Clickbait Headline Checker
Paste a headline. The checker looks for eight writing patterns that clickbait often uses and explains each one it finds. It runs only in your browser.
How the score works: each signal type adds fixed points (all-caps words 15, curiosity-gap phrase 25, excessive punctuation 15 or a single exclamation mark 5, number-list opener 10, vague source 15, sensational words 10 each up to 20, direct address with "you" 10, false urgency 10), capped at 100. The patterns follow clickbait features described in research such as Chakraborty and colleagues, "Stop Clickbait" (2016). The score measures style, not truth.
Most people worry about fakes, and few trust what they see
The Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2026 surveyed about 97,500 people in 48 markets. It found that 62% worry about what is real and what is fake online, up 4 points from 2025. Only 37% trust most news most of the time. Trust in news on social media is 22%, and trust in answers from AI chatbots is 20%.
In a 2019 national study of 3,446 US high school students, the Stanford History Education Group found that 52% took a grainy video filmed in Russia as strong evidence of US voter fraud, and about two-thirds could not tell news stories from ads labelled "Sponsored Content". False stories also travel fast: a 2018 study in Science by Vosoughi, Roy and Aral found that false news on Twitter was 70% more likely to be retweeted than true news.
Read laterally: leave the page to judge the page
When Stanford researchers Sam Wineburg and Sarah McGrew watched professional fact-checkers evaluate websites, the fact-checkers did not read the page closely first. They opened new tabs to see what other sources said about the site and its owner. The researchers called this lateral reading, and it beat careful reading of one page.
- Stop. Notice how the headline makes you feel. A strong emotion such as anger, fear or glee is a signal to pause before you share.
- Investigate the source. Search the site or author name in a new tab. Look for an encyclopedia entry, news coverage or a fact-check about them.
- Find better coverage. Search the claim itself. If a big story is true, several established outlets usually report it.
- Trace claims to the original. Follow quotes, photos and statistics back to where they first appeared, and check that the context matches.
These four steps are the SIFT method by digital literacy expert Mike Caulfield, which many university libraries teach.
Check the URL before you trust the logo
Hoax sites often copy the look of a real outlet. The address bar is harder to fake.
- Read the domain from right to left. In news.example.com.co, the owner is example.com.co, not example.com. A famous 2016 hoax site used a well-known network name followed by .com.co.
- Check the spelling. Look for swapped letters, extra words and digits that replace letters, such as a zero for the letter o.
- Open the About and Contact pages. A real outlet names its editors and gives a way to reach them.
Check the source, the author and the date
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) publishes a checklist called "How to Spot Fake News":
- Consider the source and its mission.
- Read beyond the headline. The full story can say something different.
- Check the author. Are they real, and do they know the subject?
- Check the supporting sources. Do the links and studies actually support the claim?
- Check the date. Old stories often come back as new ones.
- Ask if it is a joke. Satire sites look serious on purpose.
- Check your biases. We believe stories that fit our views too quickly.
- Ask the experts. Use a librarian or an independent fact-checking site.
Watch for vague sources too. "Experts say" or "studies show" with no name and no date is a warning sign. A real report names the expert or the study.
Questions about clickbait and hoaxes
Does a high clickbait score mean a story is fake?
No. The score only counts writing patterns that clickbait often uses. A true story can have a loud headline, and a false story can have a calm one. Use the score as a reason to check the source, not as a verdict.
What is lateral reading?
Lateral reading means you leave the page and open new tabs to see what other sources say about the site, the author and the claim. Stanford researchers found that professional fact-checkers work this way, and that it beats reading one page closely.
How can I tell if a URL belongs to a hoax site?
Read the domain from right to left. The part just before the first single slash decides who owns the page. A look-alike such as a well-known news name followed by .com.co belongs to someone else. Then search for the site name with the word hoax or satire.