The Secrets of News Search Engine Optimization

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The Secrets of News Search Engine Optimization

• Greg Jarboe
• President of SEO-PR
• Nov. 6, 2008

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In 2003, we started optimizing press releases for
Google News
Source Google News, Sept. 15, 2003
3
In 2004, we started optimizing press releases for
Yahoo! News
Source Yahoo! News, Oct. 26, 2004
4
In 2005, Southwest Airlines and we won award for
linking PR and sales
Source Institute for Public Relations, October
2005
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Today, Ill share the six secrets of news search
engine optimization

• I keep six honest serving-men
• (They taught me all I knew)
• Their names are What and Why and When
• And How and Where and Who.

Source Epigraph to The Elephant's Child by
Rudyard Kipling
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Optimizing press releases for news search engines
tackles 6 questions

• Who uses Yahoo! News, AOL News and Google News?
• What search terms are people likely to use?
• Where do you incorporate these terms in your
  press releases?
• When do you add links?
• Why must you use press release distribution
  services?
• How do you measure the results of your campaign?

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Millions of Americans use Yahoo! News, AOL News
or Google News
Source Nielsen Online, September 2008
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Fewer people use Google News, but they conduct
more searches
Source comScore, August 2005
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74 of journalists and bloggers use Google and/or
blog search
Source PRWeek/PR Newswire Media Survey, March
31, 2008
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Search is top way journalists research companies
and trends

• 75 of journalists use Google and/or Yahoo
  searches as a way to research companies and
  trends, according to a survey of tech reporters
• 66 of journalists rely on PR contacts for
  information

Source Fusion Public Relations, Sept. 10, 2007
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More knowledge workers read press releases than
trade journals
Source InformationWeek, June 6, 2006
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Marketing and PR professionals differ on
importance of audiences

• In terms of target audiences for online press
  releases, significant differences emerged between
  marketing and public relations professionals
• PR professionals were consistently more
  interested than marketing professionals in
  reaching traditional media
• Marketing professionals were consistently more
  interested than PR practitioners in reaching new
  media or consumers directly

Source Society for New Communications Research,
October 2008
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Conduct keyword research to find the terms people
are likely to use

• Think about the words users would type to find
  your pages
• Brainstorm keyword categories that address your
  customers wants
• Compile the brainstormed keywords for further
  review of traffic potential, competition, and
  other factors

Source Elliance, Search Engine Land, Oct. 23,
2007
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Conduct your keyword research using one or more
of these tools

• Google AdWords keyword tool
• https//adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExter
  nal
• Google Suggest
• http//www.google.com/webhp?complete1hlen
• Google Trends
• http//www.google.com/trends
• Microsofts adCenter Labs keyword forecast
• http//adlab.msn.com/ForecastV2/KeywordTrendsWeb.a
  spx
• Trellians free search term suggestion tool
• http//www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html
• Wordtrackers free keyword suggestion tool
• http//freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

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Use Google AdWords keyword tool to find
approximate search volume
Source Google AdWords keyword tool, Oct. 30, 2008
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Use Google Suggest to find relevant search terms
in real time
Source Google Suggest, Oct. 30, 2008
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Use Google Trends to see variation in Google and
Google News
Source Google Trends, Oct. 30, 2008
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Keyword research involves more than looking up
search frequencies

• Average search term is 2 or 3 words long, so use
  2-word and 3-word phrases
• Use Russian nesting dolls
• e.g. online press release contains press
  release
• Build each press release around the top 2 or 3
  phrases that you would like it to be found for
• Company or description
• Product or category
• News or benefit

Source Elliance, Search Engine Land, Nov. 6, 2007
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Incorporate search terms into your headline and
lead paragraph

• News search engines scan the headline and at
  least the first 100 words of news articles
• So, make sure your press release actually
  includes your target terms particularly in the
  headline and first few sentences

Source The New York Times, April 9, 2006
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Optimized press release ranked 1, Consumer
Reports story ranked 4
Source Google News, Sept. 14, 2005
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Herb Kelleher went nuts when he saw cheap in his
press release
Source Southwest Airlines, Jan. 30, 2004
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We had to violate AP Style in order to optimize
Monitors press release
Source The Christian Science Monitor, August 11,
2006
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Parents magazine editor offered picture taking
tips instead of news
Source PRWeb, May 28, 2008
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We optimized SuperPages.com release for flowers
instead of sex
Source Verizon SuperPages.com, Feb. 5, 2005
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Add links intended to help people find
interesting, related content

• The unique tracking link in this Southwest
  Airlines press release offered a complete list of
  fares
• It took people to a unique landing page, enabling
  Southwest to track over 80,000 in ticket sales
  back to this optimized release

Source The Measurement Standard, April 6, 2004
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Second link in some press releases got more
clicks than the other links
Source ConsumerReports.org log files
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Head of Googles Webspam team says main benefit
is links in articles

• Im not against doing press releases press
  releases can be a useful part of getting traffic
  and building a brand.
• For ranking in Google, however, the main benefit
  of a press release is not direct links or
  PageRank from the press release directly its
  primarily the people who decide to write an
  article and link because of that.

