Guide
What counts as clickbait?
Most definitions say clickbait is a title that lies. That is the wrong test, and it is why arguments about it go nowhere. A clickbait title is one built to withhold its payload until you click — it can be completely accurate and still be bait, and plenty of excellent videos carry one because the alternative is not being watched at all.
Style, not honesty
The useful question is not “is this true?” but “does this describe the video, or does it withhold it?” How compilers work — full course describes. The truth about compilers withholds. Both may be excellent; only one is written to be clicked rather than watched.
This distinction matters because it can be checked. Whether a video is any good is a judgement nobody can automate. Whether a title uses a withholding construction is a fact about the words in front of you.
The nine techniques
- Withholds the payoff. “You won’t believe what happened next.” The sentence deliberately stops short of the thing it is about.
- Promises a hidden truth. “The truth about…”, “the real reason…”. Implies the ordinary account is a cover story.
- Implies something is kept from you. “Nobody is talking about this.” Turns a video into access.
- Says it matters, not what it is. “This changes everything.” All weight, no subject.
- Tells you how to feel. “Shocking.” “Mind-blowing.” The reaction is supplied before the content.
- Adds urgency. “Before it’s too late.” A deadline that does not exist.
- Superlative framing. “Best ever”, “worst of all time”. Unfalsifiable by design.
- Listicle framing. “10 things…”. Promises a countable payoff so the length feels bounded.
- Shouting and stacked punctuation. CAPS for emphasis, “?!”, emoji imported from the thumbnail.
Try it on a real title
This is the same scorer our extension runs on your feed. It names what it finds and stops there — it has not watched the video and neither have we.
Try it
What is this title doing?
- Promises a hidden truth
We read the title, never the video. A great video can carry a bait-styled title — that is the whole point.
Why it works on you anyway
Knowing the trick does not stop it. A withheld payoff opens a loop your attention wants closed, and that reflex is faster than the judgement that would override it. This is why the honest measure of clickbait is not how often you click — it is how quickly you leave. Bait gets the click and loses the viewer, and that gap is visible in your own watch history as a completion rate.
In the sample report, bait-styled titles hold a viewer for 19% of their runtime. Everything else holds them for 71%. Same person, same evening.
What you can do about it
Hiding bait titles helps you today. Changing what gets recommended means feeding the algorithm different signals — “Not interested” on the things you bail on, finishing the things you want more of. Our report works out which is which from your own history, and the extension marks the bait live on your feed while you do it.
Your own numbers
Find out what share of what you were served was written to be clicked — and how much of it you actually stayed for.
Next: how to hide Shorts