What if I told you there was a magic wand that kept readers reading and skimmers scanning — even after their attention begins to wane?
Friends, there is such a tool, and it’s called a subhead.
Well-written subheads can draw readers in, help people find what they’re looking for, keep readers reading, communicate to nonreaders and make your message more memorable.
“By far,” write the authors of “How People Read on the Web,” “the single most important thing you can do to help users consume content is to use meaningful [subheads], and make [them] visually pop as compared to body text.”
So, how can you write subheads right?
How to write great subheads
To get the word out via subheads:
- Show the architecture of your piece. Think of your subheads as the Roman numeral outline of your piece. What are your topics I, II and III? Those are your subheads.
You’ll have a subhead for each topic in the body of your story, plus one subhead to separate the body from the conclusion. So if you have three topics, you’ll have four subheads.
- Say something! The best subheads make your message skimmable. So don’t just label a section of text with the topic — “Mortgage services,” for instance. Tell the reader something. What about mortgage services?
Subheads that say “Problem,” “Solution” and “Result,” for instance, mean “Read this section to learn about the problem.” That’s not scanning, that’s reading! Instead, write a robust subhead that tells what the problem is.
Write subheads that reveal, rather than conceal, your contents.
- Answer, don’t just ask, questions. If you raise a question in the subhead, answer it in display copy — a bold-faced lead-in, highlighted key words or a bulleted list, maybe.
If your subhead asks, “Why subheads?” for instance, you might answer the question in a list with bold-faced lead-ins:
- Draw readers in. …
- Help people find what they want quickly. …
- Break copy up. …
Otherwise, your question tells skimmers, “read below to find out.” If they wanted to read, that’s what they’d be doing!
- Use enough subheads — but not too many. If you have a subhead for every paragraph, you have too many subheads. Include a subhead every four to six paragraphs, suggest the folks at the BBC News Academy.
- Keep them short. Limit subheads to a single line — on your phone. (Tip: Email your message to yourself and check it on your mobile to make sure.) That probably means up to five words.
Longer, and they’ll start looking like text, not display copy. And then you’ll lose the attention-grabbing power of subheads.
Don’t drop the subheads.
Writing subheads “may be the most important thing you do,” according to Jakob Nielsen, co-founder of Nielsen Norman Group usability consultancy.
So whatever you do, don’t drop the subheads.
Ann Wylie (WylieComm.com) helps PR professionals Catch Your Readers through writing training. Her workshops take her from Hollywood to Helsinki, helping communicators in organizations like Coca-Cola, Toyota, Eli Lilly and Salesforce draw readers in and move them to act. Never miss a tip: FreeWritingTips.wyliecomm.com.
Copyright © 2026 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.
Photo credit: VZ_art