Source Matt Cutts Gadgets, Google and SEO, Dec.
11, 2005
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Buzzing blogger community can be excellent place
to generate interest

• The best way to get other sites to create
  relevant links to yours is to create unique,
  relevant content that can quickly gain popularity
  in the Internet community.
• Creating good content pays off Links are
  usually editorial votes given by choice, and the
  buzzing blogger community can be an excellent
  place to generate interest.

Sources Technorati State of the Blogosphere
2008, and Google Webmaster Help Center
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Before using linkbaiting techniques, read Matts
SEO advice on linkbait

• I think of linkbait as something interesting
  enough to catch peoples attention, and that
  doesnt have to be a bad thing
• Especially if its interesting information or
  fun, it doesnt have to have negative
  connotations
• Content can be both white-hat and yet still be
  wonderful bait for links

Source Matt Cutts Gadgets, Google and SEO, Jan.
24, 2006
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Looks like the optimized release got some great
pick up!

• Optimized press release 1
• News stories 11
• Target bloggers 80
• Blog posts 190
• Inbound links 202
• Downloads 2,719
• Mention in Jay Lenos monologue Priceless

Sources Harlequin, June 12, 2007
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Ensure your press release will be crawled by
news search engines

• News search engines dont crawl your online press
  room
• They aggregate thousands of news sources,
  including the major press release distribution
  services
• Yahoo! News and AOL News are especially picky

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Business Wire offers EON Enhanced Online News
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GlobeNewswire (PrimeNewswire) offers SEO Wire
Release
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Marketwire offers Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
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PR Newswire offers Search Engine Optimization
(SEO)
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PRWeb offers SEO Visibility
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Measure results of PR campaign just like search
engine marketing

• 61 to increase, enhance brand awareness
• 58 to sell products, services or content online
• 43 to drive traffic to your website
• 20 to generate leads for your sales force
• 20 to generate leads for your dealer network

Source SEMPO, February 2008
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Google study found a 16 lift in brand
association for top rankings
Source Enquiro Search Solutions, July 2007
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4 optimized press releases linked to 2.5 million
in Southwest sales
Source Southwest Airlines, July 15, 2004
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Publicity drove 450,000 visitors to Christian
Science Monitor website

• Within first 24 hours after series went live,
  more than 450,000 unique visitors flooded
  CSMonitor.com, 7 times its daily average in July
• Page views for the first day broke through the 1
  million mark, a massive increase from the sites
  July average of 121,247 page views per day

Source WebSideStory, Aug. 13-28, 2006
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PR campaign generated 88,296 entries to Parents
photo contest
Source Parents.com, Oct. 21, 2008
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1.3 million searches for florists prompted by
SuperPages release

• Searches for plumber
• 8,485 Feb. 6-14, 2004
• 13,730 Feb. 6-14, 2005
• Up 62
• This was used as site traffic growth benchmark
• Searches for florists
• 342,478 Feb. 6-14, 2004
• 1,841,272 Feb. 6-14, 2005
• Up 438
• Delta of 1,286,459 over site traffic growth
  benchmark

Source Verizon SuperPages.com, February 25, 2005
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These six secrets of SEO represent a paradigm
shift in public relations

• As Columbus discovered, training the crews of the
  Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria how to sail west was
  a relatively straightforward task
• The real challenge was convincing Queen Isabella
  and King Ferdinand that they wouldnt fall of the
  edge of the world

Source WebProNews, Jan. 7, 2004
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Harold Lasswell created classic model of
communications in 1948
Who says what in which channel to whom with
what effect?
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Less than half as many reporters now cover
Philadelphia as in 1990

• The number of newspaper reporters has fallen from
  500 to 220.
• The local TV stations, with the exception of Fox,
  have cut back on traditional news coverage.
• The five AM radio stations that used to cover
  news have been reduced to two.

Source Project for Excellence in Journalism, May
8, 2006
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News search engines reverse classic model of
communications
Who seeks what in which channel from whom with
what effect?
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No online press release will ever replace the art
of the schmooze

• Bennett Company found that 62 of journalists
  now obtain less than 10 of their content from PR
  firms
• But 38 of journalists said the number one reason
  they open their email is because they know the
  sender

Source Bennett Company, Oct. 17, 2007
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A public relations veteran can be a press release
optimization expert

• For a good part of the 20th century, every part
  of the marketing mix was in a different silo....
• To the extent that you can get the PR people
  interacting with the search people, they will
  discover that there are lots of things they can
  do together.

Source Michael Miller interview with Greg
Jarboe, SEO-PR