How to Connect Great Journalism
with the Greatest Possible Audience
Brent D. Payne
Charlie Meyerson
What is SEO?
What SEO is…
• SEO = Search Engine Optimization
• A division of online marketing with the
purpose of building content that is more
understandable and readable by search
engines.
What SEO is NOT…
• Building pages ONLY for search engines
• Engagement of unethical practices to gain
search engine favor.
• An exact science
Who is Brent D. Payne?
Brent D. Payne is NOT . . .
• not a journalist in any way, shape, or form
• not the best SEO for all fields of SEO
• not a poised, professional speaker
Brent D. Payne is . . .
• passionate about SEO and how it helps journalists
• significantly experienced in SEO
• dedicated to TEACHING people about SEO
SEO Jargon
Top 10 Vocabulary Terms That’ll Be Talked About Today
• Googlebot – The collective name for the thousands of servers crawling the web
• PageRank – The factors Google uses to determine where a particular page
should be listed in the search results
• PageRank Number/PR# - The Google toolbar’s assigned number to a particular
domain or page
• Spider/Robot – Same as Googlebot above but not Google specific (i.e. could be
any search engine)
• White Hat/Black Hat – Whether you work with Google or against Google
• Anchor/Anchor Text – The blue underlined link
• ALT/Alt Text – The text you see when you scroll over an image
• The Algo/Algorithm – All the engineering and coding that is the core of a search
engine’s code
• Microhoo – The theoretical search engine created by the merging of Microsoft
and Yahoo!
• 301/301 redirect – The process of telling the search engines a page has moved
Why the Obsession with Google?
Yahoo!
15%
Microsoft
8%
Ask
3%
All Others
2%
Google
72%
Why Should You Care About SEO?
AOL
357,025,000
Ask.com
169,116,000
All Others
386,024,000
MSN/Live!
841,457,000
Google
Yahoo!
MSN/Live!
AOL
Ask.com
Total Search Engine Traffic
• Google 5.4 Billion Searches per Month
• Yahoo! 1.4 Billion Searches per Month
• MSN/Live! 841 Million Searches per Month
Source: Nielsen Dec ‘08
All Others
Yahoo!
1,448,140,000
Google
5,421,943,000
Pwn’d!
That’s 2,024
Google
searches per
second!!
70% of Users Don’t Go Beyond the 1st
Page of Search Engines!
Well, looks like
getting to that
first page is
REALLY
important then.
Tribune SEO Statistics
Tribune’s Search Engine Traffic
• 2007 – 22% of Visits from SEO
• 2008 – 31% of Visits from SEO
• Doubled SEO Visits Y/Y ‘08 to ‘07
• 2009 YTD – 36% of Visits from SEO
2007 SEO
Source: Omniture
2008 SEO
2009 SEO
What’s Driving the Growth
• HTML Changes
• CMS Enhancements & SEO Tools
• SEO Planning of Future Events
• Newsroom SEO Training Seminars
• 100% of Newspapers Already
Trained (Basic SEO)
• Tribune Broadcast Sites 95% Trained
• SEO Task Force Development
Key SEO Wins
• Breaking News
• Topic Galleries
• Election/Inauguration
• Oscars
• Weather, Horoscopes, Trials
How Do Search Engines Work?
Links
Popularity
Importance
Popularity
Trust
Similar
Content
Importance
Relevance
What We Know and Don’t Know
Authority
Popularity
Relevance
( k 1)
i
x
1 (k )
xj
Bi N j
Page
Rank
j
The Psychology of Googlebot
01100111 01101111
01101111 01100111
01101100 01100101
01100010 01101111
01110100
Literal
• Googlebot doesn’t understand puns
• Googlebot doesn’t get jokes
• Googlebot is a robot not a buddy of yours
Context
• Googlebot only understands what you tell him
• Get Lucky!
• Laptop ‘case’ versus laptop ‘bag’
• ‘CompactFlash’ vs ‘Compact Flash’
Blind
spots
• Googlebot can’t read iFramed content
• Googlebot can’t read images (needs ALT text)
• Googlebot can’t read javascript
• Googlebot barely understands flash files
Media Companies are Treated
Differently by the Search Engines
We are different in a good way…
•
•
•
•
•
Crawl rates are considerably more frequent
Endless pipe of quality content
Google likes us more (but still doesn’t need us)
High authority
Direct relationships with the search engines
We are different in a bad way…
•
•
•
•
•
Expiring content
Duplicate content
Never ending changes to our content
Horrid CMS/site structure
Direct relationships with the search engines ;-)
SEO: Where Do I Start?
