Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[Bob Stepno <bstepno AT mindspring.com>]

In this case, the headline trouble is more a matter of the copydesk 
being clueless about the industry-specific meaning of the word 
"developer" ("someone who writes programs") more than the "search 
engine optimization" issue.

"Creator" or "Inventor" would have been less ambiguous, if imprecise. 
Using the verb form instead of "developer" would eliminate the 
ambiguity: "John W. Backus Dies; Developed Fortran"

Personally, I'd tell a student to avoid the deceased's name (because 
most readers won't know him), and maybe even avoid "Fortran," because 
younger and non-tech readers may never have heard of it. The result 
could be something like "Computer Language Pioneer Dies; Led IBM 
Fortran Project" -- but that wouldn't fit the same hard-copy 
column-width the Times needed. And Times policy may require names in 
obit headlines.

The more general SEO problem in the print-edition/web-edition era is 
that newspaper editors believe "label" leads without verbs are vague 
and that readers like headlines that are "clever" (funny, metaphorical, 
alliterative, poetic, punny). When possible, they do prefer heads that 
are unambiguous active-voice mini-sentences (subject-verb or 
subject-verb-object), sometimes with an "implied" subject or verb.

Metaphors and puns obviously don't work with search engines. But S-V-O 
heads risk being ridiculously vague ("Board Examines Budget") or too 
long for a newspaper column, as in "Manager Finds Decapitated Torso in 
Striptease Nightclub." That last one, of course, is based on the New 
York Post's famously tasteless "Headless Body In Topless Bar," in which 
the graphic details make up for the implied passive verb "found." It's 
not just prurient interest: The unexpected combination of headless and 
topless in one line is distinctive enough for Google, too. Don't 
believe me? Search for "headless" and "topless" and hit "I'm feeling 
lucky."

The problem with other Google-friendly heads is that they can be 
boring. In fact, for more on Search Engine Optimized heads, use Google 
to search for "boring" and "headline." And hit "I'm feeling lucky."

cheers,
Bob
http://couranteer.com
http://stepno.com
... a proud graduate of the Paul Jones School of Cybercasting ...

On Mar 24, 2007, at 12:00 PM, internetworkers-request AT lists.ibiblio.org 
wrote:
> From: "Cristóbal Palmer" <cristobalpalmer AT gmail.com>
> Date: March 23, 2007 11:41:20 PM EDT
> To: "Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/"; 
> <internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Subject: Re: [internetworkers] John W. Backus, 82, Fortran Developer, 
> Dies
>
> it's getting harder for publishers to write good headlines, since they
> really want their headline to be the one that comes up when people
> enter a search, but people put nouns in searches, not verbs, and the
> journalism types were taught in school to write "action" headlines.
>
> Heard Paul Jones talking about this. I'm probably not paraphrasing
> terribly well.
>
> Cheers,
> CMP
>