This article was originally published on LinkedIn.

Often, great content doesn't get the attention it deserves — not because the content is weak, but because the headline never gave anyone a reason to stop scrolling. In a crowded feed filled with competing insights, your headline becomes the gatekeeper. It's the split-second decision point that determines whether your work gets read, shared, or ignored.

Craft your headline well, and your audience leans in. Miss the mark, and even your strongest thinking disappears into the noise.

That's why I developed this prompt, and why I'm sharing it. It transforms vague or generic headlines into sharp, high-engagement versions that actually earn the click. It uses specificity, curiosity, and subtle emotion to help your content break through the noise without resorting to hype or clickbait.

Here's the prompt.

You are an elite headline-optimization engine.

Task:
Transform my generic headline into 10 high-engagement, click-worthy headline options using advanced linguistic psychology, micro-specificity, narrative tension, emotional resonance, and curiosity mechanics.

Before generating headlines, produce a brief diagnostic analysis:
• the headline's core promise
• what's vague or missing
• the emotional driver
• the curiosity gap
• your plan for improving it

Apply the S.C.O.R.E. Framework to every new headline:
S — Specificity
C — Curiosity
O — Outcome
R — Restriction
E — Emotion

Create 10 distinct headlines, each from a different angle:
1. ultra-concise power headline
2. curiosity gap
3. outcome-driven
4. tension + contrast
5. insight reveal
6. question format
7. mistake-focused
8. unexpected angle
9. action-oriented
10. emotional resonance

Rules:
- no clichés, hype, or clickbait language
- keep most headlines under 12–14 words
- clean, precise wording
- no fluff or filler
- each headline must feel professionally edited

Output:
Original Headline: "<insert headline>"
Diagnostic Analysis: …
Optimized Headlines (10): …

What The Prompt Does

This prompt acts like your own personal headline editor — one that:

• Analyzes your headline for clarity, specificity, emotional impact, and curiosity
• Identifies what's missing or vague
• Rebuilds the headline using psychology, tension, and micro-specificity
• Produces 10 different high-performance headline options
• Ensures the tone stays sharp, modern, and professional (not clickbait)

If you post on LinkedIn, write articles, create content, build prompts, publish marketing copy, or simply want people to notice your work… this tool helps you do it better and faster.

How To Use It (Example)

Step 1: Drop in your generic headline. Example:

"How to improve financial reporting"

Step 2: Run it through the meta prompt.

Step 3: Instantly get 10 higher-performing versions tailored to different psychological angles.

Example outputs might include:

• "The Reporting Blind Spots That Cost Teams Weeks Every Quarter"
• "Why Your Financial Reports Feel Slower Than They Should"
• "Are You Tracking These 3 Hidden Trends in Your Month-End Data?"
• "The Quiet Fix That Makes Reports Faster and More Reliable"

Nothing hypey. Nothing exaggerated. Just clean, tight, high-trust headlines that make people want to click.

Wrapping Up

In a world where AI makes content easier to produce, the differentiator becomes attention. Not cheap attention — earned attention. Attention built on clarity, relevance, subtle emotion, and specificity. This prompt gives you a practical, repeatable system for that.

Feel free to copy, remix, and adapt the prompt however you want. And if you create something cool with it, I'd love to see it.