Power Words: 1,900+ Examples for Writing Awesome Headlines

Are you spending hours writing content, editing videos, and tweaking sales pages just to result in nobody visiting the page you spent so long creating? Then you likely didn’t make a strong enough connection to drive people there.

Sure, you can promote the content on social media, and you can run adverts that direct people towards the page and optimize the heck out of it to rank in search engines. However, all of that effort is going to waste if you’re publishing it under a bad headline.

Power words can turn a boring, stale headline into something your target audience can’t help but click.

In this guide, we’ll share what power words are, how to write a powerful headline, and a list of 180+ words that’ll make your headline stand out.

Ready? Let’s get to it.

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What Are Power Words?

Power words are exactly what you might expect: strong, powerful words that make someone take notice.

Also known as “power phrases”, they’re used in headlines for different types of content — such as emails, blog posts, and webinars. The goal? To make them stand out in a sea of same-old headlines.

Should you see a headline with any of those power words, you’re more likely to take notice, right? They appeal to us more than words we see every day, like “how to” or “tutorial”.

Take a look at these real-world examples — the power words are bolded:

• News Story Headline
  • Covid: Five reasons to be (cautiously) hopeful
• Article Headline
  • Video: watch Picasso make a masterpiece
• Blog Post Headline
  • 5 Signs Your Blog Post Is Going Horribly Wrong
• Infographic Title
  • Improving your Work Performance: Do’s and Don’ts
• Landing Page Headline
  • Capture and record all your receipts the easy way
• YouTube Video Headline
  • Relaxing Slime Compilation ASMR | Oddly Satisfying Video
• Social Media Ad Headline
  • Hollywood’s pay gap is a big problem — and it’s having a big impact on marketing
• Email Subject Line
  • Elise, turnover could be costing your company

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What Makes Power Words Effective?

Are you wondering why you need to include power words in your headlines?

Marketers write headlines with one goal: to convince people to click-through and read their content — be that a blog post, case study, or landing page. We want people to see the headline and think they have no other choice but to read it.

Granted, most powerful words are single words, but small, simple changes in word choice can make a big difference in headline performance. That’s because power words grab a reader’s attention more quickly.

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Not only that, but power words provoke an emotional response; they’re persuasive words that make your reader feel something. That emotional hook can be the difference between them clicking your content and scrolling right past it.

A Step-by-Step Process for Incorporating Power Words Into Headlines

Ready to start using power words in your own headlines? Follow these three, simple steps to make a boring headline 10x more powerful.

Step 1: Write Several Options for a Headline

It’s not uncommon for marketers to write a single headline and use it in the published piece.

The only problem with that is you’re probably not going to think of the best headline right off the bat. For this reason, copywriting pro, Joanna Weibe, recommends writing at least 50 headlines for every piece of content before deciding on the one.

We also recommend writing the headline after you’ve composed your draft. That way, you know exactly what you’ll be talking about, and you can avoid clickbait.

Before trying to squeeze power words into a headline you already have, play around with it using our Headline Analyzer Studio.

The goal is to make a list of as many high-scoring headlines as you can:

Step 2: Incorporate Power Words to Raise Your Score

The next step of your headline writing process is to incorporate power words.

Refer to the master power word list at the bottom of this blog post. Pick one or two to add into your headline and watch the scores of each headline idea increase.

From your list of ideas that you’ve inputted into the Headline Analyzer Studio, choose the headline with the highest score.

Step 3: Track What Performs Best Over Time

If you repeat those simple steps every time you write a new headline, you’ll start publishing content with powerful, emotional headlines that hook your audience.

The final step is to track what performs best over time and use what you learn to continue writing better headlines. For example, some audiences respond to negative power words, such as “abandon” or “boycott” in headlines. Others prefer positive power phrases, like “exciting” and “godsend”. You won’t know what your audience prefers unless you test it.

To do this, sign into your Google Analytics account and view the “Top Pages” report. Is there a common denominator — or power word — that most of your top performing posts use?

Here is an example from SEMrush’s analytics:

You can also use Google Search Console’s Performance report to see which headlines have the highest organic click-through rates.

Your report will look something like this:

The Complete List of Power Words

Here are some of the most powerful words in the English language. Treat it as a cheatsheet to writing strong, clickable headlines for the content you’re creating:

Ready to Write Powerful Headlines?

Practice your use of power words and save this list for anytime you need help finding the perfect, added touch to your headlines. If you refer to it and follow these steps each time you write a headline for any piece of content, it’ll only be a matter of time before you see the results yourself.

There’s no doubt that power words make a good headline a million times stronger; not only do they stand out in crowded news feeds, but powerful headlines actually convince a person to take action.

Recommended reading: Craft The Perfect Podcast Script: Tips & Tricks and Craft Compelling Podcast Names That Engage Listeners