Headings people can scan
By Emma Jansen, writer and content creator
Hi, I'm Emma. I write for the web, and these days most of my writing lives on OnlineCasinoKix. One thing I keep coming back to is how little of a page people actually read. They land, they scroll, they look at the headings, and they decide in a few seconds whether the answer is here. So headings are not decoration. For many readers they are the whole article.
Write the heading after the section
A heading written before the section is a plan. A heading written after it is a summary. Plans are vague ("Background", "Some thoughts"), summaries are specific because you know what the section ended up saying. Draft with placeholders if you like, then come back and rename every section once the text is done.
Say the answer, not the topic
"Opening hours" is a topic. "Open until 22:00 on weekdays" is an answer. When a heading can carry the key fact, let it. A reader who only needed that fact is done, and a reader who wants the details knows the section is worth reading.
Use the reader's words
People scan for the words that are already in their head. If they are wondering how long something takes, a heading with "how long" in it catches the eye; one that says "Processing duration" does not. Look at the questions people actually ask, in emails, comments or search boxes, and borrow their phrasing.
Front-load the important word
Eyes move down the left edge of a page. Put the word that makes a heading distinct near the start: "Refunds: what happens after you cancel" scans better than "What happens after you cancel and how refunds work". Long headings are fine if the first two or three words do the work.
Keep them parallel
If one step reads "Check the settings", the next should not be "Verification of the account". Matching shapes make a list of headings read like a list, and readers can compare them at a glance.
A quick before and after
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Introduction | Who this guide is for |
| Important information | Three things to check before you start |
| Other options | If the first method does not work |
| Conclusion | The short version |
Test with headings only
Copy just the headings into a blank document and read them in order. Do they tell the story of the page? Could someone guess what each section says? If the outline reads like a table of contents for any article on any subject, it needs another pass.