What Makes a Good YouTube Shorts Hook? (Free Hook Analyzer, 2026)

Rules, not AI. The score is a fixed rubric of 5 factors — First 1–2 seconds (20 points), Curiosity / open loop (20 points), Specificity (20 points), Length (20 points), Power words (20 points) — that add up to 100, and the same hook always gets the same score. Nothing you type is sent anywhere: the analysis runs in your browser.

First 1–2 seconds — 20 points. Does the hook front-load intrigue? Full marks when it does not start with a warm-up phrase and puts a number, a question, a trigger word, a curiosity cue or “you” inside the opening window; half marks when only one of those holds; none for a warm-up with nothing behind it. The window is the first 4 words; warm-up phrases include “hi”, “hello”, “hey”, “hey guys”, “hi guys”.

Curiosity / open loop — 20 points. Does it open a loop the viewer wants closed? Full marks for a curiosity cue anywhere in the hook; half marks for a question with no tease; none otherwise. Cues include “secret”, “secrets”, “hidden”, “mistake”, “mistakes”.

Specificity — 20 points. Is it concrete? Full marks for a number, a spelled-out number or a named thing (a capitalised word after the first) with no vague filler; half marks when a concrete detail sits beside a vague word; none when nothing concrete is named. Vague words include “things”, “stuff”, “some”, “something”, “somehow”.

Length — 20 points. Is it the length of a hook — one line said in the first one to two seconds? Full marks inside the ideal band of words, half marks inside the acceptable band, none outside it. Full marks at 4–12 words, half marks at 3–16 words.

Power words — 20 points. Does it use emotional or power words? Full marks for enough distinct trigger words from the maintained list, half marks for one, none for none. Full marks from 2 distinct trigger words; the list has 149 entries, such as “proven”, “shocking”, “brutal”, “honest”, “insane”.

Bands: weak hook from 0 · decent hook from 40 · strong hook from 70 (out of 100).

The suggestions are fixes, not rewrites: each names a factor that fell short and what the analyzer found — a warm-up phrase, a vague word, the word count — and leaves the writing to you.

This rubric is an editorial default flagged for review (last reviewed 2026-09-10): the weights are equal because no source ranks the factors, the length band and the opening window are documented assumptions, and the word lists are curated from public copywriting lists. The lists are English-only for now, so a hook in another language is scored on length, numbers and structure. Sources: ClipsYou Forge Blueprint §5.2 — Hook / Title Analyzer [LOCKED — rules-based, no AI]: score on first-1–2-seconds strength, curiosity / open loop, specificity (numbers, concrete nouns) vs vagueness, length within an optimal band, and power / emotional trigger words from a maintained list; return a 0–100 score, a per-factor breakdown and 2–3 rewrite suggestions (data/hook-rules.json). · Forge Phase 3 rubric decisions (2026-09-10, flagged for editorial review before launch): Q3 equal 20-point weights because no source ranks the factors; Q4 the length band and the opening window measured in words (ideal 4–12, acceptable 3–16; the first 4 words ≈ 1.5 s at a conversational 2.5–3 words per second) as documented assumptions; Q6 a 200-code-point input bound; Q7 factor-driven suggestions from templates, never generated text. · Buffer — Power Words: 150+ Words to Drive More Clicks and Conversions on Social Media (the power-word list draws on it). https://buffer.com/library/words-and-phrases-that-convert-ultimate-list/ · OptinMonster — Power Words: Transform Your Content With 700+ Powerful Words (its curiosity, urgency and trust categories; 'guaranteed' deliberately left out of the list — an honesty choice, Blueprint §14). https://optinmonster.com/700-power-words-that-will-boost-your-conversions/ · CoSchedule — Power Words: 1,900+ Examples for Writing Awesome Headlines. https://coschedule.com/headlines/power-words

Scores the hook only, on a fixed rules-based rubric — no AI. A strong hook helps; it is not a promise of views or reach.