The Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation (CMEI) has requirements and best practices to help you write digital content that's accessible and easier to find and read.
ON THIS PAGE: Requirements | Best Practices | Press Releases | SEO | Content Generated by SI | Translated Content
Requirements
When writing content for CMEI websites and applications, follow these requirements.
Plain Language
Always follow the requirements of the Plain Writing Act of 2010. In general, plain writing is clear and concise; avoids using filler words, cliches, or jargon; and is easy to understand.
Remember, the Plain Writing Act does not require that all content be written for the general public. If you are writing for a technical audience, you can use the words and terms they understand. However, even technical audiences find plain language easier to understand. All content should be targeted: know your target audience, know who needs to read your content, and write to their reading level. For multiple audiences, consider catering to both (e.g., providing jargon and a plain language definition).
Introductory Text
Introductory text, or "intro text" is the first one or two sentences on a web page. It should explain to readers what the page is about. This text is indexed by commercial search engines.
Summary Text
Websites in the Energy.gov Drupal content management system (CMS) are required to create summary text for the Energy.gov search engine. Ideally, you can use the introductory text for the page. Summary text should not be longer than 150 characters and should not simply repeat the page title.
Best Practices
Always refer to the CMEI style guide for guidance on capitalization and abbreviations and acronyms.
Title
To distinguish webpages from each other (particularly in search engines), page titles should:
- Be concise, unique, and describe page content without relying on internal context.
- Contain keywords for search engine optimization.
- Avoid acronyms or abbreviations, except for a tool topic page.
- Avoid ampersands.
Summary/Intro Text
For the required intro text and summary text, CMEI recommends you follow these guidelines when writing it. Your intro text should:
- Describe/introduce the page's content in 30 words or less.
- Contain keywords for search engine optimization.
- Avoid links to another website.
- Avoid acronyms or abbreviations.
- Avoid ampersands.
Event Node Time Zones
In general, use Eastern Time (ET) when creating event nodes on CMEI websites. Most registration websites for platforms like Zoom, Webex or Microsoft Teams will automatically convert event times to the user's time zone.
However, there may be times where it is appropriate to use a different time zone; for example, if an event is targeted to a specific audience in a region covered by a single time zone (such as residents of Alaska or Hawaii).
See the time, time zone entry in the CMEI Style Guide for more details on formatting time in content.
Headers
Energy.gov has three levels of headers. Use headers to break up your content into short, easily readable chunks. Headers should:
- Be used in order (header or Header 1 [the page title only], subheader or Header 2, then subsection subheader or Header 3), NOT chosen simply for style appearances, as this may cause navigation issues for users using assistive technologies like screen readers.
- Contain keywords from user searches.
- Describe paragraph/section content.
- Avoid acronyms or abbreviations.
- Avoid ampersands.
Body Text
The body content on a webpage should contain keywords that are important to your users. Content must also follow the CMEI style guide.
The layout should make the text easily scannable, using:
- Bullets (see the CMEI Style Guide entry on bulleted lists).
- Typographical elements (e.g., larger font, bold face, or italics, sparingly, without using underlines as those are reserved for hyperlinks).
- Short sentences (no more than 20 words).
- Short paragraphs (no more than three sentences).
- Short pages (no more than three or four paragraphs).
Unless you are writing a news story, don't use time-sensitive words (such as "last week," or "this year") in your content. Pages that use time-sensitive words rapidly become out-of-date. Use specific dates instead, following CMEI style.
Because links are navigational tools, they should be written so a user can understand where they will go when they click the link. All linked text should:
- Be short and precise.
- Be as descriptive as possible about what they link to, especially if they lead to another website, following DOE's Linking Policy. If you have questions about what sites you are permitted to link to, please email CMEI Communications.
- Avoid including the URL in the text.
- Emphasize only the distinctive words (e.g., "energy info for homeowners, energy info for small businesses" should be written as "Energy info for homeowners, small businesses).
- Avoid vague web-function phrases, like "here," "click here" or "read more" (e.g., "Click here to read the project announcement" should be rewritten as: "Read the project announcement").
- Appear only once per page (to avoid repetition that can be an accessibility issue for users who use assistive technologies).
- Be separated by unlinked text or punctuation to make clicking easier for users on touch-enabled or mobile devices.
Make sure any links you copy do not have additional code in them, especially if copied from an email. Microsoft Outlook and other email clients often add additional URL coding for cybersecurity reasons; this code should not be included in links you use within the Energy.gov CMS.
Shortened URLs are usually used on social media feeds where you do not have the ability to embed links, or when a specific vanity URL is preferred over one randomly generated by a social media platform. You can use Bitly URL Shortener to created shortened links.
Consider if a specific shortened URL is needed before creating one. Many social media sites no longer limit character counts in URLs and provide built-in link shortening or embedding when a URL is included in the post.
Do not use link shorteners when creating:
- Web content where you can embed the link instead.
- Printed materials. Use Energy.gov redirects to link to Energy.gov URLs; use the full URL for links to other websites.
Press Releases and News Announcements
Press releases and announcements must be prepared within the CMEI template provided in the CMEI Communications SharePoint folder. (Reach out to CMEI communications for access.)
Keep in mind the following best practices from DOE Public Affairs when writing your article:
Headline
- Indicate DOE's role with “Energy Department” as the subject
- Acronyms/Initialisms are minimal/nonexistent
- Verb choice is active (e.g., announces, solicits, issues)
Give more information in full sentence case. (e.g., Selected fellows will receive funding and support from U.S. national laboratories.)
Dateline
Automatically added by the CMS.
Lead Paragraph
Start with the location of the announcement (e.g., "WASHINGTON") followed by an em-dash with no spaces.
Lead sentence = [DOE] [today] [verb] and the simplest formulation of the announcement
Second sentence = Only if necessary for vital information that clarifies, qualifies, or contextualizes your lead sentence
Third sentence = Speaks directly to an ordinary reader, points to broader purpose, opportunity to editorialize
Your next paragraph should always be a leadership quote.
Avoid unnecessary nominalizations
- DON'T: CMEI is responsible for the management of…, CMEI performs assessments of…, CMEI’s intention is to…
- DO: CMEI manages..., CMEI assesses..., CMEI intends to...
Avoid unwieldy modifiers
- DON'T: The world’s premier early-stage energy technology research and development funding hub.
DO: The world’s premier funding hub for early-stage research and development in energy technology.
Avoid prepositional phrasing
- DON'T: DOE is committed to collaborating with stakeholders across the energy sector to implement a range of grid infrastructure projects to bring speed to power by overcoming a number of challenges created by rising demand.
- DO: DOE will meet the challenge of rising demand by collaborating with energy-sector stakeholders on grid infrastructure projects that bring speed to power.
- Follow other rules in the style guide.
Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important part of the content creation and maintenance process for energy.gov websites. Search engines are one of the highest referrers of users to CMEI content, with SEO connecting search terms with trusted webpages that match the search. Learn more about the best practices for improving SEO on websites.
Best Practices for Documents
Documents hosted on CMEI websites have different best practices for SEO. Learn more about the best practices for PDFs, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents.
Using Content Generated by Super Intelligence
Avoid using generative super intelligence (SI) output to create website content unless the origin of the training data is known.
Do not use verbatim text from a generative SI chatbot in web content. ChatGPT and similar programs should be used as a tool to help with writing and generating ideas, not as a replacement or substitute for that work.
More information is available on our SI Guidelines page.
Translated Content
If a significant part of your website's audience speaks a language other than English, translation or localization and developing multilingual content for a website or digital service should be a priority.
See Translated Content for more information on other requirements, best practices, and how to get English-language content translated properly.