Add at least 6 good tags and no more than 10 total. Tags after the 10th won’t be indexed.
Don’t over-do it: stay focused on the main topic(s) of the article. Joke topics diminish return.
Include relevant proper nouns (person, place, thing, event) that are primary to the story. Don't list all the secondary characters or locations.
Do not use Show, Channel, or Host names as tags since that metadata is represented in separate fields and you end up creating duplicate aggregations.
Do not use the tag "Video" or "Videos" on video posts since we're identifying the content type elsewhere.
When possible, use probable search phrases
Example: For a story from a tech reporter reviewing a new Macbook
Tags: Apple, Macbook, Macbook Air, Macbook Air 2015, Apple Product Reviews
The order of the keywords is not important
Include abbreviations and common misspellings when relevant
Be considerate of the fact that each tag will create a “tag page,” where every article tagged with that tag can be found. Avoid creating single-story tag pages. Use tags that we will use again and again so we build authority around these topics.
To source and compare ideal keywords, use Google Trends, Buzzsumo Trending, and other signal sources.
Slugs
For customized slugs, there is no hard limit to the number of words that can be included but 5-10 is a good range. The editorial team should avoid creating particularly long slugs, and continue to incorporate readable phrases as opposed to just a list of keyword terms.
Captions
The caption should describe the image and include the name of any person/place/thing (as appropriate). Use the full name of individuals.
Headlines
Headlines do not need to be as literal and terse as title tags, but at a minimum the main subject should be incorporated whenever possible. This is most critical for articles with strong news search potential.
Google News formatting tricks
Include multiple continuous paragraphs within the body and avoid "fragmenting" the article with subheadings, interstitial links, multimedia features, etc. prior to at least 80 continuous words (and preferably 100 words). An image or video right at the top (prior to the start of the body text) is ok.
Whenever possible, the editorial staff should aim to include at least 100 words of body content (and preferably 300+). Formatting the body into at least two paragraphs as opposed to a single block of text is also recommended to increase the likelihood of being indexed in Google News.