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Google News employees over the weekend unveiled a new content tag that allows publishers to be feature their “standout” content.According to Google the new “standout” tag is meant to highlight content that brings “exceptional original reporting, deep investigative work, scoops and exclusives, and various special projects that quite clearly stand out.”
To use the “standout tag Google is telling Google News featured publishers to place the following tag in their article:
<link rel=”standout” href=“http://www.example.com/scoop_article_2.html” />
Publishers have the option to point within their own stories or point to standout stories located elsewhere. Google points out that since the tag only sits in the HTML header it will not be viewed by readers.
While Google News reps don’t directly say the tags will help sites show their relevance to stories they made the following comment:
Standout Content tags work best when news publishers recognize not just their own quality content, but also the original journalistic contributions of others when your stories draw from the standout efforts of other publications. Linking out to other sites is well recognized as a best practice on the web, and we believe that citing others’ standout content is important for earning trust as you also promote your own standout work.
To avoid spammed content Google is only allowing the “standout” tag to be used seven times each week and they are not guaranteeing that standout content will be featured on Google News pages.
Give Google News “Standout” a try and let us know what you think about the new meta tag.
