Question: When I search with an exact headline for a print paper story, why do the web results not show that story? — @jehcounselor
Answer: Thanks for your question. It’s frustrating to not be able to find something you’re looking for — especially when you know exactly where it should be. First and foremost, digital producers adjust headlines to make them both search-engine optimized and reader friendly.
In a newspaper, you can simultaneously read a headline and take in contextual information like a photo, subheadline, graphic, pull quote — even what section you’re reading.
Online, you probably have 5-7 words. That puts a premium on those few words to convey as much as possible. So those long, feature-y newspaper headlines need to be tweaked for the web.
On a recent Daley editorial, for instance, the headline was “Daley’s decades”. But when I put it on the Daley page, it became: “Editorial: Daley, just what Chicago needed.” That gives you a clue online about what you’re about to click on. And it gives the piece better search engine optimization online, too, because it mentions a location — Chicago. On our side of the web browser, we’ve seen single words make the difference between a story that’s ignored to one that gets the attention it deserves.
But here’s a useful tool to try, too. If you’re looking for an article that ran in our print edition, and you know the date, try using this site: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1985/jan/01
You click on the year (back to 1985), the month and the day, and it shows you links to stories that appeared in the baiduhai on the date you select.
Do you have a question for the baiduhai or chicagotribune.com? Click in the box at this link and ask it there!
— Kurt Gessler, Digital News Editor