Weather
Local
News
Fashion
What are
people
searching for?
How can I find
out?
Sports
Movies
Politics
Food
Horoscopes
Travel
<Relevance>
Related Terms & Estimated
Volume (Month Lag)
Provides long list of
related terms (exports)
Shows approx. search
volume
Shows advertiser
competition for terms
Shows keywords by URL
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Just Because YOU Search
THAT Way . . .
Compare multiple terms to
determine which term
receives the highest volume of
search traffic.
Use the drop down menus to
change the date range and
regional data sets.
Export the data to a CSV
(Opens in Excel, must be
logged into Google Account).
http://www.google.com/trends
Google Trends: What is it?
http://www.google.com/trends
Get an Indication of Search
Volume (Hourly)
Only chase after ‘Volcanic’
search terms, others don’t
have the volume to justify the
effort
Watch graph, catch terms
while they’re still spiking
Note the related searches, use
them in your body text
http://www.google.com/trends
Why the Search Term is
Suddenly Popular (Hourly)
http://www.google.com/trends
Compare Differing Search
Terms Volume (3 Day Lag)
Compare multiple terms to
determine which term
receives the highest volume of
search traffic.
Use the drop down menus to
change the date range and
regional data sets.
Export the data to a CSV
(Opens in Excel, must be
logged into Google Account).
http://www.google.com/trends
Find Top Volume Search Terms
by Category (3 Day Lag)
Discover the top volume search terms by
category
Discover fastest rising search terms by category
http://www.google.com/insights/search
Celebrity/Entertainment
Keyword Research
Trends Data
• Updates multiple times per
day
• Graph of trend history
Categories
Hmm.
Gates, got
xRank
right at
least.
• Celebrities
• Musicians
• Politicians
Related Articles
• News
• Images
• Videos
http://search.live.com/xrank
The Most Important HTML Elements
Title Tag
• The most important HTML element
• Communicate loudly but don’t spam
• Must be unique!
Description
• Important mainly due to click through not SEO factors
themselves
• Should be unique,
H1
• Reiterate what the title tag states, one H1 per page
• Beat up your designers that use if tor ‘style’ instead of
SEO emphasis
H2
Bold, H3, Italics,
URL, etc.
• Loosely reiterate what your H1 tag states, insert noise
• 2x the number of H1 tags on the page
• H3 for breadcrumbs, featured areas, etc.
• Bold tag, strong tag = same thing
• URL is important for relevance with inbound links

Write ‘Boring’ Headlines
REQUIRED
RECOMMENDED
DO NOT…
• Include targeted keyphrase
•
•
•
•
Exact match keyphrase
Place keyphrase in front
Differentiate from SEO title
Be succinct
• Use AP or other newswire headline
• Use hyper-local buzz phrases
• Be too witty at cost of search relevance
Write ‘Somewhat Boring’ Subheads
REQUIRED
RECOMMENDED
DO NOT…
• Include core targeted keyword
• Differentiate from headline and SEO title
•
•
•
•
Include all words from keyphrase
Use plural or singular version of keywords
Use different tense for some keywords
Be more verbose to create ‘SEO noise’
• Use of AP or other newswire headline
• Use of headlines from other Tribune pages
• Field usage for other purposes
If Your Slug Is Publicly Displayed . . .
REQUIRED
• Use targeted keyphrase
• Separate words with
hyphens
• Avoid usage such as ‘story’,
‘sl’, ‘front’
RECOMMENDED
DO NOT…
• Abbreviate or omit vowels,
etc.
Keyword Usage: Examples
SEO Title
• Michelle Obama’s Dress: Who made Michelle
Obama’s dress, plus photos -- Chicago Tribune
SEO
Description
• Michelle Obama's dress and other wardrobe
choices have been a breath of fresh air in the
fashion industry. Learn about her dress at the …
Headline
Subheadline
URL/Slug
• Who made Michelle Obama’s dress?
• Michelle Obama’s dresses attract attention on
Inauguration Day [not actually used]
• /chi-michelle-obama-dress-story

Linking Structure: Unorganized
Article
2
Article
1
Section
C
None of this
content is that
popular. I’m not
going to rank it
well.
Article
3
Links for
‘Topic X’
Section
B
Blog 1
Blog 2
Section
A
Blog 3
. . . and why it’s bad for SEO.
