Add a Story to Our Website

Meta details (also known as meta tags) help search engines and web crawlers understand what a page is about. The meta details are used for ranking purposes and to display snippets in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Social media platforms also typically pull meta details to display link previews.

Note: Sitecore will automatically fill in some of the fields for you, such as Meta Title, Description and Keywords, but it's important to update these auto-filled fields as outlined in the best practices explained below.

Example of how meta details affect Google search results.

Meta Title (Required)

Meta titles are used in SERPs and web browsers. For stories, you can typically reuse your headline, which should also be clear and concise. To help your story appear in search engines like Google, include the most important keyword phrase in the meta title. This is one of the most important factors in how search engines rank pages. Try to keep the meta title under 50-60 characters.

Meta Description (Required)

Meta descriptions, while not tied to search engine rankings, are an important way to prompt to users to click onto your story when they see it in their search results. These short paragraphs are your opportunity to "advertise" content to searchers, and searchers' chance to decide whether the content is relevant to their search query.

A page's meta description should intelligently (read: in a natural, active, non-spammy way) employ the keywords that page is targeting, but also create a compelling description that a searcher will want to click. It should be directly relevant to the page it describes and unique from the descriptions for other pages.

Keywords (Required)

Use commas to separate keywords with no spaces.

Include Gonzaga, the names of main story people/topics, and a few relevant keywords. Search engines don’t weigh this field very heavily, so you don’t need to spend a lot of time on a keyword list – just add a few obvious ones.

To learn more about meta tags, visit Moz.com.

Where to Display the Story

In most cases, you want to select both “Display on Public Site” and “Display on myGU." If you want to display your story on just one of the sites, then check only the corresponding box.

You also have the option to hide your story from Gonzaga.edu's internal site searches as well as "Main Story Feeds," which include the homepage, News & Events page, GU News Center page and All Stories page. This option is useful if you're publishing a story that's only relevant to your team or department's specific audience and not Gonzaga's general audience. If you hide the page, it will still be accessible via direct link and on any pages with story feeds using taxonomy applicable to your story. (More on taxonomy below.)

Hide Right Rail Checkbox (Optional)

Checking this box will move the contents of the right rail to the bottom of the page. You will very rarely want to select this option. However, it does provide a simplified layout that works well for stories and announcements when you'd prefer right rail content be placed below the story, rather than next to it.

Title (Required)

Consider this your headline. Here are some guidelines for writing compelling story titles:

Style Guide - Story Titles

• Use title case capitalization.
• It is not necessary to include Gonzaga in the title (with rare exceptions, like rankings).
• Use active verbs.
• Keep your title concise so it displays well. Under eight words typically works best.
• To help your page rank in search engines like Google, include your most relevant keyword phrase in the title. Like meta titles, this is one of the most important factors in how search engines rank pages.

Example of how to rewrite a headline according to best practices.

Byline (Optional)

Include the author or department name in this field. If the author is a Gonzaga alumni, it's nice to include the year they graduated. For example: Dale Goodwin (’86)

Summary (Required)

The page summary should contain “teaser” copy that leads into your main story. The first sentence or two of your introduction or your meta description will usually work well here. This will be visible on the thumbnails of the stories throughout the /news-events section of our site. While there isn’t technically a character limit enforced, only about 145 characters will display before being truncated with an ellipsis, so we recommend to keep these brief.

Example of the proper use of "Gonzaga" in the title.

Example of a good photo, title and description.

Body (Required)

Click on the “Show Editor” link and enter content based on the guidelines you learned in basic editor training. If you are copying from a word document, choose the paste as plain text option.

When you're done adding content, click the “Accept” button in the lower right corner.

Style Guide - Body Content

• You can add subheaders by selecting the text as "Heading 2, 3 or 4" – don't bold the font to create subheaders. For stories, we recommend using Heading 3 for your subheaders and Heading 4 if you need to further break up any sections below that. Use sentence case capitalization. To learn more, visit our Header Guidelines.
• Don't indent paragraphs.
• If your story is long, look for places to break up copy with special text treatment, like a stylized or elegant quote. You can find quote treatments under the Code Snippet dropdown. Don't use the Heading tag to set quotes apart.

Example of a Stylized Block Quote on the left and an Elegant Block Quote on the right.

Image (Optional)

While not technically required, all stories should have a photo. If you do not select a photo, your story will display without a photo on the story detail page, story listing pages and story listing modules.

To add your image, click on “Browse”, and then navigate to the Tree View on the upper right of the “Select Media” dialog box. From there, navigate to “Website > Images > Stories" and then select the image that you have previously uploaded to the correct location in the media library. All images should follow our image conventions guide.

