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Parts of an ONS webpage Summaries

A summary is the description that follows the title at the top of a release page. It should help users to decide quickly if the content is relevant to them and should direct them to the information they are looking for, or to your main messages.

A summary should:

  • tell users what the release is about
  • be concise, with fewer than 160 characters including spaces (longer summaries will get cut off in search engine results)
  • begin with the most important information (avoid phrases like “This bulletin or article covers…”)
  • use plain English and avoid jargon or technical definitions of the topic
  • avoid repeating words from the title where possible
  • tell users if the bulletin or article includes official statistics in development (include “These are official statistics in development.” at the end of the summary)

Write out a name or term in full in the summary, followed by the abbreviations (opens in a new tab)  in brackets. For example, CSEW should be written as Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW).

Bulletin summary example

Social insights on daily life and events, including the cost of living, important issues and household income from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN).

Article summary example

Infrastructure in the UK, covering investment, construction activity and capital stocks up to 2023. These are official statistics in development.

Important information:

The Content Design team can help you write a summary. Email content.design@ons.gov.uk (opens in a new tab) .

Help improve this page

Let us know how we could improve this page, or share your user research findings. Discuss this page on GitHub (opens in a new tab)