Every story needs tags (contextual, directional or – most often – both).

TWO TYPES:

Contextual tags: These collect together stories with similar subjects. Perhaps more importantly, they now also work as a way for Google News to find and value your posts. Remember, these tags can be one word, like nike, or two-to-three word phrases. Always lowercase them. Always separate them with commas. And finally, they only work if they are consistent.

What contextual tags should I use? Think of keywords you would use to search for a story – names of people (first and last only), places, organizations, events, or sports teams.

How many for a story? Zero to 10 (a car accident post may not need any; a story on the opening of the Legislature may mention the four people who are most-newsworthy). Only use tags that are focused enough to include other stories; do not use broad, general terms (use “nike”; do not use “sportswear”). And never use contextual tags that are the same as directional tags (do not use “Portland”).

Directional tags: These send stories to other blogs. They always start with “@”. Just because you create one does not mean it directs to a new location. (You can find all of them on the newsroom home page or here:  ORne.ws/directional-tags.)

What should I use? Any directional tags that make sense. Consider subject-oriented directional tags and geography-based directional tags (remember to add one for each specific Portland zone).

How many for a story? As many as you need – no more. Only send stories to blogs where they are contextual.

NOTE: DO NOT USE DIRECTIONAL TAGS (that’s anything with an @) to photo galleries.

RULES FOR USE:

- All lowercase
- No middle initials or middle names (unless needed to separate from another person with same first-last names)
- No titles (Gov. John Kitzhaber is tagged as john kitzhaber)
- Be succinct — pick a single word or two-word phrase
- Use plural terms
- Always separate with commas
- Spell everything correctly (don’t add incorrect spellings just because people may spell them that way)

POPULAR TAGS:

These tags are contextual and do not have “@” in front of them. They are essentially search terms — so they must be spelled correctly and consistently every time.

Because they are searchable, you can invent a tag (come up with one to three words) and we can search for all the posts that bear that tag and create a previous-coverage box. The online team can put that information on the popular tags page (You can find it on the newsroom home page or here:  ORne.ws/popular-tags).

Go to the popular tags page and search for the tag. You will find tags (the specific popular tag and secondary tags), the best location for the post and a link to the previous-coverage box. You must add the tag and the previous-coverage box to each post to make it useful to the reader.

MORE:

Contextual tags will autofill in the tag field. Make sure the recommended tag is spelled correctly.

Directional tags will not autofill in the tag field, though the autofill will come up when you are done. If the autofill box blocks your view of the Save button, click on the “Display Options” button and select “Both” under “Actions.” It will add a Save button at the top of the page also.