GateHouse Media News & Interactive has been offering newsrooms training about good SEO practices, from attention to keywords in headlines and leads to naming photos to include keywords and using specifics in photo cutlines online. So, we decided to offer training that goes beyond the SEO basics and tackles topics such as SEO for video, linking and topics pages.
Here are a few takeaways from that webinar:
VIDEO & TEXT: When uploading video onto your website, be sure to fill in the caption information and any other opportunities to add text because search engines don't recognize video formats. The only way to communicate with search engines is to make sure your text includes specific keywords, such as full names, organization names and the topic. Pay specific attention to the title or headline and the summary.
STORY LENGTH: Search engines are looking for keywords to match the content people are searching for with your content, so a longer story will have a greater opportunity naturally to include those keywords. For example, if there's a tornado in Townsville, Ohio, someone might search "Townsville Ohio tornado." If you have those keywords in your headline and throughout your story, you'll have a greater chance of your content rising up in a search.
TOPICS PAGES: For topics that pop up consistently in your town, you have an opportunity to link to yourself using topics pages. You can set up a section on your website for recurring topics, such as your town or county government, important people in the news, such as your mayor or school superintendent. Any time you have a story, you publish to that topic section, along with your normal publication targets. You'll also want to keep a list of the links to those sections. Then, when one of those topics comes up in your stories, you can link to the section. If someone clicks on the link once you post the story, they will go to a page with your previous stories about that topic. It's great for your readers if they want to explore a topic further. Plus, it's great for SEO.
LINKING: Topics are one way to link to your copy. And search engines love links to your copy, and the links they love best are the ones that come from authoritative sites. So, if another news site links to your website, that's great for search. But that's tough to control, right? One way to get those links is to link to others in the hopes that they will reciprocate. Another way is to use social media. Search engines such as Google have said that Facebook and Twitter are seen as sites with authority, which means links from those social media sites will help your search. When you post something to Facebook and Twitter and link back to a story or photo gallery or poll on your website, that's great SEO. If you needed another reason to use social media, that's a great one.
GateHouse Media News & Interactive has been offering newsrooms training about good SEO practices, from attention to keywords in headlines and leads to naming photos to include keywords and using specifics in photo cutlines online. So, we decided to offer training that goes beyond the SEO basics and tackles topics such as SEO for video, linking and topics pages.
Here are a few takeaways from that webinar:
VIDEO & TEXT: When uploading video onto your website, be sure to fill in the caption information and any other opportunities to add text because search engines don't recognize video formats. The only way to communicate with search engines is to make sure your text includes specific keywords, such as full names, organization names and the topic. Pay specific attention to the title or headline and the summary.
STORY LENGTH: Search engines are looking for keywords to match the content people are searching for with your content, so a longer story will have a greater opportunity naturally to include those keywords. For example, if there's a tornado in Townsville, Ohio, someone might search "Townsville Ohio tornado." If you have those keywords in your headline and throughout your story, you'll have a greater chance of your content rising up in a search.
TOPICS PAGES: For topics that pop up consistently in your town, you have an opportunity to link to yourself using topics pages. You can set up a section on your website for recurring topics, such as your town or county government, important people in the news, such as your mayor or school superintendent. Any time you have a story, you publish to that topic section, along with your normal publication targets. You'll also want to keep a list of the links to those sections. Then, when one of those topics comes up in your stories, you can link to the section. If someone clicks on the link once you post the story, they will go to a page with your previous stories about that topic. It's great for your readers if they want to explore a topic further. Plus, it's great for SEO.
LINKING: Topics are one way to link to your copy. And search engines love links to your copy, and the links they love best are the ones that come from authoritative sites. So, if another news site links to your website, that's great for search. But that's tough to control, right? One way to get those links is to link to others in the hopes that they will reciprocate. Another way is to use social media. Search engines such as Google have said that Facebook and Twitter are seen as sites with authority, which means links from those social media sites will help your search. When you post something to Facebook and Twitter and link back to a story or photo gallery or poll on your website, that's great SEO. If you needed another reason to use social media, that's a great one.
KEYWORDS: We've been talking about using keywords in headlines and leads ever since we began SEO training. Keywords really are the most basic SEO lesson. But remember that when you are linking from your text, the words you highlight as a link need to be keywords. In other words, avoid saying "click here" and having the link be the words "click here." That "click here" link is a missed opportunity. If you're writing about an accident on Main and Sixth streets and you're linking to previous accidents at that intersection, your story might say: The latest accident at that intersection isn't the first. In the past year, six other accidents at Main and Sixth streets have seriously injured two people and killed one. I would link to "accidents at Main and Sixth streets," since those are keywords that people looking for your story might search on Google. Remember to take every opportunity to work keywords into your story and your links.
For more info on SEO, be sure to check out GHnewsroom's SEO blog.
