These newsroom terms still appear in CMS fields and elsewhere. They help us write clearer intros, keep URLs stable, and improve scanning.
A lot of very old journalistic and subediting terms have leaked into marketing workflows. They show up in WordPress fields and content briefs, for example. We can usually guess what they mean, but guessing is how we end up with colleagues misunderstanding each other.
Three terms that I haven’t really discussed before and which are common include kicker, standfirst and slug.
A slug is the easiest one. Traditionally, a slug is a short name given to an article that is in production. Now, it’s most commonly seen as the short text used in a URL, usually derived from the headline. It is meant to be readable, stable and unambiguous.
The mistake with slugs is treating them as disposable. If we publish a page and later change the slug for cosmetic reasons, we create redirects or break old links. A good slug uses real words and reflects what the page is actually about.
A standfirst is the short introduction that sits under a headline, often used to set context and pull the reader in. Some people still call it a dek. Many sites use it as the meta description, or as the preview text on listing pages.
The standfirst is not a teaser for the sake of teasing. In B2B, a strong standfirst can do more than a clever headline, because it removes ambiguity for scanners. A common mistake is making it too vague. “We explore the importance of…” is not a promise. It is throat-clearing.
A kicker nowadays usually refers to a small label that appears above the headline, usually a single short phrase. In news, it can signal category or context. On a business site, it might be as simple as “Analysis”, “Guide”, “Research”, or “Case study”. Used well, a kicker helps scanning. It lets a reader decide quickly what sort of content they are about to read. Used badly, it becomes redundant decoration.
(Note that traditionally, a punchy close to an article has also been known as a kicker. I don’t see that so often now, but I have seen it described as a ‘closing kicker’)
The practical value of these terms is not that we sound more editorial when we use them. It is that they make briefs and workflows clearer. All three also have a strategic benefit in a world of Ai summaries and crowded listings.
- Further reading: The hed, the dek, the lede and the nut graf