undefined | Better HN

0 pointsdanso12y ago0 comments

You can do both, of course, with the use of metatags.

But that point aside, it is the editor's job to second guess things, as you say. By writing a headline, an editor is implicitly saying, just in case you don't get to reading every story on this page, here's a 10 to 100 word summary of what it's about. The difference here is the medium...the print page makes it easy to convey meaning through design and photos. A search engine does not. And unless you want your search result pages to look like Myspace, I think it's important for the metadata to convey actual meaning that doesn't require the context (I.e. Buying a back issue of the newspaper) for it to make sense

0 comments

user2412y ago

> You can do both, of course, with the use of metatags.

says who? How do you know how Google works? Do they pay attention to metatags any more? Even if we knew they did, the rest of the algorithm is deliberately mysterious to the point that if Site A is ranking higher than Site B, and Site A happens to have more descriptive titles, Site B will start copying that style in the name of "SEO" and you're back to square one. Metatags indeed.

> it is the editor's job to second guess things

That's not what I said. I said it's not the job of editors to second guess search engines.

I think the theory of headlines goes far beyond "here's a summary".

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse