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Clickbait (also known as link bait or linkbait) is a text or a thumbnail hyperlink that is designed to attract attention and to entice users to follow ("click") that link and view, read, stream or listen to the linked piece of online content, being typically deceptive, sensationalized, or otherwise misleading. A "teaser campaign" aims to exploit the "curiosity gap", providing just enough information to make readers of news websites curiosity, but not enough to satisfy their curiosity without clicking through to the linked content. Clickbait headlines often add an element of dishonesty, using enticements that do not accurately reflect the content being delivered. The -bait suffix makes an analogy with fishing, where a hook is disguised by an enticement (fishing bait), presenting the impression to the fish that it is a desirable thing to swallow.
Before the Internet, a marketing practice known as bait-and-switch used similar dishonest methods to hook customers. In extreme degree, like bait-and-switch, clickbait is a form of fraud. ( Click fraud, however, is a separate form of online misrepresentation which uses a more extreme disconnect between what is being presented in the frontside of the link versus what is on the click-through side of the link, also encompassing malware.) The term clickbait does not encompass all cases where the user arrives at a destination that is not anticipated from the link that is clicked.
In 2014, BuzzFeed editor Ben Smith stated that his publication avoided using clickbait, using a strict definition of clickbait as a headline that is dishonest about the content of the article. Smith noted that Buzzfeed headlines such as "A 5-Year-Old Girl Raised Enough Money To Take Her Father Who Has Terminal Cancer To Disney World" delivered exactly what the headline promised. The fact that the headline was written to be eye-catching was irrelevant in Smith's view, since the headline accurately described the article.
Facebook, while trying to reduce the amount of clickbait shown to users, defined the term as a headline that encourages users to click, but does not tell them what they will see; however, this definition excludes much content that is generally regarded as clickbait.
A more commonly used definition is a headline that intentionally over-promises and under-delivers. The articles associated with such headlines often are unoriginal, and either merely restate the headline, or copy content from a more genuine news source.
The term clickbait is sometimes used for any article that is unflattering to a person; in such cases, the article is not actually clickbait by any legitimate definition of the term.
Click-through rates (CTRs) on YouTube show that videos with hyperbolic or misleading title, created for the purpose of being attention-grabbing, displayed higher click-through rates than videos which did not. Clickbait tactics generally lead to higher clickthrough rates, and to higher revenue and optimization of a content creator's overall engagement.
There are various clickbait strategies, including the composition of headlines of news and online articles that build suspense and sensation, luring and teasing users to click. (2025). 9783319635637, Springer. ISBN 9783319635637 Some of the popular approaches in achieving these include the presentation of link and images that are interesting to the user, exploiting curiosity related to greed or prurient interest. It is not uncommon, for instance, for these contents to include lewd imagery or a "make money quick" scheme.
Clickbait is also used in abundance on streaming platforms that thrive with targeted ads and personalization. At the International Consumer Electronics Show, YouTube revealed that most of the videos watched and watchtime generated did not come from Google searches, but from personalized advertisements and the recommendations page. Recommendations on YouTube are driven by a viewer's personal watch history and videos that get an abundance of clicks. With a streaming platform like YouTube, which has upwards of 122 million active users a day, the videos that are watched are very likely to be those with clickbait in either the title or thumbnail of the video, garnering attention and therefore clicks.
Web browsers have incorporated tools to detect and mitigate the clickbait problem while social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have implemented algorithms to filter clickbait contents. (2025). 9789811073977, Springer. ISBN 9789811073977 Social media groups, such as Stop Clickbait, combat clickbait by giving a short summary of the clickbait article, closing the "curiosity gap". Clickbait-reporting browser plug-ins have also been developed by the research community in order to report clickbait links for further advances in the field based on supervised learning algorithms. Security software providers offer advice on how to avoid harmful clickbait.
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