The Newspaper Challenge

The other night, whilst doing some early morning research on something surely vital, I remembered an idea I had a while ago - does a newspaper's website meta tags accurately describe their readership? Sorry if you have fallen asleep at the back, but meta tags are the things a website thinks that are most likely to draw in searches. E.g, if i had a website about eggs, my meta tags would include words like, eggs, egg, chicken, or yolk. Not dogs, Elvis and India. Hope you get the idea.

Let's start with The Sun.

"The Sun, newspaper, Dear Deidre, Mystic Meg, page 3, page3, page 3 girls, UK, Britain, England, London, tabloid, online, internet, breaking, news, sport, showbiz, exclusives, scandal, gossip, competitions, prizes, promotions, celebrities, Bizarre, football, weather, big brother, celeb, celebrity, star, Barclaycard Premier League, Carling FA Cup, Dreamteam FC, F1 dream team, sun says, opinion, talkback, Ken Gibson, Premier, cartoons, crossword, Sun Fun, Jane Moore, John Sadler, Lorraine Kelly, chat, babes, superbabes, jukebox, investigations, 24 hour, reports, stars, horoscopes, ringtones, mobile, wwe, wrestling, jon gaunt, Gizmo, technology, keeley, sophie, ruth, gadgets, free games, chart, TV, listings, gardening, film, trailers, diets, fitness, music, fashion, motors, videos, royals, royal family, contact us, subscription, back issues, old, stories, news desk, sports, desk, team, bizarre, email, weekly, daily, sign up"

If I remember, the more important search terms are at the top. This is why three of the top seven have connections to liberated breasts. Interestingly, they reference "Carling FA Cup" - a competition that has never been sponsored by Carling. Pleasingly, Jon Gaunt isn't anywhere near the top and doesn't even get capital letters - unlike Jane Moore, John Sadler or Lorraine Kelly. However columnists like Jeremy Clarkson, Ally Ross (tv) or Kelvin McKenzie (former editor of The Sun) aren't there. Strangely, one of the less key search terms is 'desk'.

The next plan was to visit the Daily Express, but it doesn't have keywords.

Onto the last broadsheet national, the Daily Telegraph:

"online newspaper uk daily news sport weather arts money experts stock market personal finance oeics job vacancies car test drives breakdown services motor insurance motoring News Online honest john book late holiday deals cruise city break travel guides british expats brits abroad expatriate offers Sport NEWS Uk horse racing shopping ONLINE gift promotions business article education technology countryside Weather telegraph crossword society obituaries horoscopes Job Vacancies Oeics Money Experts Personal Finance Stock Market Business UK Daily SPORT Horse Racing Motoring Breakdown Services Car Test Drives Honest John Motor Insurance Late Holiday Deals Offers Book City Break Cruise Travel Guides Expats British Expatriate Brits Abroad Telegraph Newspaper Promotions Shopping Gift Education Countryside Article Arts Technology Crossword Society Horoscopes Obituaries MONEY EXPERTS OEICS PERSONAL FINANCE STOCK MARKET JOB VACANCIES DAILY BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY ARTICLE EDUCATION ARTS TELEGRAPH MOTORING CAR TEST DRIVES MOTOR INSURANCE BREAKDOWN SERVICES HONEST JOHN GIFT SHOPPING PROMOTIONS NEWSPAPER OBITUARIES HOROSCOPES BOOK CITY BREAK CRUISE OFFERS HOLIDAY WEATHER TRAVEL GUIDES LATE DEALS BRITS ABROAD BRITISH EXPATRIATE EXPATS HORSE RACING COUNTRYSIDE CROSSWORD SOCIETY"

Quite a chunky set for terms there. Interestingly, the 13th is OIECS, which is a quite obscure financial acronym, meaning Open-Ended Investment Companies. 'Honest John' gets a mention, as well as some nuggets about Expatriates. Curiously, the keywords shout 'daily SPORT' - which may mean this turns up in a search for the newspaper of that name before it does. Then it seems the same search terms are rekeyed for people WHO TYPE LIKE THEY ARE SHOUTING. 

The Times doesn't have Meta Tags, but the copyright on their JavaScript from WebSideStory expired in 2004.

Also without tags is the Daily Mirror.

Lastly tonight, the Daily Mail.

"Sudoku, horoscopes, political analysis, news, Don't Miss, pictures, comment, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday newspapers, sport, Westminster, opinion"
Quite a concise 12 terms, with Sudoku seeming to be the top draw, and in second place horoscopes, and after those two, the trivial "political analysis"!
More on this some other time.