The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) has requirements and best practices to help you write digital content that's accessible and easier to find and read.

Requirements

When writing content for Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) 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, concise, avoids using filler words 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. All content should be targeted: know your target audience, know who needs to read your content, and write to their reading level.

Introductory Text

Introductory text, or "intro text" is the first 1-2 sentences on a web page.  It should explain to readers what the page is about. This text is indexed by commercial search engines.

Energy.gov Summary Text

Websites in the Energy.gov Drupal 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.

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Best Practices

Intro Text

It's a requirement for all pages to have intro text, but EERE recommends you follow these guidelines when writing it. Your intro text should:

  • Contain keywords that:
    • Describes/introduces page content in 30 words or less
    • Contains keywords for search engine optimization
    • Does not include acronyms and abbreviations unless defined and used throughout the page
    • Does not link to another website 
  • Not contain acronyms or abbreviations that are not defined or used on the page
  • Not include ampersands unless they are embedded in terms, e.g., R&D.

Page Titles

To distinguish webpages from each other (particularly in search engines), page titles should:

  • Be concise, unique, and describe page content
  • Contain keywords for search engine optimization
  • Not include acronyms or abbreviations, except for a tool topic page
  • Not include ampersands, except for R&D and RD&D

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, subheader, then subsection subheader)
    • Headers should NOT be used out of order simply for style appearances, as this may cause navigation issues for users using assistive technologies like screenreaders
  • Contain keywords that users use in searches
  • Describe paragraph/section content
  • Not contain acronyms or abbreviations
  • Not include ampersands unless they are embedded in terms, e.g., R&D 

Body Text

The body of content on a webpage should contain keywords that are important to your users and be easily scannable.

Use the following techniques to make your text more scannable:

  • Bullets (see EERE Style Guide section for bulleted lists)
  • Typographical elements (e.g., larger font, bold face, or italics. Use italics sparingly. Do not use underlines for anything except hyperlinks.)
  • Short sentences (no more than 20 words)
  • Short paragraphs (no more than 3 sentences)
  • Short pages (no more than 3–4 paragraphs). 

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Links and Linking

Because links are navigational tools, they should be written so it's easy to understand where they point to. All links should:

  • Be short and precise
  • Be as descriptive as possible about what they link to
  • Not use the URL as link text
  • Not refer to a web function (such as "click here for more information.")
  • Emphasize only the distinctive words:
    • Wrong: renewable energy info for homeowners, renewable energy info for small businesses
    • Right: Renewable energy info for:
      • Homeowners
      • Small businesses

Do not use vague phrases like "here," "click here" or "read more."  These do not indicate where the link goes. For example:

  • Click here to read the project announcement.

Should be rewritten as:

  • Read the project announcement.

See CMS Support's page on links for more details on adding links to your content.

All links from EERE to any other website must follow DOE's Linking Policy. If you have questions about what sites you are permitted to link to, ask the EERE Web Enterprise Manager.

It is important to 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.

Link Shortening Services

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:

  • You are creating web content where you can embed the link instead.
  • You are creating a print product. Use Energy.gov redirects to link to Energy.gov URLs; use the full URL for links to other websites.

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Using AI-Generated Content

Avoid using generative AI output to create website content unless the origin of the training data is known.

Do not use verbatim text from a generative AI 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 AI 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.

Writing Clear Content

Acronyms

Define acronyms the first time they are used on a page. After the acronym has been defined, use that acronym from that point onwards.

Do not use acronyms in page names or headers, even if they have been defined elsewhere on the page.

Time-Sensitive Words

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 EERE style.

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Search Engine Optimization

To make your content rank high in search results, work with the EERE Search Engine Optimization Specialist early in the writing process to discuss optimization strategies and keyword research.

Documents hosted on EERE websites have different best practices for SEO. Learn more about the best practices for PDFs, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents.

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