all.
Do power words actually work?
They work when they are true. 'Proven' in front of a method you have actually used adds credibility; in front of a guess it is noise, and readers have been trained by a decade of listicles to discount it. The score counts up to three because past that point the headline reads as marketing copy rather than a description of an article.
Should my headline match my title tag exactly?
Not necessarily. The title tag is optimised for the search result - keyword early, tight length. The on-page H1 is read after the click and can be longer and more conversational. Keeping them close prevents the jarring mismatch that makes people bounce, but they do not need to be identical strings.
Does the headline affect rankings?
The title tag is a genuine ranking input - it is one of the strongest signals of what a page is about. The H1 helps Google understand page structure. Neither is a magic lever, but a title that matches the searcher's phrasing both ranks better and gets clicked more, which is why the two goals rarely conflict.
Related free tools
Headlines that match what the page delivers
Auto SEO writes the headline, the title tag, and the article as one piece, so the promise on the search result is the promise the page keeps. Start free.
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