The New York Times says that search engines are responsible for 30 per cent of the traffic that some newspapers and magazines get online. A fascinating article, This Boring Headline is Written for Google, claims that this is dumbing down the art of headline writing:
There are no algorithms for wit, irony, humor or stylish writing. The software is a logical, sequential, left-brain reader, while humans are often right brain.
The article describes how print media is wrestling with search engine optimisation and how to write headlines for online use.
Mostly, they are making titles and headlines easier for search engines to find and fathom. About a year ago, The Sacramento Bee changed online section titles. “Real Estate” became “Homes,” “Scene” turned into “Lifestyle,” and dining information found in newsprint under “Taste,” is online under “Taste/Food.”
Interestingly, Jakob Neilsen’s research suggests that this move is not only good for search engines but also makes the content of a web page easier to use and easier to understand. It’s literal but it works. I think this is not just a question of style or marketing but it is actually a question of how people use different media. Just recycling what works on paper won’t work online.
The article asks if this will affect journalism below the headline. Perhaps, but not yet or not widely. In fact, I would suggest that the typical journalistic inverted pyramid makes perfect sense for search engine optimisation.
The article concludes with the observation that telegraph technology shaped journalism for most of the last century and that, perhaps, it is only natural that the internet will shape it in future.
“We’re all struggling and experimenting with how news is presented in the future,” said Larry Kramer, president of CBS Digital Media. “And there’s nothing wrong with search engine optimization as long as it doesn’t interfere with news judgment. It shouldn’t, and it’s up to us to make sure it doesn’t. But it is a tool that is part of being effective in this medium.”
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