What is an ‘explainer’?

An explainer is a blog post designed to answer frequently asked questions about a specific topic that Amnesty is campaigning on. Like all  

These pages can be informed by search engine keyword research using tools like Semrush or Google Trends. They should be easily understood by users who might be learning about the topic for the first time. These posts should ideally present a clear call to action that tells how they can get involved in the campaign.  

These writing guidelines outline key areas of best practice to make sure the posts follow a consistent format, can be easily accessed by everyone, and align with our editorial strategy.  

Examples of explainers:

What makes a good ‘explainer’?

  • Covers topics and topics that people are likely to put into search engines.
  • Answers questions users might have about a news story
  • Includes language that is accessible to people learning about the topic for the first time.

Requirements

The post should be framed using a question-and-answer format 

  • Do write a page title that is phrased as a simple question.   
  • Do use structured headings to divide your post into sections. These subheadings should always be framed as a question.  
  • Do format your subheadings using the heading block instead of bold formatting.  
  • Do not write more than 3 paragraphs per subheading. 
  • Do not write more than 3 sentences per paragraph.    

Write with a conversational tone that can be easily understood by people reading about this topic for the first time 

  • Do start your post with a summary of the topic that is maximum one paragraph, 3 sentences long.  
  • Do refer to the reader as ‘you’ and to Amnesty as ‘we’. 
  • Do not use passive voice. For example, ‘Authorities detained thousands of protesters’ not ‘Thousands of protesters were detained by authorities’ 
  • Do use present tense instead of imperfect tense when possible. For example, ‘Amnesty campaigns for human rights’ not ‘Amnesty has campaigned for human rights’  
  • Do not use jargon, acronyms or other complicated language. If we need to reference a specific government body, be prepared to explain what that body does and why it is relevant to the topic. 
  • Do add in-line links to reference existing materials so that people can explore those resources in a new tab. This can make it easier for you to focus on the main points in the blog post without overwhelming people with too much information.  
  • Do not use footnotes to cite your sources.  

All content should meet our minimum web content accessibility standards 

  • Do not use photos with text edited onto them. This includes infographics being added as image. If you want to add an infographic, use a data visualization tool like Infogram or Flourish.  
  • Add alt text for all images. Alt text should be short and descriptive. It should not include text like ‘photo of’ or ‘image of’ since this can get repetitive for screen-readers 
  • Add subtitles to your video if it has voiceover or otherwise relies on sound to communicate. This includes adding subtitles in other languages if the page is being translated into other languages.  
  • Use structured text to break up your writing in to manageable chunks.  

Adhere to our audiovisual publishing guidelines 

  • Do not add distressing images or video, for example of death or physical effects of human rights abuses, unless it is for a good reason. If your page contains distressing imagery, the content should be hidden until the user clicks to reveal after reading a content warning. 
  • For work related to the death penalty, do not use images of methods used to execute people such as nooses, electric chairs, needles.  
  • Do look after your own well-being when working with disturbing content.  

Use appropriate language 

Recommendations

Conduct keyword research to find out what questions people are asking in search engines

  • Check Google Trends to compare search volume for different topics and questions
  • Put your topic into tools like Answer the Public or Ahrefs to get suggestions on what questions you should answer

Make your text easier to read or skim  

  • Do use bold formatting to highlight the most important parts of your text.  
  • Do use bullet points instead of listing out items in a sentence with commas.  
  • Do move important points onto their own line to give them gravity.  

Use high-quality images and video that don’t weigh down your page 

  • Do not use screenshots of photographs or videos, unless we do not have access to the originals.  
  • Compress your images so they are less than 2MB. You should be able to do this without impacting the image quality if you are using an original image file. 
  • Crop images so they complement your page layout.