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Insight Horizon Media

What makes a good listicle?

Author

Robert Miller

Published Feb 15, 2026

What makes a good listicle?

An effective listicle title should accomplish three things in order to entice readers to actually read the post: 1. capture the readers’ attention, 2. clearly indicate the value or what the reader will learn, and 3. indicate how much they will learn with a number.

What are examples of listicles?

Here are examples of Listicles from Kiddicare, Huckberry, Bonobos and Zappos.

  • Kiddicare: Favourite 5 lightweight pushchairs.
  • Huckberry Clothing Weekly Pocket Dump Series.
  • Bonobos X Dads Father’s Day Gift Guide.
  • Zappos: Black and White Dresses Ideas Listicle Article.
  • John Lewis: Top 5 Ovens.

What is the point of listicles?

Listicles convey authority, and appeal to our desire for improvement and organization. By reading them, we’re tricked into believing we will receive some kind of benefit—we will learn to do X better, improve Y, or learn not to make certain mistakes. Listicles also elicit feelings of FOMO (fear of missing out).

Why is it called a listicle?

The word is a portmanteau derived from list and article. It has also been suggested that the word evokes “popsicle”, emphasising the fun but “not too nutritious” nature of the listicle. Other listicles impart no such values, instead presenting the topics in no particular order, although they may be grouped by theme.

Are listicles still popular?

Long-form content is becoming less and less common thanks to the emergence of the listicle. Believe it or not, this form of writing that combines list and article format has been around since long before the advent of the internet. Regardless of where or when listicles began, there’s no denying their popularity today.

How do you find listicles?

Another way to determine whether your topic can be a listicle is by doing a simple Google search of your target keyword. Another good place to look is your own Google Analytics data. If you see that a specific topic gets a ton of traffic, then it might do well as a listicle if you can easily simplify the content.

How do you write a listicle article?

7 Tips for Writing a Great Listicle

  1. Make Sure Your Article Belongs in a List Format.
  2. Check That Your Title Matches Your List.
  3. Give Your Article a Compelling Title That Hooks the Reader’s Attention.
  4. Choose Items That Will Surprise Your Readers.
  5. Make Your List Scannable.
  6. Pick the Right Number of Entries.
  7. Write a Strong Ending.

How effective are Listicles?

A good listicle never gives away its information in the title. This is what pulls so many people in and forces them to read through the piece to find the answer that the title posed. Even if you have no personal interest in a topic, a listicle curates that interest and satisfies your desires to learn more.

What is listicle marketing?

What is a listicle? It is a post arranged in a list format, and each point is supported with a relevant (and quirky) image or GIF to keep readers engaged. So if you find a post titled something like ’15 Things Every Woman Should Do Before She Turns 25′, you are looking at a listicle.

Who invented Listicles?

Sei Shonagon, an 11th-century Japanese poet and lady-in-waiting, is believed to have penned the first listicle, which included gems like her list of “Rare things” such as “Two people living together who continue to be overawed by each other’s excellence.”

How many words are in a listicle?

Every individual item on a listicle has, typically, 50-100 words worth of content. If you can’t explain the value of the list item in that amount of space, you’re not making a listicle; you’re making a resource post. 2. Choose your keywords.

Are listicles dead?

Almost every online article owes its formatting to the listicle. The reason blog posts, even ones that aren’t lists, have several subheadings is because that is how listicles are formatted, and readers love listicles. However, the listicle will never die because the form has so much going for it.

What is a listicle and what is it for?

What Is a Listicle? A listicle is a portmanteau of “list” and “article,” and they are specifically articles with the formatting of a list. Typically, they have a short introduction, a series of list items relevant to the topic at hand, brief descriptions of each item, and, usually, images for each.

Why are listicles so popular on the Internet?

They are easy for content producers to create or plagiarize, and unlike news content, they remain “relevant” for years. Because they don’t take long to read, visitors to the site are more likely to click on another listicle that interests them, generating more traffic. They are also bite-sized and frivolous enough to be shared on social media.

What is a listicle Rolling Stone?

Listicle. A ranked listicle (such as Rolling Stone’ s “The 100 Best Albums of the Last Twenty Years”) implies a qualitative judgement, conveyed by the order of the topics within the text. [citation needed] These are often presented in countdown order, and the “Number One” item is the last in the sequence.

Are listlisticles a good format for a website?

Listicles are a suitable format for a site, so long as they’re robust enough in terms of content that can be indexed and so long as they are relevant and full of value. Here’s an excellent example of a recent, high-quality listicle: It has a lengthy intro that digs into the topic and tells you why you should care.