Search engine optimization (SEO) is a necessity for digital content creators, though it can be a challenge to keep up with the changing demands of the algorithm and knowing the SEO practices that most benefit news publishers. These five editorial SEO tips can help news content be found in search and within Google News.
Members of the Tow-Knight Center’s Communities of Practice, representing one dozen leading global, national and regional publications, surfaced these tips during a discussion with search expert Marshall Simmonds. They reflect best practices in SEO for every newsroom, and underline the most pressing elements of newsroom SEO for their editorial teams.
Simmonds is the founder of Define Media Group, where he’s worked on search strategy for companies including The New York Times, Conde Nast, The Boston Globe and other well-known news titles.
Search traffic should account for 20 to 35 percent of sessions for most news publishers, according to Simmonds. Getting to that benchmark requires technical optimizations and attention to link building. Perhaps most critical, however, is a newsroom well-trained in SEO practices and basic keyword research — practices summarized in the five points below.
The discussion was convened on September 20 by Tow-Knight Center at CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism for members of its news Audience and Product communities of practice, which bring together journalists working to develop bigger, more engaged audiences and compelling products for a variety of global, national and innovative niche publishers.
To allow community members to speak openly, the discussion was held under Chatham House rule, which permits participants to share what was said, but not who said it or the publications they represent.
1. The four critical SEO components of every article
If your editors are losing sleep over what matters when optimizing articles for search, Simmonds says there are four areas that matter above all else. In order of importance, it’s search title, headline, meta-description and URL.
— Title —
The meta-title or search title may be pulled in from the post’s headline by default, but many content management systems allow it to be changed. This field appears in search results and is an opportunity to provide Google more information and speak directly to a search user’s intent. “Within 65 characters, you have to write a title that’s good for the user, good for search, and you’ve done your research. I can’t emphasize that enough. Google still pays attention to the titles.”
— Headline —
“The title is for search. The headline is for Google News. What needs to happen no matter what, I want you to get that targeted keyword in both. There better be consistency between the two,” Simmond said. Repetition of the keyword in different elements is a signal for Google. Also: keep it within the 65 character cutoff.
— Meta-description —
It’s a non-ranking signal, but “it has to entice the user to click through,” Simmonds said. Moz recommends (with caveats) a 300 character limit.
— URL —
“It’s one of 200 quality signals” for search results, Simmonds said, but if your CMS doesn’t allow editorial control over URLs then it shouldn’t come at the expense of a well-written headline.
2. Keyword research
“Before you hit the publish button, if this is a Google News article, do the five minutes of research,” urged Simmonds. He recommends a quick check on Google Trends to see if a term is evolving with a news story. Using Hurricane Florence as an example, are users searching for “North Carolina hurricane” or have they started using the name, Florence? “As a story evolves you need to evolve with it. As names of persons, places and things evolve you need to evolve with it.”
3. Get the tech right
“In the fight that we’re in, you need to get all the technical components right. Because if you’re not, somebody else is,” said Simmonds. You should be producing error-free XML sitemaps for both Google Search and Google News, and they should update with every change to your site.
4. Author bios are essential
As part of the algorithm update this summer, Google appears to be using author pages as a means of evaluating expertise and authority on a subject. “They’re following the bylines for sure. It’s proven as much as you can prove in SEO,” he said. Author bio pages should include credentials and establish expertise on a topic. It should also list all of their articles.
5. Meta-keyword is dead
This is less of a best practice and more of a time saver. Both Google Search and Google News have sunsetted the meta-keyword tags, and if you’re still doing it then you’re wasting your time.
Ned Berke is the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism and does audience development for the Center for Cooperative Media. He can be reached at nedberke@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter for more about growing and engaging audiences.
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