The competitor is
really popular for
‘Topic X’. I’m going to
rank the competitor
really well.
Competitor
Story 1
Story 2
Story 3
Blog 1
Blog 2
Blog 3
Linking Structure: Organized
Blog 1
Blog 2
Blog 3
Section
A
Story 3
Section
B
Story 2
Story 1
Predetermined
landing page
for ‘Topic X’
Now this is popular
content. I’m going to
rank it well.
Section
C
. . . And why it’s good for SEO.
Your site has some
really popular and
relevant content. I’m
going to rank it
better than CNN,
MSNBC, etc.
Your site!
CNN
MSNBC
FOX News
Reuters
NY Times
NPR
Google News: It’s About
the One-Box
Google News One-Box
• Appears on first page of Google Web for breaking news content
• Is piped into several other Google products
Google News Homepage
• Decent traffic (though not like Yahoo! Homepage)
• Increases crawl and indexing in alternative search engines
Google News: Inclusion Submission
Google News Inclusion Submission Form
• Google News is by submission only. Furthermore, the site must be approved by Google to be in
Google News.
Submission Form URL
• http://www.google.com/support/news_pub/bin/request.py?contact_type=suggest_content
Google News is a Different
Animal
URL
Differences
Traffic Trends
Less
Understood
Robots
Activity
• First impression is REALLY important. Slow to recrawl
• Prefers Fresh URLs (i.e. new URLs)
• MUST Have at Least a 3-digit Number in the URL (or sitemap)
• Greater Peaks & Valleys
• Easier to Win But Evaporates Quickly
• Google News ‘One-Box’ in Google Web is Unpredictable
• More a Script Than a Spider
• Change to Site Requires Notification to Google News
• Google News Homepage = Uncertainties
• Much More Reliant on Sitemaps (Specifically News Sitemaps)
• No Separation of Googlebot from ‘Gnewsbot’
• Causes Control Issues for Webmaster
Google Webmaster Tools
Top Nine Things to Pay Attention to in Webmaster Tools
• Be granular in your site submissions to Google Webmaster Tools
• Download crawl errors at least weekly, look for patterns to fix
• Track changes to how many sites are linking to your top pages
• Compare top search query impressions to top search query clickthroughs
• Watch for generic terms in your keywords list, minimize unwanted
• Watch crawl errors, specifically News crawl errors
• Monitor crawl stats for both pages crawled and kilobytes downloaded
• Increase your crawl rate (if Google will let you)
• MAKE SURE YOUR SITEMAPS ARE ALL WORKING PROPERLY!
Twitter Account Types: News Feed
Create a News Feed from RSS
• Use your most frequently updated quality content
• Do NOT ‘at reply’ users from this account
• Do NOT follow people back from this account; follow your own accounts
Twitter Account Types: Celebrities
Force Celebrities to Create Accounts
• Make it a job requirement to have a Twitter profile
• Give them freedom to be human (i.e. complain about their commute)
• Get them to interact with their followers (follow them back, at reply, DM, etc.)
Twitter Account Types: Employees
Allow Employees to Tweet
• Set some ground rules about
proprietary information
• Underscore that company grievances
should be addressed with Human
Resources
• Provide information to employee about
libel/slander and the consequences
• Allow them to promote the company
and the competitor
• Allow them to be genuine and
personable
• Give them freedom to be themselves in
all aspects of their lives
• Understand and accept that mistakes
and issues will occur
• Do NOT officially endorse them
Twitter Account Types: Brand Persona
Create a Brand Persona
• Create a character that your audience
can connect with personally
• Spend time to create a decent avatar
• Mimic your brand perception or mimic
the target audience demographic
• Create a detailed personality, writing
style, interests, etc. for the persona
• Be sure to have the persona engage
with the audience via ‘at replies’, ‘direct
messages’, and even send event invites
• Keep who’s behind the ‘veil of Oz’
private, always
• Do NOT allow those behind the veil to
inject personal opinions inconsistent
with the brand persona
• Make it your brand’s social media face
Get Big Fast: Promote Your Profiles
Make Your Audience Aware
• Use your readership of print media to promote your twitter profile
• Use your viewership of television to promote your twitter profile
• Promote your twitter profile to your listeners via radio
• Don’t forget the easiest of them all… your website visitors!
Get Seen: Use Twitter Directories
Use Twitter Directories
• List yourself in the top Twitter
directories
• WeFollow, Twellow, Muck Rack, etc.
