10.04.2006

metapeople press releases

Optimised news – Google instead of esprit (Der Spiegel)
By Holger Dambeck

Surprising, witty, ironical – this way many a reader would want a good headline to be. But news search engines assess headlines by different criteria. For them, only keywords count.

What distinguishes a good caption is a controversial subject heftily debated on journalist workshops. Some people are into wordplays, others go for sassy, straightforward addressing. News writers in contrast prefer it precisely and objective. This clash can be solved – at least if the texts are to be published online and aimed at a large readership. So in this case, to be found more easily, headlines should preferably be optimised regarding the specifications of search engines.