Clickbait is a type of online content that is designed to attract attention and entice users to click on a link to view, read, or listen to the content. Clickbait headlines are often sensationalized, misleading, or otherwise deceptive, and they appeal to users emotions and curiosity. The "-bait" suffix in clickbait makes an analogy with fishing, where a hook is disguised by an enticement (bait), presenting the impression to the fish that it is a desirable thing to swallow. Clickbait is a marketing and engagement strategy that uses sensationalist, misleading, withholding, or deceptive content to entice clicks and views.
Clickbait headlines often do not present objective facts and instead value getting clicks over producing quality information. Once a user clicks on a clickbait link, the website hosting the link earns revenue from advertisers, but the actual content is usually of questionable quality and accuracy. While there is no universally agreed-upon definition of clickbait, it is generally considered to be something designed to make readers want to click on a hyperlink, especially when the link leads to content of dubious value or interest.
Some common elements used in clickbait content include a catchy or compelling headline, a strong appeal to emotion, scannable content optimized for web reading, witty copy, and content aimed at social media sharing. Although clickbait has been around since the dawn of print journalism, it has become widespread in the digital world. While clickbait can be successful at driving traffic, it is often penalized by search engines like Google, which have written new criteria into their algorithms designed to penalize fake news, duplicate content, and sensationalist pages written specifically for clicks.