Engage the Locals: Have a Tweetup
Tweetup = Local Engagement
• Invite top referrers or bloggers specifically
• Pick a decent venue that can handle 2x
expected turn out
• Utilize event sites like EventBrite or
Meetup.com
• Have one or two celebrities attend to
create a draw
• Clarify dress code, theme, location, food
or no food, etc.
• Promote the Tweetup from all profiles
POUH YOUR
• Have large nametags available and plenty
COMPETITOR
of pens
• Take lots of pictures and post them
publicly
• Remember to MINGLE!
• Do NOT buy the alcohol!
Take Off The Gloves: Poach
Poach Your Competitor’s Followers!
• Follow those that follow your competitor…and engage with them
POACH YOUR
COMPETITOR
Get A Little Dirty: Cheat
Twitter Automation
POUH YOUR
COMPETITOR
• Auto-follow all followers of a particular user
• Auto-follow all those that a particular user
follows
• Auto-follow those that follow you
• Auto-follow those that tweet a particular
keyword
• Auto-follow by geography
• Auto-unfollow anyone that isn’t following
you
• Only follow those that have x number of
followers but under y number
• Only follow those that have tweeted at least
x number of times
• Only follow those that have a non-default
profile image
• Setup a tweet for a later date and time
• MUCH, MUCH, MORE!!
• NOTE: I do NOT condone cheating!
Google Blog Search
Google Blog Search Quick Tips
• Use RSS Auto-Discovery
• Submit your blog URL to Google
• Compare your blog vs. your non-blog content Google rankings/traffic
Submission Form URL
• http://blogsearch.google.com/ping?hl=en
SEO for WordPress Blogs
Plugins!
SEO Overview
• How a Webpage Ranks Well in Search Engines
• Search Engine Market Share
• User Search Behavior
Keyword
Research
• Google Trends/Hot Trends/Insights for Search
• Google Keyword Research Tool
• MS/Bing xRank
Site Structure
Site Visibility
Essential
Plugins to Do It!
• Linking Structure
• Duplicate Content Mitigation
• HTML Elements for SEO Emphasis
• Sitemaps & Google Webmaster Tools
• Google News Site Submission/Nuances
• Google Blog Search Site Submission
• all-in-one-seo-pack, get-recent-comments, googlenews-sitemap-generator, google-sitemap-generator,
page-links-to, redirection, seo-automatic-links, etc.
SEO Plugins: All in One SEO Pack
All in One SEO Pack
• Allows for significant flexibility on the most important SEO
aspects such as: title tag editing, flexibility to enter additional
metas, duplicate content mitigation, canonical URLs, etc.
Download this Plugin
• http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/
SEO Plugins: Get Recent Comments
Get Recent Comments
• Best for smaller blogs because the links to the posts with the
most recent comments get linked to from the homepage.
Increasing freshness in the Google index.
Download this Plugin
• http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/get-recent-comments/
SEO Plugins: Google News Sitemap
Generator
Google News Sitemap Generator
• Generates a sitemap in the proprietary Google News Sitemap
format.
Download this Plugin
• http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-news-sitemapgenerator/
SEO Plugins: Google Web Sitemap
Generator
Google Web Sitemap Generator
• Generates an XML Sitemap that is compatible with Google and
most other major search engines. Increases ease of crawlability for
the search engines and also improves frequency of crawl.
Download this Plugin
• http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/
SEO Plugins: Page Links to
Page Links to
• Allows you to redirect any page/URL to any other page/URL of
your choice. You can even choose a 301 redirect or 302 redirect
option. Note: Always use 301 redirect though.
Download this Plugin
• http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/page-links-to/
SEO Plugins: Redirection
Redirection
• Unlike ‘Page Links to’, this plugin allows you to find 404
pages and redirect them to other locations.
Download this Plugin
• http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/redirection/
SEO Plugins: SEO Smart Links
SEO Smart Links
• Allows for consistent inline links in posts, comments, etc. to
specified destination URLs. Helps to drive consistent anchor text
to landing pages of your choice.
Download this Plugin
• http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/seo-automatic-links/
Contact Info
Brent D. Payne
• Director, Search Engine Optimization
• Tribune Company, 435 N. Michigan, Chicago, IL 60611
• Phone: 312.324.3344
• Email: [email protected]
• Instant Messenger/Personal Email:
[email protected]
• Twitter: @BrentDPayne (follow w/ caution)
• Driver’s License Number: BDP24456U8
• Passport Number: 46645347666