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GOOGLE’S ADWORDS KEYWORD TOOL
NEWSPAPERS SEARCH FOR WEB HEADLINE MAGIC
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION TIPS

NEWSPAPERS SEARCH FOR WEB HEADLINE MAGIC

By Elinor Mills
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
February 2, 2007

On January 2, The Wall Street Journal’s Web site posted a story with the headline: “Green Beans Comes Marching Home.”

Would you know that this story is about how Green Beans Coffee, a company that serves U.S. military bases overseas, is opening its first cafe in the United States?

Read this interesting and informative article to learn how clever print titles do NOT always work online if you want search engines to give your page a high rating—and more readers.

You’ll learn how news organizations are using coding techniques and training journalists to rewrite print headlines by thinking about what the story is about and being as clear as possible. Known as SEO, or search engine optimization, this science has spawned a whole industry of companies that help Web sites get noticed by Google’s search engine.


Photo courtesy of Bill Shaw Surgeonfish escort a sea turtle.

To rank high in the search engines, the WSJ headline should have included the word “coffee,” “cafes” or even “Starbucks.”

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SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION TIPS

  • Put keywords in the headline. A keyword carries more weight in search engines if it located at the beginning of a headline.

  • Include a more descriptive, keyword-rich version of the headline in the title tag. That tag appears in the blue bar at the top of the browser window when viewing a Web page.

  • Use keywords in the anchor text, which is the underlined text in a hyperlink.

  • Frequently and consistently interlink between related stories and items on a site.

  • Tag the content accurately across the Web page. Change headers and tabs on pages to mundane, rather than clever, terms.

GOOGLE’S ADWORDS KEYWORD TOOL
You can see how popular specific keywords are and find alternatives by using Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool.

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Photo courtesy of Bill Shaw Sharp spines on either side of the surgeonfish’s tail can injure the unwary.

ASSIGNMENT: YOU’RE THE EDITOR

Fix the newspaper headlines lost in Web translation.

  • Write down what’s wrong with each of the 14 famous newspaper headlines below in terms of Internet SEO. Why won’t these headlines translate to the Web?

  • Write a more descriptive, keyword-rich version of the headline that will attract search engine crawlers as much as readers.

  • If you have similar keywords to choose from (such as car accident, truck accident, auto accident and traffic accident), list them in order of popularity according to Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool.

1. Wall St. lays an egg—Variety on Black Monday (1929)

  • What’s wrong?

  • More descriptive, keyword-rich version:

  • Ranking of ANY similar keywords in Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool:

2. Sticks nix hick pix—Variety, suggesting that rural moviegoers reject movies about rural life (1935)

  • What’s wrong?


    • Photo courtesy of Bill Shaw Phantom-like, a sea turtle cruises through the clear Galapagos water.
  • More descriptive, keyword-rich version:

  • Ranking of ANY similar keywords in Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool:

3. Dewey defeats Truman—The Chicago Tribune reporting the wrong election winner (1948)
What’s wrong?

  • What’s wrong?

  • More descriptive, keyword-rich version:

  • Ranking of ANY similar keywords in Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool:

4. Ford to city: Drop dead—New York Daily News reporting President Ford's denial of a federal bailout (1975)

  • What’s wrong?

  • More descriptive, keyword-rich version:

  • Ranking of ANY similar keywords in Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool:

5. Sick transit's glorious Monday—New York Daily News reporting on a state transit bailout (1980)

  • What’s wrong?

  • More descriptive, keyword-rich version:

  • Ranking of ANY similar keywords in Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool:

Photo courtesy of Bill Shaw With its flippers tight against its body, a sea lion torpedoes through the water.

6. Gotcha!—The U.K.'s Sun on the sinking of the Belgrano during the Falklands War (1981)

  • What’s wrong?

  • More descriptive, keyword-rich version:

  • Ranking of ANY similar keywords in Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool:

7. Headless body in topless bar—New York Post on a local murder (1983)

  • What’s wrong?

  • More descriptive, keyword-rich version:

  • Ranking of ANY similar keywords in Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool:

8. Hicks nix Knicks in six—New York Daily News on an NBA Conference Finals win by Indiana Pacers (2000)

  • What’s wrong?

  • More descriptive, keyword-rich version:

  • Ranking of ANY similar keywords in Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool:

9. Super Caley go ballistic. Celtic are atrocious—The Sun on Inverness Caledonian Thistle's huge Scottish Cup upset against Glasgow Celtic (2000)

  • What’s wrong?

  • More descriptive, keyword-rich version:


    • Photo courtesy of Bill ShawThe nocturnal, bottom-dwelling whitetip reef shark rests on the sea floor during the day. If disturbed, it usually swims away. It dines on fish, crustaceans and octopus.
  • Ranking of ANY similar keywords in Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool:

10. Green Beans comes marching home—The Wall Street Journal on a coffee supplier to U.S. troops opening retail cafes stateside (2007)

  • What’s wrong?

  • More descriptive, keyword-rich version:

  • Ranking of ANY similar keywords in Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool:

11. Caught speeding—New York Post on Barry Bonds' amphetamine use (2007)

  • What’s wrong?

  • More descriptive, keyword-rich version:

  • Ranking of ANY similar keywords in Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool:

12. Bastards! A changed America—San Francisco Examiner on the attacks of September 11 (2001)

  • What’s wrong?

  • More descriptive, keyword-rich version:

  • Ranking of ANY similar keywords in Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool:

13. Bull's-eye—Oakland Tribune on U.S. bombing of Iraq (1991)


Photo courtesy of Bill Shaw Beautiful swimmers, eagle rays can jump several feet above the water.
  • What’s wrong?

  • More descriptive, keyword-rich version:

  • Ranking of ANY similar keywords in Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool:

14. Lumberjerk—Boston Herald on a lumber trucker's car accident (1996)

  • What’s wrong?

  • More descriptive, keyword-rich version:

  • Ranking of ANY similar keywords in Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool:

15. IMPORTANT! For your Cronkite zine story, write a descriptive, keyword-rich version that will appear in the title bar in the browser. Do NOT confuse this with the title (headline) that appears on the actual story itself. These are two different things.

  • Descriptive, keyword-rich title for my Cronkite zine story:

  • Ranking of ANY similar keywords in Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool:
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© 2008 Carol B. Schwalbe