Feature Writer Guide - Movieweb

Editors must approve all Feature topics and outlines.

Skeleton/Outline Includes
- Title, intro, properly formatted subheaders (in heading 2 format), properly formatted
images, a summary of the point, properly formatted related links.

Once you have had your skeleton approved, you can then complete your article.

Feature

A feature is an editorial focused on a single topic and consisting of an introduction to the topic,
followed by two to four main points. A feature must be 800-1,000 words.

Mini-Feature

Mini-features have all the trappings of a Feature but are much shorter and are used to answer a
single question of query. They must be a minimum of 600 words.

Introduction

- The total word count of your introduction should make up between a fifth and a quarter
of the text. It should be in 2 or more paragraphs.
- Must include a summary statement that includes the topic and other relevant keywords.
This statement will be used as the article’s meta-description.

Body Of The Article

- Must contain 2-4 main points/Subheaders (Heading 2 Style)

- These points must be descriptive and contain relevant keywords
- They are not numbered. Lists are not features.
- Use as many photos as you need to support your arguments, but a minimum of 2 is
mandatory. Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube embeds are also welcome.
- Photos must be large (at least 1,000 pixels wide) and not blurry or stretched.
- Photos must be sourced (caption) and must include SEO description (alternative
text)
- There should be at least two “Related” links placed between your main points.
 - In-content linking is mandatory. Instructions are further down.

Related/Next Links

2 “Related” links spread out across your listicle.

1 “Next” link placed at the very end of the article (see linking rules below)

In-Content Linking

In-content linking is linking relevant keywords within the content of articles to both internal and
external sources.

Internal link: refers to a link that leads to an article that is on the site you are working on.
In this case, any link to another article on HotCars.com is considered an internal link.

External link: refers to a link that leads to an article that is NOT on the site you are
working on. In this case, any link to an article that is not on HotCars.com is an external
link.

These links are not the same as related/next links.

When creating these links, it is very important that the linked article is anchored to the text
within the article. What this means is that the hyperlinked text within the article MUST logically
lead to the article that is linked.

Basically, you want to ensure that if you were to erase all of the content around the
hyperlinked text, that it would make sense the text would lead you to the linked article.
In-content linking is important because:
- It is one of the many important aspects of SEO
- Helps spread site ranking among the content on the website
- Helps Google crawl and index website pages
 - Allows the users to better navigate and discover content
- Creates a relationship between the content so that Google can better understand what
the site is about

For a Feature article:

- 4 internal links
- 2 external links

For a Mini-Feature article:

- 2 internal links
- 1 external link

For more on in-content linking:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1VICJoCPzXrK93PmEfsoaPdCZ6Q-
RHDB4dojLFdtcMZg/edit?usp=sharing

Related and Next Links:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lcGPt6_r4UHWOqXoWhCsosxajhuQsnTK/view?usp=sharing

Sourcing

Any information that is taken from a source must be from a reputable site and needs to be
credited within the text. Writing “According to____” is not an external link, but is a way to
source information.

Optimization Guidelines: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hJ-kSalPPlh-

HRxfq_R73fqBzM1nHjyWrj2vRucED6Q/edit?usp=sharing

________________________________________

**Do not hesitate to contact your Editor if there is anything in this document you
don’t understand or need clarification on**