SEO for News Media Jesse Kohl Content Optimization Manager
Who I am... Present 12+ Years in Journalism, Communications & Digital Marketing Past Content Optimization Manager Toronto Star / thestar.com Digital Marketing Manager Field ID (B2B Software) Consultant / Search & Content Optimization Manager Environics (Agency) Newspaper Reporter/Photographer Metroland Journalism Diploma Humber School of Media Studies
The most important tip you ll ever hear on Search Engine Optimization (SEO)...
Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines. Quality Guidelines, Basic Principles Google, 2014
SEO - Special Considerations for Media Authority, Quality, Freshness, Competition Visibility in both Google Search & Google News SEO vs. Editorial Quality High Volume of Content Monetization Conflicts (Sponsored Content, YouTube)
How Users Find News Continues to Change Web, News, Video, Images, Maps, Shopping 81% of searches include universal results 45% of the time, images show 54% of video results come from YouTube 7% of the time, News results (keywords of the day) Universal Search 2013 - Google USA, SearchMetrics
Your SEO Should Help Readers Find You It... Influences how your content will compete and rank for audience Helps control your content s appearance in search & CTR Signals the relevance of your content (to engines & searchers)
It goes beyond search, into social...
and comes back again
It follows your content everywhere
How To Find A Searcher
Know Your Audience Inform Content Choices with Keyword Research It s better than guessing Sometimes it s obvious, sometimes it s not It s like a thesaurus with data Balance Volume, Relevancy, Diversity
Keyword Research Tools Google Keyword Planner (Recommended) Comprehensive search volumes Google Adwords account required
Keyword Research Tools SEMRush.com (Limited Free) Comprehensive tools, with keyword data $69.95/month
Keyword Research Tools Moz.com Comprehensive tools, with keyword data $69.95/month Bing Keyword Research Tool Bing Ads account required
Keyword Research Tools Google Trends (Free) Basic trends & data, visual interface, related queries, rising trends
Keyword Research Tools Your Own Data Google Webmaster Tools Analytics What s working vs. what s popular Social Trends Trending, hot topics for keyword hints Combine with research
Think about the words users would type to find your pages, and make sure that your site actually includes those words within it. Design and Content Guidelines Google
Produce Great SEO Headlines Research & choose a target keyword Shorter is better Include target keyword Start with your keyword, when possible Think short: 55-65 characters Great... Even Better
Produce Great SEO Descriptions Not Optimal SEO Descriptions help convince a searcher to click your story Include target keyword or close variation Think short-ish: 120-140-155 characters Ask: Does this increase the likelihood of a click? Better
Produce Better SEO Keywords 5 to 7 keyword phrases total Use keyword research tools to gauge demand (search volume) Include names - if the volume is there (politicians, celebrities, etc) <meta name="news_keywords" content="world Cup, Brazil 2014, Spain vs Netherlands, soccer, football"> [Source: Google]
Include keywords in your URL Avoid random URLs Descriptive is better Headline to URL is best Close to root
Optimize Media When Possible Help search engines understand nontext content Name images, video and audio with both keywords and good judgement (filenames & titles) Apply an alt tag to describe visual media, if possible; include keyword in cutline
Apply SEO thinking to social channels Consider keyword research against social trends and vice versa Opportunity to diversify, use synonyms Optimize for readers through search and social
Support SEO with Solid Foundation
Clean Sitemaps Sitemap Separation Web News (once approved) Images Video Mobile Protocol at sitemaps.org support.google.com
Smart Internal Linking Links support site structure Stories should link back to important pages (hot topics, sections), when relevant Individual stories will rise and fall; longer term pages deserve stronger link structure Avoid click here
External Link Awareness Link Profiles Google Webmaster Tools (Bing too!) MajesticSEO OpenSiteExplorer
Avoiding Duplicates Every page - section or story - should have unique SEO elements Every URL unique content
Improving Load Times PageSpeed Insights GWT Crawl Stats
Crawling & Fixing Errors Google Webmaster Tools (Bing too!) AnalyticsSEO.com Moz.com Ahrefs.com ScreamingFrog
Measuring Success Your Analytics Google Webmaster Tools (Bing too!) SearchMetrics.com AnalyticsSEO.com Moz.com SEMRush.com
Optimizing for Mobile
Mobile vs. Desktop Search 62% of organic searches show different results on a desktop vs. smartphone 27% of websites misconfigured for smartphone searches 68% loss of smartphone traffic Sacrificing smartphone rank by almost two positions (1.82 on average) Mobile Share Report - June 2014, BrightEdge
Making It Mobile-Friendly Know your approach Responsive Dynamic Serving Separate Adapt to guidelines, eliminate problems Avoid common mistakes: Page speed Unplayable videos Faulty redirects Incorrect canonicals Blocked assets (robots.txt) Smartphone-only 404s Irrelevant cross-linking HTTP Vary header
Always Be Testing Site search ( site:m.thestar.com ) Anecdotal tests on multiple devices Developer tools, Chrome emulator Pagespeed Insights
The Final Word
Official Google/Bing Guidelines Smartphone Quality Design & Content Technical Official Google Guidelines Structured Data Markup
Questions
Thank You! Jesse Kohl Content Optimization Manager @JesseKohl