Image Prefix: sq-name.jpg
Image Size: 570x522 px

Style Guide - Images

• Story listing blocks will have titles overlaid over the photos, so don't use graphics with text as your square image.
• Avoid using a collection of headshots when possible. (Generic campus shots can be a a good alternative.)

Example of a photo with text over the title of a story module; text overlay makes the caption hard to read.

Example of a collection of headshots.

Image Caption (Optional)

If you would like a caption to appear on your image for a standard story, enter a caption here.

Character Count: 100

Published Date (Required)

If your story is from our archive, use the original date for that story. Otherwise, click “Today” for it to be published on the day of entry.

CTA Fields

Nearly every story should end with a call-to-action (CTA) to take the reader to a page with more information. The CTA fields in Sitecore make this easy to do – fill them out and a stylized CTA button will be added to the bottom of your story as seen in the image below.

• CTA Summary Text: This will appear on the text in the left. Write a short statement.
• CTA Button Text: This will appear in the dark blue button. Use an action word/phrase. Keep it under 2-3 words Don't use the word "here" as in "click here" or "learn more here" in the CTA button as it's redundant.
• CTA Button Link: Add the link for the page you're referencing.

Example of a call-to-action.

The taxonomy fields allow you to tag stories so they filter into modules and pages with similar taxonomy selections. (For example, if you scroll to the bottom of the College of Arts & Sciences page, you'll see it has a module that only pulls in stories with the "College of Arts & Sciences" tag.)

Please only select taxonomy items that are specific to your story. For example, do not select all Topics or all College & School tags for a general story that could apply to all. You are not required to select taxonomy in all categories. You will likely only need 1-5 taxonomy items selected.

Topics

• General taxonomy that appears on home page and News & Stories landing pages
• Select only relevant topics

Colleges

• Select only relevant college or schools. Story should specifically relate to a school or program if a taxonomy item is selected.

Degrees and Programs

• Select only relevant degree/program. Story should specifically relate to a program if a taxonomy item is selected.

Departments

• Select only relevant department. Story should specifically relate to department if a taxonomy item is selected.
• If your department is not listed and you will be creating stories frequently to feed into your pages, please reach out to techsupport@gonzaga.edu to make a request for a taxonomy item.

Source

• For Marketing & Communications use only.

Audience Type

• Only select an audience if the story is specific to that audience. Do not select all audiences if the story is for everyone.

Program Type

• Select any relevant tags.

Additional Tags

• Select any relevant tags.

Collections

• For Marketing & Communications use only. Do not select unless story is approved as part of a collection.

Gonzaga Magazine Category

• For Marketing & Communications use only.

Gonzaga Magazine Issue

• For Marketing & Communications use only.

Note: If you are not using the Feature Story layout, skip this section.

This format is primarily for use by Marketing & Communications for feature stories from publications. If you check the "Is Feature Story" checkbox and complete the Feature Story fields, your story will display in this format. It is available with a photo or video as the header.

With Photo

• Feature a large image at the top of your story.
• Includes sub head and image caption fields.
• You will still need to upload and attach a sq image to your story for display in story modules and listing pages.

With Video

• Feature a large video at the top of your story.
• Includes sub head and image caption fields. (Caption field displays differently on video format)
• You will need to upload a feature image as the display image for your video.
• You will still need to upload and attach a sq image to your story for display in story modules and listing pages.

Feature Subheading

• Optional
• This text will appear below the story title.
• Character Count: 125

Feature Image

• Required for both "Feature with Image" and "Feature with Video."
• If video option is selected, this image will be the video cover image.
• Recommended dimensions: 1140x570px

Feature Video Link

• Optional
• Completing this field will convert your story to the "Feature with Video" Format.
• Please ensure you have the full YouTube link and not a shortened url.
• The Feature Image added above will serve as the cover image for your video.

Feature Caption

• Optional
• If no video link is provided, this caption will appear at the bottom of the feature image.
• If a video link is provided, it will show up above the play icon.
• Character Count: 170

Previous Link

If your story is part of a series of connected stories, you can enter a link to the previous story in the series if desired. This will appear at the bottom of your story.

Next Link

If your story is part of a series of connected stories, you can enter a link to the next story in the series if desired. This will appear at the bottom of your story.

Related Stories

You can specify 4 stories to display as related stories on your story (location of stories depends on story format). If you do not select specific stories, 4 stories will automatically be selected based on similar titles and taxonomies. (Algorithm that selects related stories is based on similarities in Title, Meta Keywords, Topics, Colleges, Departments, Degrees and Programs, and recency.)

Help the University maintain a consistent tone and writing style using guidelines based on the AP Stylebook, with specifics for Gonzaga.

Use Style Guide