Metatags – remember those? So 2002, right? Back in those days,
metadata was the prime way to rank in the search engines, and SEOs with
the most keywords stuffed into their websites dominated the SERPs. I
remember reading through search result descriptions and coming
head-to-head with crazy little numbers like this:
“cat cats cat food catty kitten kitty cat cat training cat collar”
Okay, what? I for one am pleased as punch that Big G went ahead and nipped that one in the bud.
Flash forward ten years. Long after the death of the metatag, the
concept has made an unexpected cameo. Google News has recently
reintroduced the concept, and the 2.0 version comes with a whole new set
of rules. Let’s look at what exactly has changed and how you can use
the new metatag to promote all your website’s best news stories going
forward.
The Lowdown on the New Metatag
Google made the move to reintroduce the idea of metatags for use in
Google News feeds. The news_keyword metatag is a way to add keywords to
your Google News stories to help correctly classify them for readers to
find. To better illustrate why this is important, here’s a tidbit from
the official Google News blog:
“The day after the historic 1929 stock market crash, Variety bannered
their front page with these words: “WALL ST. LAYS AN EGG.” It’s a great
headline: pithy, catchy, and expressive of the substance of the story
as well as the scale of its consequences. It’s also worth noting that
Variety’s editors had a full day to write the headline — millions of
readers weren’t trying to search for the story within seconds of hearing
about it.
The Web has transformed both how news organizations report
information and the way users find it. Imagine if “WALL ST. LAYS AN EGG”
were used as a headline today by an online news site. Since the
headline is a sequence of text that’s only readily understandable by a
human, most machine algorithms would probably attach some sort of
biological association to it. In turn, this would make it difficult for
millions of curious users who are using Google.com or Google News to
find the best article about the stock market crash they just heard
about.
To help solve this problem, today we’re excited to announce a
news_keyword metatag. The goal is simple: empower news writers to
express their stories freely while helping Google News to properly
understand and classify that content so that it’s discoverable by our
wide audience of users.”
That last part sounds great, doesn’t it?
If you’re wondering how to implement it… don’t. The Google News help
pages clue webmasters in on what they need to know in order to use the
new tag. They use the following example:
<meta name=”news_keywords” content=”World Cup, Brazil 2014, Spain vs Netherlands”>
The help pages also point out that Google News publishers can only
use up to ten keywords within the news_keywords tag. It’s great to set
limits, but I’m willing to bet that people will soon try to figure out a
way to abuse it in no time flat. That’s the nature of the Internet,
it’s the way some people are, and it’s the reason Google must constantly
fight to stay one step ahead.
The new tag is a long-overdue and necessary. As the official blog
post pointed out, publishers can now craft a killer news story “without
forcing the editors to water down the creativity of a great headline.”
Instead of fretting over ways to awkwardly shove keywords into your
headline and story body, you can just, well… write.
SEOs shouldn’t worry (too much) about scammers, spammers, and
fraudsters ruining this new tag for everyone else. In the first place,
how much damage can one tag inflict with a ten-keyword limit? That seems
pretty tame to me. There is, of course, the possibility of hackers
attempting to run scripts or alter the code in some way, but frankly,
we’re just not dealing with the same Google of years past. Algorithms
and bots are more sophisticated now than they ever were before, and
these hacks won’t stand a chance against G’s search fortress.
It’s also worth mentioning that we’re dealing with Google News, not
the regular Google search. It’s a whole different animal. In fact,
webmasters must submit their sites for review and inclusion in the
Google News network before they can even submit news articles. Every
website must adhere to the Google News guidelines as well as the general
Google quality guidelines to earn the official stamp of approval.
How to Use the “News_Keywords” Tag for Your Website
Does your website publish breaking news or otherwise newsworthy
content? If so, you should consider Google News. Submit your site for
inclusion in the service, and get to work crafting your newsworthy
pieces.
Google News is singularly focused on furnishing users with unbridled
exposure to as many varieties of news outlets as possible. Hence, the
new tag. When you’re creating a story about something relevant to your
niche, but the wording is way out in left field, that’s where these new
little metatags will come in mighty handy. Make sure you include only
the most highly relevant keywords and stick with a set of keywords that
are closely related. This will increase your chances of being found.
Keep a couple of rules in mind before you get started. First, make
sure to adhere to Google’s quality guidelines. They’re looking for
relevant, useful, well-written content, so don’t let your article
disappoint. In addition, if you’re writing a satire piece, political
commentary, a blog post, or a press release, you’re now required to use
proper labeling. Tag these kinds of content so Google News knows how to
handle them. You can find a list of tags to use in the Google help pages.
If your website is indeed accepted into Google News, rejoice! One
step down. But remember that getting into the service, writing news
pieces, and using keywords are not the only things you need to do in
order to rank. Remember that quite a few other signals are factored into
Google’s algo, and this new metadata is but one part of the equation.
That said, it certainly can’t hurt. As a strategy for website
marketing, it seems more solid than most. Any time Google rolls out a
new change like this, it’s most effective when you use the feature right
away. The longer you wait before you use it, the more watered down
others will make it. Translation: it will be tough to get any kind of
real exposure simply from using the tag.
Start writing those press releases and articles now and get the word
out about your site. Remember – nothing beats free advertising.
Nell Terry is a tech news junkie, fledgling Internet marketer and staff writer for SiteProNews,