What's inside this article:
- Basic information
- Who or what should be an author?
- Create an author
- Create high-quality bio pages
- Write a description
- Show content links on bio pages
- Add authors to content pages
- Display highlight boxes
Basic information
Internet users increasingly demand high-quality content written by experts. In the age of fake news, disinformation, and AI-generated content, it has never been more important to tell visitors exactly who is creating your content.
On the Pangea platform, content creators are called authors. To build trust with your audience and boost the authority of your site, we suggest the following:
- Consistently add author names to content pages.
- Create and maintain high-quality author bio pages.
- Display author highlight boxes on text content pages.
Who or what should be an author?
In most cases, an author should be a person. An author might also be a third-party news agency (such as Reuters or Associated Press).
We do not suggest using the names of specific language services as authors. This approach implies that the content is editorial (representing the opinion of the service as a whole), which is normally not the case.
Create an author
Before you can add an author to a content page, the author must be created under your site in Pangea CMS. After you create an author in Pangea CMS, a bio page for the author is automatically published on the public site.
To learn how to create an author, see the following article:
NOTE: An author created by your site can only be used by your site. If the same author produces content for multiple sites, the author must be created separately by each site.
Create high-quality bio pages
Author bio pages showcase the experience and expertise of your content creators. By creating and maintaining high-quality bio pages, you help to boost the authority of your site and build trust with your audience.
The elements on each bio page are customizable. A bio page might include some or all of the following elements:
- (A): Name: The author name (real name or pen name). All bio pages include the author name. The name is defined in the author settings.
- (B): Image: An image representing the author. All bio pages include an image. The image is defined in the author settings.
- (C): Description: A description / biography. The description is displayed if provided in the author settings.
- (D): Email: A contact email address. The email address is displayed if provided in the author settings.
- (E): Follow: Links to social media profiles (X and / or Facebook). The link is displayed if the target page is defined in the author settings.
- (F): Subscribe: A link to subscribe via RSS. The link is displayed on all bio pages (unless disabled for the whole site).
- (G): Content links: Links to published content. The links are displayed if this functionality is enabled in the author settings.
For detailed information about the author settings, see the following article:
Write a description
The description / biography is the most important element on the bio page. We strongly suggest providing a description for every author, although this is not required.
Write the description in third person. At minimum, include the author name (or pen name), job title, and the organization they represent, for example:
- John Doe is a correspondent for RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service.
You might additionally mention:
- Specific experience and expertise
- Work history / professional background
- Interests
- Special projects
- Educational background and relevant qualifications
- Special awards and achievements
Add the description in the settings for an individual author. For details, see the following article:
Show content links on bio pages
By default, each bio page includes links to the author's most recently published content pages.
Content links are displayed on the bio page if Generate content is ticked in the author settings. We suggest keeping this option ticked for all authors.
For detailed information about the author settings, see the following article:
According to default configuration, a maximum of 20 content links might be visible. Only the following content page types are listed:
- Dynamic infographics
- Article
- Feature story
- Photo gallery
- Slider gallery
- Transcript
- Video
If desired, contact Pangea Customer Care to set a custom configuration for your site. It is possible to change the maximum number of links as well as the content page types that are listed. The changes will apply for all authors on your site (changes for individual authors are not possible).
Add authors to content pages
You can add one or more author names to any content page. For all content page types, the author names are visible at the top of the published page. By default, each name functions as a link to the author bio page.
To learn how to add authors to content pages, see the following article:
If Generate content is ticked in the author settings, the author name on content pages functions as a link to the bio page. We suggest keeping this option ticked for all authors.
For detailed information about the author settings, see the following article:
Display highlight boxes
On text content pages, a highlight box for each author might be displayed below the content. Highlight boxes make the author information available directly on the content page (without an additional click).
Highlight boxes can be enabled or disabled for individual authors. To enable highlight boxes, tick Highlight author in the author settings.
When Highlight author is ticked, a highlight box is displayed on all text content pages where the author is added. Highlight boxes are supported on the following types of content pages:
- Article
- Blog
- FactCheck
- Feature
- Feature story
- News
- Transcript
NOTE: If a content page uses the Latest news layout, author highlight boxes are not displayed.
The description on the highlight box is set via the Short description field in the author settings. If the Short description is not filled, the highlight box does not include a description.
For detailed information about the author settings, see the following article:
