WTF is SEO?

How to do multimodal search

WTF is SEO? — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 17:21:21 GMT

Hello, and welcome back. Jessie and Shelby here, back from the first (semi) official softball weekend! Get ready, dear reader: not only is Jessie playing in another four(!) leagues, but Shelby is subbing for two of them! Stay tuned for stories about Jessie getting hit in the face with a ball, or Shelby missing the perfect pitch. Or both, really. It’s softball season!

This week: How to do multimodal search! Last week we went through the 101. In this issue, we break down how to start approaching a multimodal strategy in your newsroom.

🚨 Happening soon! Our spring community call is Wednesday, May 20 at 11 a.m. ET/4 p.m. GMT! In partnership with Trisolute News Dashboard, Steven Wilson-Beales will join us to discuss all things podcast SEO! Register to receive a reminder and ask a question.

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Why look at one screen when I could look at two screens. Photo by Terrillo Walls on Unsplash

Let’s get it.

THE 101

What a multimodal content strategy should look like

A multimodal future requires changing your current editorial content strategy and incorporating distribution channels earlier in the process. It requires taking one piece of content and making it work on multiple platforms.

The content itself must be multimodal: it needs to engage in different ways that make sense for a specific platform (whether it be video, text or audio). It might also be optimized for multimodal search (the various ways the content can be found).

For example, a 90-minute video podcast can be posted on YouTube as well as Spotify, but then sliced into short-form vertical videos to catch the attention of users on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube Shorts. Quote highlights can be posted as static graphic cards on Instagram.

Each of these pieces of content should be fully optimized — with the right keywords, tone, etc. — for that surface.

And then on-site, key snippets can be embedded in relevant news articles. The podcast can also run on-site with its own article page and the full text transcript. It can also be summarized in newsletters or other text-based content.

Example: The Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast is shared as audio on Spotify and Apple, appears as a full video on YouTube and is hosted on-site in an article page (with the video podcast pulled into relevant stories). Key moments are also clipped into standalone short videos on TikTok, or carousels on Instagram.

This is just one example of taking a piece of content — in this case, a podcast — and ensuring it’s visible wherever your audience is. This expands the entry points to connect with people on their preferred platforms. It makes you more visible across the entire Google ecosystem, protecting your authority and increasing brand awareness.

How to start thinking about multimodal as an audience editor

Over the last several years, Google’s ecosystem has changed. The old landscape that publishers played — and succeeded — in doesn’t exist anymore. That means audience editors need to change how we think about Google and audience as a whole.

Below is a look at the visibility of websites for the general keyword set on mobile from Trisolute News Dashboard. Taking into consideration all features on Google (top stories, organic, visual digest, etc.), YouTube (which is owned by Google) is far and away the most visible site. Second (by a wide margin) is Reddit (which partners with Google). After The New York Times, CNN and ESPN, the other top “publications” are all also distribution platforms.

12-month view on Trisolute News Dashboard for the general keyword set for all features on Google, showing the prominence of YouTube and other platforms in the news space.

When taking YouTube’s monopoly out of the equation, an even more interesting narrative emerges. Notably, Facebook and Twitter/X were almost non-existent in Google’s ecosystem in April 2025. A year later, Facebook has risen from 0.8 per cent to 2.97 per cent visibility, while Twitter/X has catapulted from 0.37 per cent to 3.56 per cent visibility in April 2026. It is currently the fourth-most visible site, behind YouTube, Instagram and Reddit.

12-month view on Trisolute News Dashboard for the general keyword set for all features on Google, showing the prominence other platforms in the news space with YouTube omitted

This fluctuation in visibility confirms a trend we already know: the audience is not monolithic. People are finding news — even still with Google as the main entry point — in a myriad of places and in a myriad of ways. As such, we must stop treating content like it’s a monolithic entity.

This means we must move beyond text. For a long time, we focused exclusively on text-first optimization — keyword research, SEO-driven headlines and backlinks. Now, Google — and more importantly, the readers — are considering other forms of content. We need to keep up.

First step: Take inventory of where you are

The first step for multimodal search is understanding what you currently publish and where that content lives. This audience will reveal a load of opportunities, but limitations, too.

Take inventory of where you currently post content and engage with audiences:

What podcast shows go on Spotify, Apple AND YouTube?
Are podcasts hosted online on-site? Is the transcript readily available?
Does your outlet post on TikTok? How many posts per day or week? Are podcasts posted here?
What about Instagram Stories and Reels?
Are you posting on Facebook or Twitter/X? How often and what content?

Then, take inventory of what does well:

Which posts/content types perform above average against the platform’s native data?
What do people talk about on Reddit about your brand?
What social posts tend to “go viral”?
Which podcasts have the top downloads?
Which journalists are most well-mentioned?

Answer all of the above in a Google Doc or Spreadsheet to determine the current strategy.

Work with stakeholders to identify the gaps

People in your newsroom are likely already working on video or podcasts, but are probably siloed from the larger newsroom. Be the bridge between these teams.

As an audience editor, you should have an eye on the data. What stories are doing well on-site? Translate your on-site successes to off-site opportunities. If a story is doing well on-site, it comes automatically with more internal buy-in. This usually means more resources. Capitalize on this and expand the story’s reach off-site.

For example: You learn a major investigation did really well on-site yesterday. Can the reporter translate some of that work by annotating the case on video, which can be distributed on Twitter/X, YouTube Shorts and TikTok? Should they go on your morning daily podcast? What about a Reddit AMA in topically-relevant forums? And on-site Q&A with subscribers? Can you run a “behind the scenes” interview with the writer for your flagship newsletter and record the video for another platform?

Think of the internet distribution methods like a mind map. If you have a single piece of content, how many different ways can we repurpose this? Build out this strategy for major stories first, then branch out.

Work with people who know the platforms. Audio and video editors are elite humans. Describe your vision for off-platform visibility, and ask how you can collaborate to bring it to life. Be open to feedback and criticism: sometimes what may seem like it’s a light lift actually takes more resources than you think.

Test, test, test

A multimodal approach forces a testing and learning culture. Not everything is going to land for every platform, but the more you try and adjust, the more you’ll learn what each audience needs. It’s not always the same for each audience. That’s the point!

Use data that informs your efforts. The tricky part about this “new era” of audience research and development is that not all data is equal. On-site metrics inform a direct traffic-to-revenue relationship, but engagement on TikTok doesn’t quite return the same bottom-line number for a business.

However, those numbers can relate to brand awareness. Find a way to connect engagement on posting platforms to a metric, like Comscore, or an increase in unaided brand awareness.

Multimodal search is all about being optimized for any form of searching, whether that’s on Google or TikTok or ChatGPT. This is a fluid environment. Testing is how you find success.

THE EXPERTS

What the experts recommend

Steven Wilson-Beales: Multimodal breaks the idea that audiences are being served just by what comes out of your CMS — which is primarily text. Audiences (and LLMs) consume information in different formats across a variety of surfaces. We now need to consider:

What is the story? What is the essential seed of the story and what are the best formats that will allow that seed to bloom?
ONE team: Product, video, audio, data and writing teams all need to be aligned. Know what to prioritize through silky smooth team communication.
Redefine success: We used to measure a win with a click, and it didn’t matter who clicked. Now, if we are laser-focused on the right audience, there are other engagement signals we can celebrate.

The best future editors will also be audience engineers: those who can spot the story and can work with teams to amplify it both to humans and to the machines.

Louisa Frahm: In the multimodal search era, publishers should strive to diversify entry points and guide readers through an expanded digital editorial experience. A single trend can spark a traditional article, YouTube clip, TikTok explainer and/or Reddit post that could pop on SERPs. The goal is to meet your readers anywhere and everywhere that they consume content, with text and visual offerings in timely windows.

Publishers need to provide answers to search-friendly questions across content on different platforms. Balancing quick-hit stats alongside expert analysis can simultaneously appeal to AI modules and encourage readers to dig deeper into your coverage. To execute a successful multimodal search strategy, it will be imperative to consistently educate stakeholders on evolving industry trends and secure cross-departmental collaboration with top-down support.

Deborah Carver: Multimodal is like all channel optimization: figuring out which details agents use to access and evaluate information so your brand can look good wherever you may show up. Sometimes, that means filling in “backstory” in the schema markup. Google doesn’t use that field to evaluate, but emerging news authority algorithms might. AI tools can make this tedious process much easier, if you have an eagle-eyed and brand-aware copy editor reviewing everything before it goes out.

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Join our podcast SEO community call with Steven Wilson-Beales [together with Trisolute]

WTF is SEO? — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 17:22:10 GMT

Hello, WTF is SEO? community!

Mark your calendars! We are thrilled to invite you to our next community call discussion hosted by your pals, Jessie and Shelby from WTF is SEO?, in partnership with Trisolute News Dashboard!

We’re diving into podcast SEO, with special guest, SEO, AI visibility and content strategy consultant, Steven Wilson-Beales!

Steven (who also hosts Beers and SEO with friend of the newsletter, ), will discuss what works, what doesn’t and how to actually get your podcast discovered.

We’ll dive into how to use SEO to maximize the visibility and discoverability of your podcasts.

If you’ve ever wondered:

Do I still need to do keyword research?
Should my title tags be long or short? Question- or keyword-focused?
Can captions and transcripts help search ranking?

This is the call for you. We’re cutting through the noise to help you figure out how to actually get your podcast discovered.

Overview:

Steven will share three essential pillars for podcast visibility.
We’ll open up the chat to explore how these strategies work in the real world.
Then, it’s over to our attendees! Bring your specific hurdles, your “is this still best practice?” questions and any technical quandaries.

If you’ve ever wondered how to go beyond the basics of podcast SEO, this community call is your chance to learn from one of the best.

Attendees are encouraged to bring questions.

Here are the details for the panel:

Date: Wednesday May 20, 2026
Time: 11 a.m. ET / 4 p.m. GMT
Host Time Zone: Eastern - New York/Toronto

How to join us on Google Meet:

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/ngo-ctwn-kpo

Please note: By joining this call, you agree to abide by our WTF is SEO? community guidelines. Failure to respect our guidelines will result in your removal from the community call, at the discretion of WTF is SEO?.

ALSO!

We’re thrilled to partner with Trisolute News Dashboard, a widely used tool in the news SEO community, for this panel!

The Trisolute News Dashboard is THE best-in-class, award-winning news SEO tool serving online news publishers since 2012. We demystify the news SEO universe and increase publishers’ visibility with near-real-time data and actionable insights while helping to build search authority on Google News, SERPs and Discover.

Please note: By attending this event, you agree to make your name available to Trisolute.

Please reply directly to this email if you have any questions.

Your pals in news SEO,

Jessie and Shelby

Recommended reading before the community call:

Have something you’d like us to discuss? Send us a note on Twitter (Jessie or Shelby) or to our email: seoforjournalism@gmail.com.

Written by Jessie Willms and Shelby Blackley

What does 'multimodal' mean?

WTF is SEO? — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:21:57 GMT

Hello, and welcome back. Jessie here, back from a rainy weekend in Toronto! Those kinds of days call for museum visits and working on a fibre arts craft. This month, it’s embroidery — but also sewing: sewing a project bag for embroidery projects. The fibre arts converge!

This week: Multimodal search! How people are searching for information is changing. We unpack the shift from the “classic” text-only experience to the evolution of using many inputs to get a diversity of outputs.

🚨 Happening soon! Our spring community call is Wednesday, May 20 at 11 a.m. ET/4 p.m. GMT! In partnership with Trisolute News Dashboard, Steven Wilson-Beales will join us to discuss all things podcast SEO! Register to receive a reminder and ask a question.

The two-screen tango! Photo by Maxim Ilyahov on Unsplash

Let’s get it.

THE 101

Over the last five years, search behaviour has fundamentally changed. The rise of AI tools like ChatGPT changed the game — and forced the biggest player in town (Google) to adapt.

Now, with Gemini powering AI Overviews and AI Mode, Google is more conversational, pulling from more sources to better reflect the full breadth of a user’s needs. Meanwhile, the explosion in popularity of TikTok, Instagram and Reddit has provided more visual, snackable and diverse ways to search. The concept of “multimodal” reflects this shift in content discovery.

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What is multimodal? How does it relate to search?

Multimodal refers to a system simultaneously using several, distinct inputs to process, understand and communicate information. This information is ingested across multiple content types, including text, images, video and audio. This means a system can process something with “senses” — by looking and hearing — to produce a more “relevant” answer.

Multimodal search is the act of using a variety of inputs to look for information. AI Mode, for example, is multimodal: users can type, use voice commands or upload an image to seek information. Sometimes, a person will use a variety of these approaches together to search, and receive multiple outputs, like data tables, links to maps, etc. That is multimodal search.

Multimodal is the ability to understand something through multiple formats, while multimodal search is the ability to find information about that topic in many ways. Modern AI usually does both.

How does multimodal relate to news SEO?

For audience and SEO editors, there’s both multimodal search and multimodal content optimization. One is how people look for information, and the other is how we prime content for people to find it.

In both cases, it requires us to change and evolve.

In classic SEO, we focused on matching a text-based input (i.e., keywords) to a text-based output (i.e., written content in search results). With multimodal, we look at many different types of inputs and outputs.

Now, discovery is so much richer. It’s blue links on Google search results, yes — but it’s also short-form content on TikTok, forum threads on Reddit and long-form videos on YouTube. It’s all the formats on all the platforms people use every day to understand the world around them.

The shift in how and where people look for information requires a change in how we optimize content for discovery across the web.

Redefining our concept of search also means redefining optimization. Remember that search is a behaviour. SEO is a discipline that puts people first. The goal of SEO is to connect users with information they need in the format(s) they want.

As audience and SEO editors, we need to ensure our content is as diverse as the platforms it lives on. The aim is simple: meet our audience wherever — and however — they choose to look for us.

SEO is evolving — and multimodal is an example of that shift.

What the experts are saying

Multimodal search is a relatively new concept. Here’s how some SEO experts define it.

Search Engine Journal: “Multimodal search isn’t just about the difference between typing a query, speaking it out loud or snapping a photo. It’s about the way users fluidly engage across different platforms and media types to explore, evaluate and decide.”
Lily Ray: “Multimodal content optimization is the notion of producing content in different formats because large language models (LLMs) can indeed ingest different types of content like video, audio and images.”
Louisa Frahm: Multimodal means “you need to be anywhere and everywhere that your readers are consuming content.”
Steve Wilson-Beales: “Multimodal SEO optimizes for discovery across multiple inputs and outputs which can include text, images, video, audio, voice, AI-generated queries and more. This reflects the rapid changes to both the algorithms over the last three years and the evolution of user expectations. In short, the ways in which people consume information have exploded and it’s our job as SEOs to understand how the information is being generated and how it’s being consumed.”
Semrush: “A multimodal content strategy is the process of turning one high-quality asset into multiple formats — text, video, audio and visuals — so your message connects with audiences in the ways they best absorb information.”

Tell us: For a future newsletter, we’re looking for expert takes on how to implement a multimodal approach to content discovery. In 200 words or less, tell us how your newsroom is making your journalism more broadly discoverable.

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The bottom line: How people search has changed. As SEO and audience editors, how we optimize content for maximum visibility across the entire web ecosystem must also change.

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THE JOBS LIST

Audience or SEO jobs in journalism. Want to include a position for promotion? Email us.

The Economist is hiring an Audience Editor (London, U.K.).

What we learned at ONA 2026

WTF is SEO? — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 17:21:45 GMT

Hello, and welcome back. Jessie and Shelby here, back from a whirlwind (and windy!) week in Chicago for the Online News Association conference and a much-needed break. We were thrilled to present (again!) on what we’ve learned about running a successful side hustle without losing your mind.

We’re also so THRILLED to report that we hit 14,000 newsletter subscribers while presenting at ONA! What a joy to mark the milestone in a room full of smart, creative and thoughtful news professionals. Here’s to 15k!

This week: What we learned at ONA! Conference organizers managed to pack three days full with programming on the creator economy, building newsroom resilience and deepening audience engagement. We’ve recapped our favourite sessions on SEO, reaching young audiences, combatting news fatigue and wining on Reddit.

OUR FIVE FAV SESSIONS

Bringing readers back: Real-world tactics for combating news fatigue

News fatigue is real and it’s not just a branding problem.

As Angela Pacienza, The Globe and Mail’s executive editor, explained, audiences aren’t rejecting specific outlets; they are retreating entirely from news. To combat this, The Globe focused on stories around how people live and making the publication feel more fun and relatable.

Resources: Reporters moved to new beats that match topics around how people live, including happiness, time use, as well as service and advice. The stories are similar, but with a different framing. For example, the Happiness reporter previously also wrote about mental health; changing the framing to be more positive changed readers’ understanding of the information.
Alerts: Every day, The Globe sends a minimum of one push notification to a story specifically on how we live topics (like parenting). Previously, they mainly focused on breaking news.
Engagement: The Globe invested in community, running two on-site Q&As each week. The comments help build direct, positive relationships with readers.
Homepage: Relatable content was promoted in essential, prominent homepage spots.
Tone: Tone is an editorial decision. The newsroom treats human-centric stories as core news — not fluff.

The results: It worked. Open rates increased, engagement time grew and there were more positive responses coming from readers. And The Globe continued to do great journalism.

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Understanding audiences and algorithms in 2026: An overview in the age of AI

The brilliant Clara Soteras, a news SEO and audience growth consultant, covered the state of Google and publishing, reminding publishers that we must continue to lean into search, but think about it more holistically. She discussed the need to consider multimodal and multiplatform search, too.

Google is still the top channel of referral for many publishers by a large share. Publishers should focus on a niche market versus a volume market, and lean into their audience, community and core product.

Clara also said now is the time for creators on Discover, as more Twitter/X and Instagram content from influencers is surfaced in the feeds than ever. She says publishers should consider building a strategy around their high-value and marketable journalists and writers who show up prominently on these platforms.

Multimodal and multiplatform search was a through-line, as Clara urged publishers to think beyond Google. Consider all the ways and plates people search (by text, voice or image) and where (Google, Instagram, TikTok, etc.).

With this, the regular KPI of page views needs to go, Clara says. Focus on opportunities to connect with your core audience and be an authority on a topic or niche.

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Filter by SERP ranking types and keywords
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Insights and solutions: How newsrooms can reach young audiences

Many publishers yearn to reach younger audiences, specifically Gen Z as they enter the workplace. Rahim Jessani, the founder of Bottom Up Media, and Sofia Bliss-Carrascosa from the Knight Foundation explained it simply: digestibility is what makes younger people consume the news they need.

The speakers referenced a poll that suggests 51 per cent of Gen Z are still willing to engage with and pay for news, but publishers need to show up where they already are. Gen Z are on live streams, in the comments sections and on social media platforms — and hanging out in real life.

“Make time for this,” Rahim says, and consider ways to connect with them on a parasocial level. Rahim does a regular weekly live stream, where he plays Fortnite and talks about the news. He will sometimes bring a journalist who is an expert on the topic onto his live stream, too. At one point, someone asked him what is a publisher, and he did live playing Fortnite and having someone on to explain the answer.

Build for platforms you are on and know your audience, Rahim says. Include Gen Z in those conversations in your newsrooms, too. Don’t make them under-covered or under-represented, and allow personal value to come through the content. “Quality” journalism is still quality — it just changes to digestibility, authenticity and relatability.

Metrics that matter for newsrooms

Newsrooms often fall into the trap of “vanity metrics,” measuring what is easy rather than what matters. To truly understand your audience, avoid these three common pitfalls, say Abbey Gingras and Sophie Ho of News Revenue Hub.

Vanity metrics: High page views or increased story output don’t measure success if they can’t answer the “so what?” question.
Misalignment: Often, different teams have different goals. Or, they have competing goals. Without clear, consistent objectives, it’s impossible to measure success.
No context: Dashboards aren’t decisions and they don’t answer the, “is this good?” question. Without benchmarking against your own past performance or industry peers, a “10 per cent growth rate” is just a number without meaning.

A metric should answer the essential question: Are we moving our organization in the right direction? Measurement should drive decisions about what editorial efforts you prioritize, fund or stop doing.

To put this into practice:

Edit down your metrics, picking just one or two north star numbers.
Set a cadence for reporting. Daily reporting should focus on tactical metrics, weekly on performance and monthly on strategy.
Compare smartly. Start with your past performance, then your peers, then industry-level data.

How you compare the progress of your team or organization against a clear benchmark really matters. Context matters more than comparison.

What we learned about Reddit

While Reddit might not drive massive traffic, it’s great for community building and engagement, making it a high-priority platform for publishers. Many ONA sessions focused on Reddit. Here are some of the highlights.

Reddit is where people can find a human perspective behind the headlines. It attracts users who aren’t on other platforms — but spend a lot of time on Reddit itself — creating opportunities for publishers to foster deep audience engagement.

That comes with an added responsibility: community is part of the job. Publishers should check with moderators before posting to a group (or ask for guidance), confirm a story has not already been posted (using the Reddit Pro dashboard) and be ready to engage with (and respond to) comments in the forum.

Publishers should be generous with the number of stories shared and find ways to invite the community in. For example, when posting paywalled content, aim to use a gift link or post several paragraphs of the opening text. Share your content with geographically- and topically-relevant subreddits (local communities are especially active).

Reddit’s communities have a collective memory. Subreddits will remember AMAs (Ask Me Anything chats) from big names and players even years later. This helps build loyalty.

Some key facts about Reddit

Reddit has seen a 22 per cent YoY growth;
Most Reddit users continue to engage anonymously;
More than half of people in the U.S. visit Reddit weekly;
A large share (39 per cent) of Reddit users are not on Instagram;
Reddit is a unique platform in that users post — and discuss — your content for you.

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THE JOBS LIST

Audience or SEO jobs in journalism. Want to include a position for promotion? Email us.

The Express is hiring a Senior Audience Editor (London, U.K., hybrid).
The i Paper is hiring a Head of Audience (London, U.K., hybrid).
The Podglomerate is hiring a Marketing Manager and Senior Marketing Manager (U.S., remote).

Do explainers still work? The experts discuss

WTF is SEO? — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 17:21:11 GMT

Hello, and welcome back. Jessie and Shelby here, reporting from the Online News Association conference in beautiful, windy Chicago! We’re presenting our learnings on how to build a side hustle while having a 9-5 — without losing your mind (or personal life)!

This week: Do explainers still work? With Google’s AI summaries taking up more of the search results page, answering top-of-the-funnel questions — and perhaps this prediction — we wanted to ask the experts: is there still value in journalism that answers the W5?

Our all-star panel (the best of the best!) includes Alexia LaFata, Senior SEO Manager with experience at New York Magazine, The Verge, Polygon and more; AI and News Discovery SEO Strategist Louisa Frahm, as well as Vivienne Goizet, Editorial SEO and AI Project Lead.

Let’s get it.

WTF is SEO?: Explain in your own words what an explainer is.

Alexia LaFata: An explainer is a piece of content that boils a topic down into the essentials and explains it for an audience. That’s my one sentence description. There is a lot more to say, but in one sentence that’s what I would say.

Louisa Frahm: I firmly believe that an explainer is a simple and straightforward piece of content that is objective in nature. It’s really trying to get to the heart of what you’re talking about without beating around the bush. You’re getting to the meat and potatoes right away and breaking it down into simple-to-understand terms that can appeal to a wide audience with a wide range of backgrounds.

Vivienne Goizet: It’s a longer content piece, like a glossary entry or something. It really explains a topic from a variety of angles, not just one perspective. It’s not just like an encyclopedia entry.

WTF is SEO?: With the changes that we’ve seen to Google lately — AI Mode, Google Zero, chatbots, etc. — do explainers still work for publishers?

Alexia LaFata: I think when you interrogate the word “work,” you can have different answers to this question. Do explainers “work” in the sense that you’re going to get the same amount of gangbusters search traffic you might have gotten from one piece a couple of years ago? I don’t think so. The search results landscape has changed so much. There are so many options for users to click that would satisfy their intent, and that one explainer may not be the thing they want.

But, do I think explainers are still really essential for the coverage of any news topic? Yes.

When you’re thinking about establishing your topical authority around a subject, and being present in all of the essential conversations for a topic, absolutely. I think it’s even more crucial now to write explainers that target those topics your audience trusts you with, so that you are showing up on those search results pages.

I think this is a moment for long-tail keywords as well. In the past, we used to be able to do one of those giant explainers that would cover every part of a topic. It was really broad for search intent. But now, honing in on exactly what your target audience is looking for via those long-tail keywords and writing explainers for them is so valuable, especially if you’re choosing topics that the Large Language Models (LLMs) haven’t had time to learn about yet. You’re getting in that space before it’s easily summarized or before the information disseminates throughout the internet.

These explainers also do well in Google Discover. I think publishers forget about Discover for explainers. So even more of a reason to target those really specific, unique long-tail queries is to have value in Discover.

I also think explainers are still essential for your brand. They’re essential for your link equity — how you’re able to link all the different pieces of content that you write around a topic. You need explainers to link. If you just cover a topic once, you won’t have that nice web of content to show Google and users that you actually do cover this topic comprehensively as part of your brand.

You definitely can’t not do explainers just because of the risks of AI. You still need to think about them in terms of your holistic news strategy.

Louisa Frahm: First off, I second everything Alexia said. I believe that explainers still have a place in this AI landscape that we’re in. I’m going to throw it out there because it’s always in the industry all the time: is SEO dead? We hear about this all the time. It’s like, “is SEO dead?”

I’m going to address it through the lens of explainers because while I firmly believe that SEO is not dead and we all still should have jobs, I do think that certain principles and practices that previously worked for SEO have started to fade away and aren’t as effective anymore.

One of those things is evergreen explainers that used to exist where it was “set it and forget it.” You create this explainer, it can just drive traffic without being frequently updated. That is fading into the past.

Explainers are absolutely still a necessity, but the way you treat them is changing with AI. If you want to improve your odds of appearing in those search features when people are searching during those newsy windows, you need to prioritize building the right content library, being very familiar with it and being very closely in tune with the news cycle of your brand.

You need to know when to go in and refresh those explainers, getting them back in front of readers at the right time. That way, you’re sending that freshness signal as well over to Google to improve your odds of appearing. I would stress that the updates process has been really critical.

Also, this AI era of search that we’re in, multimodal search is where it’s at, right? Search isn’t just defined by the first page of Google anymore. Search isn’t dead because people are still searching for things online, but the scope of it and where you reach your readers has really changed.

Performance isn’t only defined by, “how did you show up on the first page of Google?”

This can widely vary depending on what your brand is, but that could be things like your app, newsletters, social media channels and Reddit. Alexia brought up Google Discover. That’s another important place. The nature of getting the most out of your explainers is absolutely shifting, but the need for them has never gone away. It’s your surefire way to really elevate your E.E.A.T in a time when inaccuracies run amok. You really want to be presenting yourself as that legitimate resource to readers.

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WTF is SEO?: Given this new era, what adjustments do publishers need to think about, consider and implement right now in order to make explainers still really work for them?

Vivienne Goizet: I strongly believe that we’re going from just publishing an article and people can consume it, to more how we allow people to interact with the article.

For example, if you have an article that explains what ETFs are, and you have answered all the questions, a person has more questions. Another article they want to read should be linked in it, or you have some form of chatbot that they can ask about the article. If you start implementing those now, and making it an experience, explainers will actually be able to drive more traffic. And, the traffic that comes from Google will be more valuable because people stay longer on the site. You have more engagement from the visitors.

Alexia LaFata: There are so many SEO best practices that folks should have been following that I think are just going to become even more essential now. For example, having an explainer that leverages subheads is going to be even more crucial, because already people are reading on their phones all the time. Sites need to be mobile first. It’s intimidating to read giant walls of text; you have to break it down for people to easily consume your content. And that is even more important for AI, so that AI can really understand what your content is about.

Framing content for the human reader is essential and will help get your SEO suggestions across to editors as well. Speaking as a former editor, I understand the value of really centring that searcher, that reader, in SEO recommendations. And the humans in this AI era are crucial, too, because humans are still searching.

I also think freshness is key for maintaining trust. Louisa mentioned this, but setting it and forgetting never really worked. Depending on the topic, you always needed to keep an eye on the competitive landscape for whatever keyword you were targeting and make sure that you were staying relevant in search results. But now, due to even more competition, you need to illustrate you’re really up to date on your news topic more frequently. Having a dashboard to keep track of all those pages is essential.

Topical authority is also still important. Having a hub page, a landing category page that surfaces all your different kinds of content about the topic you’re covering, including the explainer, is even more essential. If the goal of explainers now is to illustrate that topical authority, you really need to illustrate it across the board and for your whole brand.

Finally, Vivienne touched on this too, but having something else for people to do on the page is key. I do think qualified user stats about how people use AI search are real. I have found that people are extremely qualified when they come from these chatbot interfaces and AI search. So, can you give somebody something else to do when they land on the explainer? Is there a newsletter they can sign up for? Is there a subscription they can explore and sign up for?

Whatever the extra step is, this is key to do because that will give you an extra KPI. This era of news journalism is so dependent on ad revenue. And we did volume for the sake of volume. I think we need to alter our definition of success in many ways with SEO. Having that extra step, that extra KPI, helps all of us continue to illustrate the value of SEO.

Louisa Frahm: I totally agree with all of it. Off what Alexia was just saying, the way that we define how this type of content performs is really shifting.

I think we need to be reshaping what defines success. Even if you are making it into those modules, the click-through rate isn’t there. Trust and having brand visibility are an increasingly important metric; just overall brand visibility in different channels. And that relates back to multimodal search, how you need to be anywhere and everywhere that your readers are consuming content.

I’ve been trying to provide positive case studies to my stakeholders showing trends and that we are providing that information to readers in the windows when they need it is extremely important.

We have to consistently think about shaping that conversation correctly to minimize panic and make it clear that this is still helping our brand and elevating our brand. This is also hopefully encouraging long-term loyalty with our readers. Because that’s what we want — repeat visitors, people coming to us directly.

That loops in another evolution of search in this mix: personalization. That’s becoming a bigger thing in search. Now, we have preferred sources in Top Stories. If you are that source in AI Overviews and maybe popping up more in Top Stories, people may select you as a Preferred Source. That’s only going to help you more.

And finally, we all have to be in the same sandbox. For a long time, SEOs in newsrooms were kind of like in our own sandbox and [other teams are] in their own sandbox over there. They are like, maybe we’ll come in and play with you, but we really have our own thing over here. But that’s not optimal anymore. You have to all be in the same sandbox and you have to all be playing together.

I’ll say it again: multimodal search is mixed up in everything. When you look at a search results page now, it could be Reddit, it could be YouTube, it could be anything.

I would really stress to anyone in a newsroom, if you’re still getting that pushback for separation, we have to really be vigilant about making it clear this is no longer optional. For our survival as brands, we need to be interconnected. That collaboration element is essential. You need to be on the same page and be employing strategies that complement each other.

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WTF is SEO?: How do you think publishers should think about explainers? And in 2026, what makes a good explainer?

Alexia LaFata: Consider that long-tail keyword pool as the first step in making a good explainer. Make sure you’re really targeting the topics that your audience would know you for. That will increase your chances of getting clicks and engagement on those stories. And Discover is key, because usually those long-tail searches are a little more interesting, a little more detailed and they’re going to be surfaced to folks that have those interests in their Discover feed.

Leverage subheaders. Use opportunities to break up big pieces of text whenever you can.

We talked a lot about multimodal search, too. If there is an opportunity to create a video component for an explainer, that’s great. Videos can be more valuable for certain kinds of content in the news space. Depending on the explainer, if there’s a chance to create something fresh that could be surfaced across another channel — social media, YouTube, whatever it is — that’s only going to add to your potential to surface in search results. You’re killing two birds with one stone there. So, find opportunities to rework content for another channel.

Finally, understand that the value that explainers have has changed, and that’s okay. It doesn’t mean they’re less valuable. It just means we have to think about them differently. We have to not put all of our eggs in our explainers. We have to treat them as part of the overall ecosystem of how we’re covering a story, as opposed to the thing in isolation that is going to save our SEO strategy. That has changed, and the landscape is going to continue to shift and change.

Vivienne Goizet: I love what you said about the overall ecosystem because I think that is the way to go. We are talking so much about what will save us from AI. It will be that you have an established brand. We are all working for amazing brands, but when it comes to explainers, we have to think, what does my brand really stand for? What are we the topic authority on? And then make explainers that cover everything about it so people and Google and the whole internet knows we are the authority on the matter.

Louisa Frahm: You have to prioritize your audience. Like, this era is scary. There’s a lot of uncertainty. But if you prioritize the needs of your audience and you get to know them on a deep level and you’re really in tune with them within the particular news cycle of the beats that you cover, that’s what makes a good explainer. That gives it its evergreen appeal. It’s something they can search for at any time. A topic that kind of resonates across the board, but then when breaking news hits, it can be quickly refreshed and become even more important.

I’ve just seen time and time again that those end up being the most successful: where it was very well done on an evergreen basis, where it could have appeal throughout an entire season, but then when there is breaking news, it can be refreshed and show that in-house expertise.

And again, back to multimodal. I love what was previously said about hitting every single channel, like creating different versions of it. We just have to think bigger and better. We have to think that much bigger as SEOs.

We’re not just SEO people anymore. We’re audience people now. And I think that’s the name of the game.

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THE JOBS LIST

Audience or SEO jobs in journalism. Want to include a position for promotion? Email us.

The Forward is hiring a Deputy Director of Audience (New York, N.Y., hybrid)
The Forward is hiring a Social Video Producer (New York, N.Y., hybrid).
Citycast is hiring an Audience Development Manager (Salt Lake City, U.T., hybrid).
The Telegraph is hiring a Head of Community (London, U.K.).

Google news and updates

WTF is SEO? — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 17:21:44 GMT

Hello, and welcome back. Jessie and Shelby here, wondering where the heck March went. Shelby is currently in sunny St. Petersburg, Florida for a leadership program, but made sure to see the Toronto Blue Jays play their final spring training game in Dunedin. Bucket list item, check! Meanwhile, Jessie is back from a busy work trip to NYC (but don’t worry, I still made it to a slew of book and stationary stores, and spent $14 on three — yes three! — chocolate-covered dates). Time — and us, apparently! — never stops.

This week: A recap on Google news and updates, plus some of the (many) reports we’ve seen out in the world about the state of publisher traffic. There’s a lot swirling around right now. Let’s dive into some of it.

Next week: We will be in Chicago for the Online News Association conference! We are speaking on Monday about sustaining a side hustle! Send us a note if you want to grab a coffee! ☕

Ah, all the possibilities of an empty Google tab. Credit: Photo by Firmbee.com on Unsplash

Let’s get it.

THE RECAP

Google runs experiment replacing news headlines with potentially AI-generated versions

What happened: Google confirmed it is testing replacing site-written headlines with AI-generated versions in organic Search results in blue links. Google spokespeople told The Verge this is part of a “narrow” test that is not yet approved for wider use. They said the goal is to identify content on a page that’s useful to readers and better match the query to the title. So far, it does not appear to be happening to Top Stories headlines.

In the example below, Google replaced the original headline (Oversensitive and overreactive: what is nervous system dysregulation and how can it be resolved?) with a truncated version (Nervous system dysregulation – Oversensitive and overactive).

Screenshot showing the search results link for a story from The Guardian with a rewritten headline.

In the example below, Google replaced The Verge’s full headline (I used the ‘cheat on everything’ AI tool and it didn’t help me cheat on anything) with a 27-character version.

Screenshot showing the search results link for a story from The Verge with a rewritten headline.

Why it matters: Google tweaking titles is not new. They’ve cut headlines based on pixel width in search results, or cut headlines at/before punctuation (like a colon) before.

However, these AI-generated headlines could undermine efforts by editors to write titles that are accurate, enticing and properly reflect the reporting. As Lousia Frahm wrote on LinkedIn, if a headline’s meaning or accuracy is changed, the “long-term audience trust will be compromised.”

Google showing AI Overviews for breaking news queries

What happened: Industry expert Glenn Gabe reported seeing AI Overviews surfacing for breaking news queries. It appears to be happening more frequently, even pushing the Top Stories box down on SERPs.

The mobile SERP for the query “aj greer connor zary” surfaces an AI Overview, video carousel and “what people are saying” social panel. No top stories news box was visible.

The good news: Publisher links are very prominent in the AI summary, unlike earlier examples that did not have any citations.

The bad news: As clear in this example, publisher visibility on Google Search is decreasing by the moment, and since AIOs negatively impact click-through-rates, publishers will see fewer visitors from the platform.

Why it matters: In May 2025, Google’s own vice-president of news partnerships, Jaffer Zaidi, said at the WAN-IFRA World News Media Congress that AI Overviews are “purposefully not triggered for hard news queries.”

This meant publishers were safeguarded — or “safe-ish,” as friend of the newsletter Barry Adams put it — from the invasion of AI summaries in news-based results. And even back in 2024, Google said there were “strong guardrails” in place for news and health topics, saying AIO summaries wouldn’t surface for those terms.

This is now clearly not the case.

Screenshot from Press Gazette article that includes the comments from Zaidi that AIOs are “purposely not triggered for hard news queries.”

Some “soft news” queries were already triggering AIOs at a high level — especially those around evergreen or long-term news events like the Ukraine war. The increase in AIOs for new breaking news terms is another threat to publisher traffic.

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Search traffic is falling for some publishers, according to a Chartbeat study

What happened: Smaller publishers — those with less than 10,000 daily page views — are experiencing the biggest traffic declines in the era of AI, falling by as much as 60 per cent, a recent Chartbeat report found.

The study, which looked at broader trends with search, social and AI across 4,000+ sites, found a 6 per cent decline in 2025 from 2024 in the average number of weekly page views. (This is within the normal range for traffic fluctuation.)

Medium (10,000–100,000 daily page views) and large (more than 100,000 views) publishers have experienced traffic declines from traditional search engines at different rates.
Medium-sized sites fell 47 per cent, while large outlets fell 22 per cent. It’s likely this is due to higher direct traffic and brand awareness.

Why it matters: Publishers — especially small outlets — need to rely less on external platforms to deliver consistent traffic. Outlets need to build direct relationships with readers, prioritizing on-platform engagement.

Google responses to the CMA’s consultation on potential requirements for Search

What happened: In response to proposals put forward by the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Google said the company is working with the organization to ensure the Search requirements for the digital market rules promote “fairness and choice while protecting user experience.”

Google outlined three ways it can “best serve the British public”:

Keep Search results fair and useful: Google says it designed its ranking systems to show the most “relevant highest-quality results for your query,” and that some third-party proposals “could expose our systems, and thus our users, to manipulation and abuse.” Google says these proposals would make it harder to fight spam and slow down improvements.
Make it easy to choose your favourite services: Google says a frequent pop-up prompting users to choose their favourite search engine would be invasive. They propose a “less intrusive, permanent central switch” in the device’s settings.
Give publishers even greater control: Google maintains that “helping people web content remains central” to their approach. As a result, the company is developing further updates to the controls to let sites specifically opt-out of generative AI features in Search.

Why it matters: The requirements could set a precedent across the globe. Google is eager to get ahead of any impact on its market share, so indications that the company is willing to make adjustments to AI opt-out is extremely notable.

And while Google also said features like AI Overviews “make links to sources more prominent,” the user behaviour still does not encourage a click through to the publisher. These rules may impact how Google approaches links in AIOs.

Other Google news and updates

Mordy Oberstein: Google is testing a new “Google News Showcase” label in Discover. It’s similar to how Discover treats Twitter/X posts on the platform.
Matt G. Southern: Google is making AI Mode’s Personal Intelligence free for users in the United States.

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THE JOBS LIST

Audience or SEO jobs in journalism. Want to include a position for promotion? Email us.

The Athletic is hiring a Director, Data and Analytics (Remote).
Indiegraf is hiring a Publisher Success and Enablement Lead (Remote, B.C.).
The New Yorker is hiring a Senior Director of Audience Development and Analytics. (New York, N.Y.).
Warner Bros. Discovery is hiring a Director of Business Development (New York, N.Y.).
Bloomberg is hiring a U.S. Audience Editor (New York, N.Y.).

Even more recommended reading

🤖 Mike Anderson: “We improved keyword rankings for our blog by 34 per cent in 3 weeks.”
🗞️Benjamin Mullin, Erik Wemple and Katie Robertson: How Jeff Bezos upended The Washington Post.
🧩 Madeleine White: Spektrum’s evolution of audience segmentation and testing.
🚦Danny Goodwin: Yahoo’s CEO says the biggest threat to web traffic is AI Mode.
📓 Crystal Carter: What is prompt tracking?

What did you think of this week’s newsletter?

(Click to leave feedback.)

Catch up: Last week’s newsletter

Have something you’d like us to discuss? Send us a note on Twitter (Jessie or Shelby) or to our email: seoforjournalism@gmail.com.

Written by Jessie Willms and Shelby Blackley

Paywalls: Expert tips for technical and editorial SEO

WTF is SEO? — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 17:21:09 GMT

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100 Free Custom Prompts: Track queries across AI models without the price tag.
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Hello, and welcome back. Jessie and Shelby here, back from the INMA Subscriptions Summit in Toronto! Against a backdrop of AI and the changing Google ecosystem, we talked about whether or not SEO is still worth the investment (spoiler: we think it is!).

This week: Paywall SEO! We recently teamed up with Harry Clarkson-Bennett and Barry Adams for a masterclass on paywalls. The session was so insightful and informative that we’re sharing some of our favourite learnings. The full recording, slides and a tipsheet from the masterclass are also available for purchase (use WTF10 at the checkout for a discount).

Get our masterclass

Let’s get it.

THE HOW TO

Editorial strategy for paywalls

Paywalls can have a negative impact on your site because of engagement signals like Navboost (which takes into consideration users interaction data, like bounce rate when someone hits a paywall). Paywalled stories also have a shorter shelf life in Top Stories due to this.

Behaviourally, readers also learn which sites have paywalls and learn not to click. For these reasons, publishers must paywall content effectively and strategically.

Effective editorial SEO with a paywall is all about value: knowing what your readers want to know, but can’t find anywhere else.

Consider access rules that vary by channel. Readers who arrive from a high-intent platform like search should encounter more friction than those who arrive from social. Consider different rules for each section or desk, too (i.e., business and investing readers are more niche than entertainment readers, and may have a higher propensity to pay).

The paywall journey is essential. It’s how readers go from the first entry point of your brand to becoming a paid reader.

This could start with a free, non-gated piece of content, like a live blog or explainer. From that top-of-the-funnel piece, link to locked, high-value content (like The Athletic’s The Beast or The Globe and Mail’s Most Livable Cities projects). Linking from free to premium content drives people to consider value. It shows readers the breadth of your coverage, creates a second click, pushing them closer to converting.

News SEOs need to work with colleagues in product and engineering to ensure the registration CTAs are clear, effective and technically sound.

Testing is crucial. Test, test, test — and adjust your paywall strategy based on your learnings.

Get our masterclass

Technical considerations for paywalls

When it comes to technical SEO for paywalls, there are several considerations, including choosing the right way to implement the paywall (client- or serve-side) and having proper structured data.

There are two technical implementations for paywalls. They’re either client-side (in the browser via JavaScript) or server-side (in the server before the page loads for the reader).

Both options have upsides. Client-side rendering is easier to implement, whereas server-side implementation provides a watertight paywall to limit tech-savvy users trying to circumvent the gate.

However, they both have limitations, too. Server-side rendering is more challenging to implement and less flexible, while client-side rendering paywalls often have page speed and CLS issues. Ultimately, knowing what paywall to pick — and ensuring it is technically sound — is a subjective investment for your organization.

The most common issue with publisher paywalls is not having the correct structured data.

Publishers need to correctly use JSON-LD schema and proper CSS to mark paywalled content.

The attribute “isAccessibleForFree” needs to be set to “False”;
Pages must have a specific CSS selector (i.e., a tag like “premium-content”) to signal what sections are paywalled;

The correct implementation of this markup enables Google to properly crawl your content. Without it, the gate is less effective and could cause ranking issues.

Ask your technical SEO questions

The business case for paywalls

There are four primary reasons a publisher would implement a paywall: generate consistent revenue, allow for collection for first-party data, improve advertising value and force effective — sometimes ruthless — prioritization within an organization.

Paywalls are not about growing your readership. They are a value extraction tactic.

A paywall trades for known value. Reach can often be unreliable; some stories or months drive enormous traffic because of the news cycle, then drop off dramatically. The known value of paywall revenue is much more consistent. Trading scale for stability ensures publishers can build sustainable, long-term businesses.

Subscriber revenue is more valuable to publishers than any other stream because it is predictable, sustainable and less prone to platform fluctuations (like those on Google, Facebook, Twitter and countless other referrers).

While reach has long been a key metric for publications, a new, a custom north start metric can replace it and add a unique value for readers. The metric should include key pillars like content and subscription quality, retention and subscription growth, engagement and whether or not readers are developing a habitual relationship to your outlet.

However, this shift requires your outlet to think critically and provide real value in the lives of your readers.

Without that, people will not convert; or if they do convert, they will be more likely to churn.

Trade reach for revenue

The bottom line: How a paywall is implemented will vary among publishers and their business goals. News SEOs must ensure the paywall is technically sound — especially with the right structured data — and is supported by an effective editorial strategy built around the organization’s business goals.

#SPONSORED - The Classifieds

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THE JOBS LIST

Audience or SEO jobs in journalism. Want to include a position for promotion? Email us.

The Associated Press is hiring an Audience Data Strategist (New York, N.Y.).
The Times is hiring an Audience Editor (News and World) (London, U.K.).
The New York Times is hiring an Audience Editor (Washington, D.C.).
The Atlantic is hiring a Senior Associate Editor focused on Community (Washington, D.C.).

Ask a News SEO: Deborah Carver

WTF is SEO? — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 17:21:41 GMT

Hello, and welcome back. Jessie and Shelby here, back from busy weekends! Jessie spent equal time quilting and basking in the first sunshine of the season while Shelby got her annual haircut, removing more than six inches and a lot of baggage. Spring! We love her.

This week: Ask a News SEO with Deborah Carver! We talked about all the ways search is in flux, getting into the weeds of the pillars of brand building for publishers and the importance of social deep mining. Plus: why publishers need to focus on being more human.

Let’s get it.

THE INTERVIEW

WTF is SEO?: What are your thoughts on the state of search for publishers right now?

Deborah Carver: It is absolutely in flux, which is not something I would have said five years ago. I chose SEO over paid media in my career just because it’s slow. It doesn’t change quite as often — SEO changes over a course of about five years.

If you look at the history of what Google’s been doing, it’s not that it all follows in a trajectory, but the past three years have obviously been huge with chatbots coming onto the scene.

In the past year, at least personally, my search behaviour changed from Google-only to Google and Claude — as far as where I find information, like if I’m doing research for a client or writing a newsletter. I will often go to Claude to find some sources that Google’s not going to show me.

That’s the biggest advantage of chatbots: you can instruct them to ignore marketing websites and only show publisher websites.

There’s definitely this new added behaviour on top of all the other news behaviours that we have built over the past 20 years. But, none of the old behaviours are really going out of style. It’s just one more thing people are doing. This will change more, but it’s people who are information-seeking — like the typical news consumer — and curious. They’re going to more sources: a news feed, social feed, [Google] Discover or a chatbot. It’s not just going through the blue links [on Google].

As a publisher, having a clear brand will continue to be extremely important. The brand of the publisher itself seems to matter more than the general idea of journalism or publishing when people are trying to find trusted sources.

WTF is SEO?: Brand is something that we’ve talked a lot about. If you’re a publisher who wants to become a known brand on search and in the AI ecosystem, what are the pillars to invest in?

Deborah Carver: Having a consistent brand message that can last for years. Investing in that message and researching what will resonate with your audience. Having that message in all of the channels where you distribute content.

If I’m on Instagram and I see a Minnesota Public Radio post, I know it’s MPR because of the way it looks. That’s the physical branding. Then, the words that we use to describe our brands on About pages and [social] profiles. If a consumer is trying to find stable information, it is the same no matter what channel you’re looking on. You can adapt it for word counts and for social behaviour, but it’s mostly the same consistent message across the board. That’s number one.

Publishers want to jump on the newest thing. They want to be present in AI (although, I don’t know how many publishers are actually saying that); but they want to be present on this new channel. But then you forget that people still use your website every day. I don’t think there’s a day I haven’t gone to The New York Times since I was 25. I’m going to be in the nursing home like, “let me see the website.”

There are always going to be new ways of consuming information. But people — especially with news — like their habits. It’s about making sure that we’re not jumping on new things that alienate our existing audience, because that audience is the best representative of our brand.

The best kind of referral is word of mouth. Links are great, but it really is the audience perception of your brand. What do they do and who do you not want to lose?

One of the things that happened with The Washington Post is they changed their brand entirely and alienated their existing audience base that they’d just spent a lot of money gathering.

Be consistent and empathetic to the fact that your audience of news consumers are often really busy people trying to find information. Make sure you’re not losing that audience with new channels. Show your audience what’s most important and make sure that’s coming through on all channels.
News brands need to be very attentive to the fact that there is so much information. We’re all trapped in our algorithmic feeds and it’s up to news publishers to counter that.

I think publishers being a stable source of truth and a stable brand — that’s the long play.

That comes from consistency, listening to what your audience needs and structuring your content so your audience can understand that you’re acting in their best interest and not in the algorithm’s best interest.

WTF is SEO?: How does listening to your readers fit into the bigger audience strategy?

Deborah Carver: I do a lot of social listening and UX [user experience] research for brands. For audience research and social listening, you want it to be triangulated in some way.

Having focus group interviews with audience members and stakeholders once a year to ensure audience perception aligns with stakeholder goals is really critical.

I still do a lot of search listening and mining for my clients. I deep-dive into Google Ads data to see how search terms are changing around broader trends. I look at how people are finding a website via Google Search Console and identify other iterations of those keywords to understand not only how people find the site, but how they are interacting with news.

I’m a big fan of Google Trends for up-to-the-minute info and to monitor the conversation to see what has changed in an anonymous, aggregated way.

While eavesdropping on social media is great, having that anonymous data from Google provides more grounding. Social media conversation is very of the moment, whereas keyword data reveals the things people wouldn’t necessarily say in public. You search for things you don’t post on social media because you’re trying to figure out what is going on.

I’ve worked with the Google Ads API for a long time, and I find it often provides better, more grounded data than some of the standard trend tools.

WTF is SEO?: What are examples of things publishers are doing well right now?

Deborah Carver: I’m going to use Minnesota examples because news here has been extremely important to our daily survival.

Local publishers have done well ensuring their headlines align first with the facts, and then with the trends. It’s about making sure the “truthiness” stands out. If you are a news consumer looking for unbiased, classic journalism reporting, you can find it. It aligns with the natural way people search: “I need to find these facts because they’re affecting me right now.”

The stability of truth remains when there’s a lot of other noise and information out there. Our communities in Minnesota are linking to each other; that’s worked for finding information. News sites like Sahan Journal, Minnesota Reformer and Racket are collecting each other’s good information and shouting out each other’s stories. They’re working together to create an information environment. It’s a huge differentiator and a way to surface information that is not dependent on an algorithmic feed.

The biggest opportunities right now are understanding who your audience is and how they want to find your information.

That may not align with everything we’re hearing as far as AI trends. But, you need to have a good assessment of your data and the data that your company owns — not what everybody else is saying.

Finally, having a good user experience. Make your site more reliable than Google AI Overviews. Make it a stable source of truth. Look at your website’s search experience, too. Are people finding the information that they need? Can you make it better? Are they searching for things that they’re not finding?

It is a relatively small percentage of users [using the internal search function], but it can diagnose some pretty large problems.

WTF is SEO?: What do you think is the biggest challenge going forward for publishers?

Deborah Carver: Balancing understanding who your audience is and who your audience could be.

Not just digital signals, but also mixing those with human signals. Maintain that brand along with a very authentic social network, where competing news publications within the ecosystem also support one another. It is a social network of sorts where the community works together to support good information.

News publishers are finding the ways to create those networks. That’s a bigger opportunity than trying to show up in AI search all the time. We’re in an era where there’s so much technology. It’s time to be more human. Finding community is what keeps you rooted and that’s what keeps readers coming back.

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THE JOBS LIST

Audience or SEO jobs in journalism. Want to include a position for promotion? Email us.

NBCUniversal is hiring a Senior Manager, SEO & AI Search Strategy (New York, N.Y.)

What is podcast SEO?

WTF is SEO? — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 18:21:26 GMT

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🚨 Last call: Join our paywall masterclass!

THIS WEEK: Our masterclass on paywalls with Barry Adams (Polemic Digital) and Harry Clarkson-Bennett (Leadership in SEO Substack) is happening!

Spots are limited. Use the code WTF10 for a discount! Join us on March 4!

Save your spot NOW!

Hello, and welcome back. Shelby here, back from a wonderful birthday weekend filled with all of my favourite things: food, family, friends, reading, my corgi Yoshi and beer. And, a little heartburn. But truly, I am feeling more grateful than ever for my life. What more can I ask for?

This week: Podcast SEO 101. As news consumption habits evolve, how we optimize content — across text, video and audio — for audiences to find it easier changes, too. We explain the basics of podcast SEO, why it’s important and key considerations. Keep an eye out for the 102 issue where we dive further into tactics.

A very calm pod POV. Credit: Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

Let’s get it.

THE 101

What is podcast SEO?

Podcast SEO is exactly what it sounds like. It’s optimizing podcast episodes and content for visibility in search engines and podcast directories like Apple and Spotify. It includes enhancing episode titles and descriptions, creating additional content, linking between those articles, improving host bios and recirculating episodes.

While optimizing podcast content for traditional organic search is vital, podcast SEO requires a multi-platform approach. You must think about all places people listen to their shows, including platforms like Spotify and YouTube, as well as on-site.

Why is podcast SEO important?

Put simply: news consumption habits have changed — and podcasts have never been more popular.

According to a November 2025 survey, 32.5 million people in the United States listened to podcasts on Spotify, while Apple had 28.5 million podcast listeners throughout the year. According to another early 2025 survey, 66 per cent of Americans aged 12 to 34 reported listening to a podcast the previous month. This is up from 59 per cent in 2024.

Google recognizes — and is adapting to — this behaviour change, too. In 2019, Google announced it would surface podcast episodes that were playable directly in search results. It was a shift, as previously podcasts could only rank like any other content in blue links.

In a mobile query for the podcast, “The Athletic Football Show”, videos from YouTube also surface as well as a blue links.

Google continued to shift towards other non-text formats, surfacing TikTok clips and YouTube videos in Search. In recent years, algorithm updates have prioritized non-text content, with these formats receiving a massive surge in visibility.

According to Trisolute News Dashboard’s mobile visibility report in late February 2026, youtube.com, instagram.com and reddit.com were among the top four sites in all ranking types. YouTube and Instagram’s rankings are predominantly video types.

Trisolute News Dashboard’s mobile visibility report.

Trisolute News Dashboard’s mobile visibility report

The “Video Box” feature consistently had 11 per cent of visibility on mobile SERPs. This means non-text formats, which includes video and audio podcasts, are more visible and prevalent.

Podcasts are not just audio entities; they can be text (transcript), video (the recording) and audio (the podcast itself). A 2022 Edison Research study found that podcast audiences listen to their favourite shows on multiple platforms. The top destination? YouTube.

As a result, podcast SEO is extremely important to publisher success both on and off traditional search engines.

THE HOW TO

What should I do right now for podcast SEO?

In a later issue, we’ll dive into the tactics to implement a holistic, multi-platform approach for optimizing podcast content.

For now, start by auditing the podcasts your publication provides and review their current state — for all platforms. Collect that data/information all in one place. Review internal data for podcasts as well as Google Search Console, and look at keyword research tools to determine which podcasts are currently getting traffic and from where. Then, move off-site and look at YouTube, Apple and Spotify metrics to get a 360-degree view of the performance.

The most successful podcast SEO doesn’t just focus on podcast platforms; it’s everything else. How are you promoting podcasts in social clips? Is it linked in from text-based content? Do on-site podcast pages have the appropriate structured data? Should the podcast have an on-site transcript?

What if my publisher has a ton of podcasts? It’s important to consider the breadth of your podcast library, and which resonate with your audience the most. It’s absolutely possible to optimize all podcast shows and their episodes, but will take a lot of effort. Be judicious with which shows and hosts are worth your time. Consider E.E.A.T and topic authority for your brand when considering where to start.

For example, The Athletic’s football podcast is a mainstay of the brand. The Athletic Football Show was amongst the first shows to launch, has the brand in the title and has a devoted audience. Optimizing this podcast to start is smart.

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The bottom line: Podcast SEO is a crucial component of the overall publisher audience strategy. If your publication provides podcasts, it’s important to consider where they are most popular and how the audience finds them. In a later issue, we’ll discuss the best practices for optimizing podcast content.

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Join our paywall masterclass happening March 4!

Our masterclass on paywalls with Barry Adams (Polemic Digital) and Harry Clarkson-Bennett (Leadership in SEO Substack) is happening soon!

Use the code WTF10 for a discount!

Save your spot NOW!

What is Google's Preferred Sources?

WTF is SEO? — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 18:21:20 GMT

Hello, and welcome back. Jessie here, back from a week of crushing hockey-related losses for us Canadians — but, also sewing lots on a new quilted jackets project. You win some, you lose some. The good news: both involved snacks and good pals.

This week: A look at Google’s Preferred Sources feature, a clear shift toward personalization on search that also offers publishers an opportunity to build audience loyalty. We explain what it is, how it works and why it’s just a small piece of the audience engagement strategy.

Community call: Thanks to the ~50 people who joined our 2026 winter Community Call! Check out the recording of the call and transcript of the conversation.

#SPONSORED

Last call: Join our paywall masterclass!

Our masterclass on paywalls with Barry Adams (Polemic Digital) and Harry Clarkson-Bennett (Leadership in SEO Substack) is happening soon!

Use the code WTF10 for a discount!

Learn the fundamentals for the technical side of implementing and optimizing a paywall;
Understand how to build a successful commercial strategy for monetizing your site;
Know how to structure, surface and optimize paywalled content to continue to reach search (and other off-platform) audiences.

PLUS: All attendees get access to a private Slack channel with all speakers to ask unlimited questions.

Join us on March 4!

Save your spot NOW!

THE 101

What is the Preferred Sources feature?

In August 2025, Google rolled out a new personalization feature for organic search results called Preferred Sources. At the time, Google’s Duncan Osborn called it a way for users to “stay up to date on the latest content from the sites you follow and subscribe to.”

It is a subtle shift toward increased personalization and user-controlled curation in Google’s ecosystem.

Preferred Sources is available globally for English-language search queries that trigger a Top Stories box. It is also only available for domain-level and subdomain-level sites (i.e., newssite.com or canada.newssite.com, but not subfolder (i.e., newssite.com/hockeyblog).

Google will often surface a dedicated “From your Sources” box populated exclusively by websites the user has preferred. Publishers can appear in both the traditional Top Stories box and “From your Sources” on the same query (like below).

For the search term “trump tariffs,” The Globe and Mail — which is set as my preferred source — appears in both Top Stories and the From your sources box.

Why does Preferred Sources matter?

With the increased visibility of AI on search and zero-click features threatening the ranking opportunities on Google Search, Preferred Sources is a welcome addition to help sites increase their visibility and build audience loyalty.

For users, it’s a way to get more of what they like — and less of what they don’t — on search.

The path to long-term success as a publisher continues to be a focus on building a loyal on-site audience of readers who engage with and actively seek out your content.

Preferred Sources is just one tactic within the broader audience engagement portfolio to build loyalty.

Retention tactics like newsletters, push notifications, regular popular franchises/series episodes, as well as off-site efforts like increasing followers on Apple News, YouTube optimization, or podcasts are all crucial. This is a small but helpful tactic for publishers to employ.

How Preferred Sources works

Google’s Source preference directory page, where users can select sites they want to see more often.

When users select a publication from the “Source preferences” directory, it makes those sites more likely to appear in their Top Stories when it has a page relevant to the query. There’s no limit to the number of sites a user can select, and users will continue to see content from other websites.

Users can also add a source directly from search results, by clicking the icon (next to the Top Stories label) and choosing from the search box.

Users can add a source from the pop up.

To access the feature, users must be logged in; for logged-out users, there’s a “Sign in to customize” prompt next to the Top Stories label. It appears that ‘Sign in to customize’ language was added earlier this month.

Google is encouraging users to sign in for further customizations to their search results.

THE 201

What to make of Preferred Sources

To make use of Preferred Sources, the first step is alerting readers to the existence of the feature and encouraging them to add your publication.

This can be done as an article on-site (like the Wired, Guardian and Strategist example below), along with messaging in newsletters and on social media (for example, creating and pinning a post on X, Instagram, Reddit and Bluesky). This promotional content should also include a direct call to action with a link.

Many websites have written ‘How to add us as a preferred source’ articles including Wired, The Guardian and NYMag.

Consider asking known authors — key columnists or top editors — to promote the feature on their own social media platforms, too (as the EIC of the Toronto Star has below).

The Toronto Star’s editor-in-chief posted a LinkedIn message explaining how readers can employ the feature.

Many websites have also added Add or Follow buttons directly on the article page template. Adding the follow link in the website footer could also be useful.

It’s inconclusive how effective these articles are at converting readers. People are not searching “How to make XSITE my preferred source on Google.” Instead, the primary driver is more likely to be that in-article CTA prompt. Google has guidance on this functionality.

The Guardian (left) and Tom’s Guide (right) have ‘Add us’ buttons on article pages or in the footer of their website.

Google has not provided an easy way to track the number of users who currently prefer your website. It’s also not possible to filter in Google Search Console for the number of views that arrived because a user clicked from a preferred site placement.

In August 2025, Google was asked about analytics for the feature. In response, Rajan Patel, the vice-president of engineering for Google Search, said, “We’re looking into this.”

However, sites can track the number of clicks to on-page prompts and articles.

The bottom line: Preferred Sources is an off-site tactic engagement tactic. But ultimately, it is just that: a tactic. Implement it as part of a wider brand- and audience-building strategy which aims to drive loyalty to your publication.

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#SPONSORED - The Classifieds

Last call: Sign up for our masterclass on paywalls. On March 4, join our paywall class with Barry Adams (Polemic Digital) and Harry Clarkson-Bennett (Leadership in SEO Substack)!

Save your spot NOW!

THE JOBS LIST

Audience or SEO jobs in journalism. Want to include a position for promotion? Email us.

Rumble is hiring an two SEO Editors (Dortmund, Germany).

Google news and updates

WTF is SEO? — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 18:21:06 GMT

Hello, and welcome back. Jessie and Shelby here, back from a truly frigid weekend in Toronto. We know, we know: Canada. But even Canadian Cold should have limits, and those limits should be above -30°C! To combat, Jessie worked on her crochet puff blanket (yes, still!), and caught up on important indoor activities like napping. Shelby is knee-deep in the Winter Olympics and has watched like, 70 hours of curling in four days. There’s no stopping us.

This week: Time for some Google news and search updates! It’s been a minute since we recapped Google’s shenanigans. We’ve got the latest tomfoolery, including a Discover-only core update, as well as changes to AI Mode and AI Overviews. In non-Google news: Yahoo Scout, research from Sparktoro and the latest on Canada-Meta talks.

🕞 Reminder: Catch our discussion on AI and search on February 11 at 11 a.m. ET, in partnership with Trisolute News Dashboard! Ask a question now!
🔥 Register now! Our paywall class with Barry Adams and Harry Clarkson-Bennett is happening on March 4 at 11 a.m. ET! Join us!

Ah, a fresh Google tab — more exciting and enticing than the 200+ tabs I already have open! Credit: Photo by Firmbee.com on Unsplash

Let’s get it.

THE UPDATES

Google’s February 2026 core update

What it is: Google’s first core update of 2026 is out — but this one is Discover only. Google said the update prioritizes the discoverability of locally-relevant content based on a user’s country, while devaluing and reducing “sensational and clickbait” articles in the platform. It also said the update will show more “in-depth, original and timely content from websites with expertise in a given area, based on our systems’ understanding of a site’s content.”

Why it matters: This is Google’s first core update solely directed at Discover, and seems to target some of the biggest complaints in the industry, including the increase in spam content. It also emphasizes original content, which bodes well for publishers. Anticipate more volatility in the coming weeks as this rolls out.

Yahoo launches AI answer engine Yahoo Scout

What it is: Yahoo Inc. officially debuted its own AI-powered answer engine, Yahoo Scout, now available in beta. Yahoo says it is built off of “over 30 years of history in search,” and uses its own proprietary data to power its answers. Yahoo also launched the Yahoo Scout Intelligence Platform, which brings together all of the AI capabilities in Yahoo’s systems to power smart features such as:

AI summaries in Yahoo Mail;
Game breakdowns in Yahoo Sports;
Key takeaways in Yahoo News;
AI research and comparison in Yahoo Shopping;
Analysis and market features in Yahoo Finance;
Comment summaries for select articles on the Yahoo homepage.

Why it matters: AI is now fully integrated in the Yahoo experience. Like Google, Yahoo has found ways to input its own, independently owned LLM into everything it offers. Early testing has also found that Yahoo Scout does a much better job with attribution and citing publishers, a positive sign for news outlets.

What else? After the competitor’s launch, Google’s AI features seemed to have attribution in some answers. It’s unclear when this began or if this was a direct result of Yahoo’s launch.

Google AI Overviews jump some users directly to AI Mode

What it is: Google is now moving users who ask follow up questions in AI Overview directly into AI Mode. When users on mobile click the “Show more” button in the response on AI Overviews, Google overlays the AI Mode prompt on search results (with the option to click back to organic search results). The search giant said this change is meant to make “the transition to a conversation even more seamless.”

Gemini 3 is also the new default model for AIO globally, Google said.

Why it matters: This is a clear push toward AI Mode as the default experience, with the need for users to click greatly diminished. Google is actively (and perhaps aggressively) pushing users further into its own ecosystem instead of to publisher sites.

Also: Google may give sites a way to opt out of AI

What it is: Google is exploring ways to give sites the opportunity to prevent their content from being featured in Search AI generative features. This is based on new requirements out of the U.K. from the Competition and Markets Authority, that businesses have control over how their information is used in Search, are competing for fair rankings and that Google makes it easier for businesses to make use of their search data.

What this means: These requirements will set a precedent for what happens in the United States, Google’s biggest market. It’s unclear when these new controls are coming, but many publishers and site owners have long called for more autonomy, so this is a welcomed change.

AI results are highly inconsistent when recommending: Sparktoro research

What the research says: New research from Sparktoro’s Rand Fishkin’s shows AI-powered tools are inconsistent when recommending brands and products. Starting with a hypothesis that AI tracking for brand visibility is pointless because user prompts are so varied, the results produced “randomized lists of recommendations.” Testing the same prompts across ChatGPT, Claude and Google AI, Sparktoro’s study showed that recommendation lists for brands/products varied widely in format, order and the number of items listed.

The conclusion? “Measuring your brand’s presence in AI answers with precision is a fool’s errand.” Rand went on to explain that visibility percentage (%) — a measure of appearances of a brand “across dozens or hundreds of runs of the same prompt” — can be a valid metric. It tells you how common your entity is within the AI’s consideration set, the research says.

Why it matters: AI tracking can be quite expensive. Companies could be wasting a significant portion of their budget for inaccurate data.

Canada willing to talk to Meta about return of news to Facebook

As a reminder: Bill C-18 (the Online News Act), which became law in 2023, is legislation that attempts to make tech giants like Meta and Google pay Canadian publishers for content on their platforms. In response, Meta blocked access to news on its platforms in Canada (Google and the Canadian government made a deal to avoid the same fate).

What’s happening now: Under Prime Minister Mark Carney, the federal government signalled it is willing to discuss having news return to Facebook, as part of wider trade negotiations with the U.S. administration set to begin this summer.

The U.S. considers Bill C-18 to be a trade irritant (because it treats American companies unfairly) and wants it reviewed. Canada’s culture minister said the country is “flexible” to changes, but won’t allow the U.S. to dictate the terms of the agreement.

What’s next: The Canada-U.S. talks are set to begin in July, the substance of which is unlikely to be public. Publishers can only wait and see.

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THE JOBS LIST

Audience or SEO jobs in journalism. Want to include a position for promotion? Email us.

The Economist is hiring Audience fellows for 2026 (London, UK).

EVEN MORE RECOMMENDED READING

🚥 Nieman Lab: The Providence Journal saw its web traffic soar 279% at the end of 2025.
📃 Jono Alderson: A page is more than just a container for words
👏 Laura Hazard Owen for th Neiman Lab: 37+ things The Washington Post did wrong and 22+ things they could do to fix it
🤔 Lily Ray: Is Google finally cracking down on self-promotional listicles?
🤦 Matt Southern: Google’s John Mueller calls markdown-for-bots idea ‘stupid.’
🤖 Barry Schwartz: Microsoft Publishers Content Marketplace expands to give publishers a new revenue stream.
📁 Matt Southern: Google (quietly) updates Googlebot file size limit docs.

What did you think of this week’s newsletter?

(Click to leave feedback.)

Catch up: Last week’s newsletter

Have something you’d like us to discuss? Send us a note on Twitter (Jessie or Shelby) or to our email: seoforjournalism@gmail.com.

Written by Jessie Willms and Shelby Blackley

Join our winter AI community call [together with Trisolute]

WTF is SEO? — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 18:21:30 GMT

Hello, WTF is SEO? community!

Mark your calendars! We are thrilled to invite you to our next community call discussion hosted by your pals, Jessie and Shelby from WTF is SEO?, in partnership with Trisolute News Dashboard!

We’re diving into AI and search! Here’s what we’ll be covering:

What are the biggest threats publishers face in an AI world?
What are the key tactics to consider?
What are publishers doing in response to AI? And how are they making use of AI internally?

Join us for a lively conversation about the future of search!

Attendees are encouraged to bring questions.

Here are the details for the panel:

Date: February 11, 2026
Time: 11 a.m ET / 4 p.m. GMT
Host Time Zone: Eastern - New York/Toronto

How to join us on Google Meet:

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/iob-fmja-zjc

ALSO!

We’re thrilled to partner with Trisolute News Dashboard, a widely used tool in the news SEO community, for this panel!

The Trisolute News Dashboard is THE best-in-class, award-winning news SEO tool serving online news publishers since 2012. We demystify the news SEO universe and increase publishers’ visibility with near-real-time data and actionable insights while helping to build search authority on Google News, SERPs and Discover.

Please note: By attending this event, you agree to make your name available to Trisolute.

Please reply directly to this email if you have any questions.

Your pals in news SEO,

Jessie and Shelby

Recommended reading before the panel

Have something you’d like us to discuss? Send us a note on Twitter (Jessie or Shelby) or to our email: seoforjournalism@gmail.com.

Written by Jessie Willms and Shelby Blackley

Are we freaking out about AI too much? Let’s discuss

WTF is SEO? — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 18:21:29 GMT

#SPONSORED

Paywall masterclass with WTF is SEO?

We’re pleased to present the third workshop in our series of WTF is SEO? masterclass calls on paywalls!

Join us on March 4 for a masterclass on paywall SEO for publishers. Jessie Willms and Shelby Blackley (WTF is SEO?), Barry Adams (Polemic Digital), and Harry Clarkson-Bennett (Leadership in SEO) will lead attendees through 2 hours of paywall tactics and strategies.

The first 10 people to register for this masterclass get a FREE tote bag!

In this session, attendees will:

Learn the fundamentals for the technical side of implementing and optimizing a paywall;
Understand how to build a successful commercial strategy for monetizing your site;
Know how to structure, surface and optimize paywalled content to continue to reach search (and other off-platform) audiences.

Attendees also receive lifetime access to the masterclass slides, a tip sheet, a recording of the call along with a transcript, and a private Slack channel with the experts and other students.

Hello, and welcome back. Jessie and Shelby here, back from another snowy weekend in Canada. You’d think that after 50cm, sub-negative temperatures, frozen pipes and sleeping with three blankets, we’d be over this… well, we are. Is it spring yet

🎂 ALSO: Today, February 2, marks exactly five years since we officially started this newsletter. What started as a fever dream — a resource we both desperately wished we had early in our journalism careers — is now a whole community of audience editors across the globe working to better serve their readers. We’ve likely sent more than 2,000 newsletters in those five years, and yet every one gives us the butterflies. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for being here.

This week: We sat down with Barry Adams, technical news SEO expert and friend of the newsletter, to talk about the current state of news SEO. We discuss what publishers need to consider in this crazy time, as well as the very important question: Are we freaking out too much, or just enough?

🎉 Register now! Our winter 2026 community call will be February 11 at 11:00 a.m. ET, for a session on AI and search. Be sure to ask a question!

Let’s get it.

THE CONVERSATION

The below conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Shelby Blackley: So, friends, let’s start here: Are publishers freaking out too much, or the right amount about AI right now?

Barry Adams: With some exceptions, I know publishers who are pushing forward quite level-headedly, and those generally are the publishers who have been doing things correctly. The last few years, they’ve been focused on building quality journalism. Good authority signals loyal audiences. They’re not really freaking out. They’re looking at it with like, one eye, one eyebrow raised, saying, “Google, this isn’t nice,” but they’re not suffering from existential dread or anything like that.

Whereas publishers who’ve had bad habits over the years — and let’s be honest, there’s quite a few of those — are concerned. And rightfully so, because no matter how much people have been saying, “don’t do clickbait. Don’t write just for clicks. Don’t chase after the algorithm,” publishers have been still doing that because it kept working.

And now, AI is really putting the final nails in its coffin. You don’t write for clicks anymore. With the exception of Google Discover — that’s an entirely different kind of door I’m not going to open right now — the era of clickbait is well and truly dead.

Publishers that are only now making the shift to actually doing brand authority focused journalism are going to have a hard time. There’s a lot of catching up to do.

So, I understand the panic from that point of view. But, if it took for this for you to change course, you haven’t been paying attention the last few years, and probably since 2018 really, when the trend first started emerging. Google was narrowing the space for news in search results then.

So, yeah, they are freaking out too much. But, some of the freakout is justified, but it’s also a little bit too late.

Shelby Blackley: A lot of the publishers that I’ve been speaking to — or even just people that work in news — have been noticing for years those outlets that encroached on their spaces just to get clicks. Writing spammy content that’s not necessarily in their wheelhouse. There are sports publications that were writing, “what time is the Oscars?” and doing really well. Now, they’re being knocked out, or they’re experiencing spam alerts and manual actions.

It’s interesting to me that some publishers think the answer to AI is that slop — that content that is just answering those questions. And I’m so curious what you think, Barry, about that. Because, yes, I’ve seen some publishers really hunker down on brand authority, but then there’s this selective group of publishers that are still going after the slop.

Barry Adams: I understand why they do that, because it’s sort of like the tactics available if you want to optimize for citations and LLMs. But, I think if you’re a content-driven website that relies on traffic for your monetization, you do not want to optimize for LLMs. The effort you put into that does not yield the reward you get. If you’re lucky, a single-digit percentage of your traffic is from an LLM — usually a fraction of a percent.

You can play some mental gymnastics to justify that — we get brand mentions, brand salience, or visibility high in the funnel. But you’re not selling a fucking product, you’re selling content. So you need people to read that content on your website. Optimizing for LLMs means people will read your content, but not on your website — it will read it in the LLMs. Why the fuck would you want to do that? It makes no sense to me.

If you’re e-commerce, yes, optimize for LLMs. Go for it. Maximize that, because people will start e-commerce journeys by asking a chatbot a question. You need to be in there.

But, if your monetization depends on people visiting your website, optimizing for LLMs is probably the stupidest thing you could possibly do. There are way better uses of your resources and efforts than trying to chase after the LLM algorithms, which — by the way — are painfully simplistic and very spam prone. If you think the answer to your woes is creating more spam, guess what? You’re going to have a very bad time.

Jessie Willms: That’s such a great I wish we did Shorts, because that quote would have been a perfect Short.

I wanted to ask you, Barry, because I think that in some newsrooms, there are higher-ups and senior managers that are making decisions about strategy, and then there are the people who are actually responsible for implementing that strategy.

If you are an audience or SEO editor and one of your core tasks is to find trending stories to write up – at the expense of putting in the time on bigger, longer term investments – how do you make the editorial case to focus on the longer term strategy? How do you steer the ship towards topic authority building, demonstrating E.E.A.T and all those things.

Second to that, if you do have to keep doing quick hits for traffic, is there a way to make that work towards longer-term efforts?

Barry Adams: I’ll tackle the first question. I do sympathize with SEO editors and journalists who are caught in that dilemma, where they know they’re doing something that doesn’t benefit their employer in the long term, but there is a very immediate, short-term requirement for it. I say, you gotta just do what the boss asks you to, because you know, we live in a capitalist society, but be sure to document it. And push back a little bit and ask, “what KPIs am I being judged against here and and who is responsible for actually fulfilling those KPIs?” Because it shouldn’t be you, or you shouldn’t be forced to write spam for clicks.

We have to play a different kind of Google game by different rules. We can’t just go down the spam route. Try to point at the data and point at the numbers [for meaningful content]. Make sure it’s meaningful data, not just numbers pulled from thin air, like, “we got mentioned in ChatGPT 17 times for this prompt.” A meaningful number that will help reach the business goals.This helps create clarity.

And you don’t need to be a manager for that. You can just ask your manager, “what are the KPIs, both short- term and long-term?” And if it’s a KPI you don’t agree with, you need to make sure that it’s in writing as well. You will still do your damndest to fulfill that KPI, but now it’s documented. Leaders don’t necessarily have the answers for it, but at least it makes them think about it a bit more, rather than just hop on a panic bandwagon and say, “we need to do this.”

Now, if you do write that content, and you’re trying to satisfy the case and build E.E.A.T signals, that’s quite hard to do. But you have to sort of justify it for yourself. Cite sources. Link out to sources, reputable ones. Try to use phrasings that sit in that curiosity gap middle, but aren’t quite clickbait. You can actually achieve quite a lot with headlines that aren’t overtly spam, especially if you combine them with really good images that people won’t scroll past and be enticed to click on.

The article itself doesn’t have to be spam. You can still get the click if you have a good headline and a good image to go with it, and the article itself can actually be high quality. Also, don’t be afraid to put your name on it. The authorship part of E.E.A.T plays a role, and you might feel a little bit of shame of writing this content, but at the same time, if it’s a very high performing article for your publisher, you will be very happy your name is on it.

Work within the constraints that you’re given, and inject as much quality, originality and authority in the article as you can, while still fulfilling the needs that your senior manager places on you.

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Shelby Blackley: I want to come back really quick to the first part that you said, which was a great point. It’s something happening with us [at The Athletic] and a lot of other publications. We’re having these internal conversations of, “how does AI fit into our workflows, or how does AI fit into our world?” And there have been these questions from leadership of how that looks, and we’ve been having, I guess, more frank conversations and pushing back if it doesn’t make sense. We want to make it useful, not just “we use AI for the sake of AI.”

One of the things that some of my reports have been doing is having frank conversations with me, asking those exact questions. “What is the point of this? What are the KPIs the company is looking at? How does The Athletic envision this?”

I think that’s really important to have those conversations even with your managers, but I think that’s something that a lot of publishers are struggling with right now. We do this a lot — and I always come back to this example of 2017 Facebook Live and the tablet era. We’re always in an arms race for the big next thing.

We always want to be the publisher that gets to it first, or is experimenting with it first. But it’s also extremely important for publishers to know how it fits into their worlds. And if it doesn’t, that’s okay.

And to your earlier point, keep the status quo on search. Barry, you posted something yesterday that, like, SEO traffic is actually only down 2.5 per cent overall. Like, that’s actually quite small.

Barry Adams: Yeah, news publishers are hit a bit harder. If you look at the industries specifically, news and publishing is down 11 per cent. Interestingly, traffic to media companies — and that includes the likes of CNN, Fox News, the channels that have a TV channel first and foremost news on the website as a secondary product — is up.

We can’t hide from the fact that news is experiencing a traffic decline again. But, I’m hearing things behind the scenes, that there’s quite a few news publishers who don’t see that same downward trend. And again, from what I’m hearing, those tend to be the ones who are doing things the right way and haven’t been chasing after clicks.

I’ve made this point a dozen times and I’ll do it again — there are too many publishers out there who are quite forgettable, quite undifferentiated from their direct competitors. For example, I work with publishers in a specific sports niche — I will not say which one that is — but I have to sometimes check what website I’m on by looking at the logo, because they look so similar, and they do everything the same. Like, okay, which am I looking at? And if you have five of those websites and four of them disappear, nobody would really notice except the people who work for them.

You need to build a bit of a connection on your website so that you will more likely be clicked on. People might even follow you on Google Discover if that feature is available to them. They might go directly to your website and circumvent the intermediary of the search ecosystem. But if you don’t do that, if you don’t have anything unique — and there’s a lot of websites out there in all kinds of different spaces that just don’t have anything that differentiates them — why are you in business in the first place?

You’re not really there to create quality journalism. You’re there to make money, and that’s not the sort of objective Google wants to associate with journalism. Ironically, even though journalism does need to make money, publishers put monetization first and journalism second. That, too, is a theme I’ve seen since 2018. You’ve got to put the cart at the back of the horse and say, we need to start with journalism and then find out how to monetize it.

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Jessie Willms: I think there’s a lot to unpack there. There are a lot of sites that seem to be examples of a “just flood the zone with content” strategy.

But, if you’re not in leadership, and you look at the organization that you’re working for and you recognize, “we’re doing a lot of generic content,” I’m wondering, how do you build up a strategy away from generic to distinctive.

Do you look at your Google Search Console data and say, “we are ranking well for these five topics. Let’s build those out as our initial pillars, and then sort of figure out how we strategize a content plan around those five pillars, eventually leading to a monetization strategy.” Or do you take a different tack?

Barry Adams: I take a different tack. Quoting my good friend Andi Jarvis, who is a marketing strategy consultant, his mantra is, “talk to your customers.”

I don’t think publishers talk to their customers. Sometimes, I think many publishers don’t realize who their actual customers are, because they think their advertisers are the customers. They see their readers as their product, and the advertisers as their customers. I understand why. I understand the economics of that strategic perspective. But it’s also entirely wrong and a recipe for colossal disaster.

Your readers are your customers, your readers are your audience, your readers are the most cherished thing you can have as a publisher. You need to talk to your readers. “What do you want from us? What do you like about us? What don’t you like about us? What can we do better?” Have those conversations. They don’t necessarily need to be the guiding principle of your strategy, but it can influence your strategy and serve as a very important data point or multiple data points.

Do it regularly. Check back in. A lot of publishers have this internal perception of what they are to their readers that doesn’t necessarily align with what their readers actually think the publisher is. You’ve got to align with that a little bit better and use that as the first touch point.

Then, you look at Search Console. What kind of topics are doing well? You can look at Discover data as well, and what kind of headlines really work well. But that’s more of a tactical thing. That’s not a strategic thing. That’s more about maximizing tactics on a strategic level. You need to understand what you want to be and what you currently are, and how to get there. And I don’t think you can do that in the right way if you don’t talk to your readers — the actual consumers of your content.

Jessie Willms: How you make a real business out of journalism is definitely a trend that we’ve seen in 2025 and looking ahead to 2026. Let’s talk about what we think is going to happen in this space for the year ahead.

Shelby Blackley: Especially working for a sports publication, this is a really big year for me. There’s still a lot of opportunity in search, especially publications that are going to be in these big events [the Olympics and World Cup]. These are not only sports events — but they’re international events that are going to literally affect the entire world. With geopolitical news, there’s a lot of things that are at play that not only affects sports publications, but almost every other publication.

So in my opinion, I think there’s a lot of opportunity for publications to get back to what they’re really well known for. Cover these moments in a way that is live, on-the-ground, detailed coverage. With the move to higher content production, publications are writing with their bums in their seats versus being in front of the action. There are also a lot of live events that could really benefit publications if they can get in front of it beyond just the game — covering the scenes in a live blog, including the impact, covering what’s happening with these athletes, especially because these Olympics are so geographically weird too.

There’s just so much more at play. It’s a really exciting year for publishers if they’re not afraid to take chances. But a lot of news outlets are afraid of taking those chances and potentially seeing a loss, but that’s also how you find something that’s really going to work for you.

Barry Adams: Yes. The one thing that AI can’t duplicate is live coverage. They can summarize it after the fact, but they can’t do it live on the ground. That is a differentiator — that is unassailable for the human touch.

I also think the AI bubble is going to burst in 2026 rather than later. (Shelby: ME TOO!) I hope that will bring a bit more sanity to the discussions at the upper echelons of publishers and any other business out there. AI is powerful, absolutely. But I don’t think it’s the world-changing paradigm that the Silicon Valley tech bros have been saying it is. It’s a really interesting tool, but it’s not going to make humans redundant on any meaningful scale.

I also think we’re going to see a few fairly decent publishing brands disappear — maybe get bought over, merge with other companies or just go out of business entirely. That’s inevitable, however, in the long run, I think it’s probably good for publishing. There have been too many websites coasting in the margins without really adding anything of value. Some are formerly powerful publishing brands, but they lost focus, or made strategic decisions in the last few decades that have put them in a position of high vulnerability.

So yeah, we’re going to see some brands disappear. I don’t think we’ll see a lot of new startups, because it’s bloody difficult to make headway. But, it’s going to be another very eventful year. I always think we overestimate how much will change in a year, and then looking back, sometimes we underestimate how much has actually changed in a year. I don’t want to make too many radical predictions, but it’s going to be another wild ride, that’s for sure.

Jessie Willms: It’s definitely a year with a lot of fear and anxiety in publishing. But, as long as publishers focus on the core things that they’re good at that can’t be replicated, they’ll be okay. The ones who are doing really solid journalism and have a clear head on their shoulders about their expectations for traffic and revenue opportunities, and who their readers are, will be the ones that succeed.

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5 quick news SEO wins every editor can get right now

WTF is SEO? — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 18:21:05 GMT

Paywall masterclass with WTF is SEO?

We’re pleased to present the third workshop in our series of WTF is SEO? masterclass calls!

Join an all-star lineup for a masterclass on paywall SEO for publishers. Jessie Willms and Shelby Blackley (WTF is SEO?), Barry Adams (Polemic Digital), and Harry Clarkson-Bennett (Leadership in SEO Substack) will lead attendees through two hours of paywall tactics and strategies.

In this session, attendees will:

Learn the fundamentals for the technical side of implementing and optimizing a paywall;
Understand how to build a successful commercial strategy for monetizing your site;
Know how to structure, surface and optimize paywalled content to continue to reach search (and other off-platform) audiences.

Attendees also receive lifetime access to the masterclass slides, a tip sheet, a recording of the call along with a transcript, and a private Slack channel with the experts and other students.

Hello, and welcome back. Jessie here, back from the snowiest day in recent memory! Toronto and a large swath of North America got hit with a massive storm system this weekend, which resulted in more than 40 centimetres of snow. For the laggards still using the imperial system, that’s an extreme volume of snow! We could build a hockey team’s worth of snowmen!

This week: Five quick wins for news SEO! Search is a long-term investment and long-term gain, but there are incremental things you can do to accrue wins right away. These wins prove the value of SEO, making it easier to request bigger investments in the future.

POV: Here you are celebrating after your most persnickety editor implemented your SEO recommendations on a headline without any guff! Photo by Good Faces on Unsplash

Let’s get it.

THE HOW TO

Five quick news SEO wins

SEO is a long-term investment. Consistent effort over time is the way to meaningfully improve your site’s overall visibility on search. But work done now can make an impact. By executing — and documenting — quick news SEO wins, you highlight the value of your work. This increases buy-in for SEO, too, making it easier to do that long-term work.

Here are five things to take action on right now to see results.

1. Highlight and share key lessons to the newsroom

What it is: Communicate to the newsroom what success looks like for your journalism on search. Identify a specific area of opportunity, or a tactic that is working right now. Explain to the newsroom through a report or analysis why it worked and why it is an important consideration for growth.

How to do it: Internal reports can be as straightforward as a Slack message or brief email to relevant editors highlighting a quick win. From there, if you haven’t already, build out a daily or weekly performance report that showcases effective tactics (a well-optimized headline, consistent internal linking to showcase E.E.A.T, a live blog that had great visibility, etc.).

Internal reporting should inform the newsroom about performance and opportunities, create a space for celebrating wins and experiments, while encouraging feedback and constructive criticism.

A short Slack message could be: “Because of close collaboration between audience and editing teams, all Oscar nominations coverage included strong internal linking between related stories and tag pages. Along with other efforts, this helped drive 100k page views across all Oscars coverage, up from 80k PVs last year. Internal linking increased referral traffic, too: we saw a 12% lift in per-visit page views compared to last year. In short, we found and kept more readers than we did last year. Let’s keep this up for the BAFTAs.”

This creates a space to celebrate the win and recognize the work involved in executing search strategy. The message clearly explains the tactic (internal linking), how it was implemented (cross-team collaboration), the impact (increased page views and internal referrals) and when/how to repeat (the next tentpole event).

News SEO is most effective when learnings are communicated to the entire newsroom (and not just audience teams).

2. Internal linking

What it is: Internal links are hyperlinks from one page on your website to another. They are an SEO “superpower,” helping Google and readers discover additional content. Google uses internal links to understand which pages are important, while connecting relevant information on a topic together.

How to do it: Internal linking should be done all the time, starting with high-value stories. Link to relevant tag/topic pages, related stories, previous coverage and other important pages as it demonstrates E.E.A.T signals that are important both for search and AI visibility.

Use relevant keywords for the anchor text (i.e., the hyperlinked text) and avoid linking on “here” or irrelevant words.

If you notice many stories are missing internal links, send a short reminder to the relevant editors. People are busy! Sometimes things get missed. As SEO editors, it’s our job to establish best practices and ensure they’re followed.

3. Breakout opportunities for “trending” stories

What is it: A news SEO tactic that involves looking for additional story opportunities within a coverage area. It is “broken out” from the main story or aggregated from exclusive reporting. This includes uncovering questions and topics with rising interest on search, new formats to add to your coverage, or reviewing existing content to see if it is too broad.

How to do it: Review coverage on a storyline. Use Google Trends or social media to identify the questions readers are asking, then use your editorial judgment to determine if there are other stories that would be useful to the reader.

For example, within ‘winter storm,’ there’s interest in ‘weather map.’ Does your coverage include a visual guide for the extreme weather event? If you have a map embedded in stories, can it live as a standalone page, or could the headline be revisited to signal the visual element?
On Google Trends for ‘winter storm,’ there’s rising interest in ‘amtrak cancellations winter storm.’ If geographically relevant, is there capacity for a service journalism piece on just train delays, cancellations and travel advisories?

If you have a main explainer (’what we know so far’) that answers many questions, can it be split up? Instead of answering everything in one big piece, would two or three shorter guides better serve specific reader and search interest?

Additional content creates the opportunity to create a topic cluster, which helps build subject matter expertise and authority. Link between each piece, and aim to package the coverage on your homepage for maximum impact.

4. Perform a technical audit

What it is: A technical SEO audit is an evaluation of a website’s structural foundation. The goal is to identify and fix any technical issues that might negatively impact a site’s search performance. In an AI world, a technically sound site is imperative. “Quick win” technical audits are more narrow in scope.

How to do it: Using the SEO tool of your choosing — or even Google Search Console — check for error messages, broken backlinks and low-value pages.

Error messages like 500s (a server issue that affects site access) can impact crawl budget and Google’s inclination to return to your website. 400-level errors (404 and 410) offer no value to readers and can impact user experience and ranking. These should be reduced and implemented appropriately. 400-level errors are acceptable, but links shouldn’t be to 404s (more below).

Backlinks are when an external site provides a link to a page on your site. However, if these are broken — providing 500s, 400s or 300s — these can impact your site health and authority. If a page is broken or passing through a redirect, it also impacts the link’s value. Fix broken backlinks by emailing the brand in question to correct the link; implementing proper 301s across site; and fixing those links that redirect; and disavowing spammy links.

Low-value pages are URLs that have little or no added value to readers. These can be tag pages with very few stories linked, author pages for writers with limited output, articles with fewer than 100 words or data pages with limited text. They’re often considered thin content and contribute to crawl budget waste, or can be hit by a manual action for spam. To fix, expand the page’s content, merge it with related pages or consider deleting/redirecting the page entirely.

Improving the technical health of your overall website is not quick, but changes — even small implementations — can have an immediate and substantial impact on your performance.

5. Review and revise title tags and subheadings of high-value pages

What it is: Headlines and subheadings can always be improved. Review your newsroom’s recent output and look for ways to improve the on-page SEO, specifically the H1 and H2 headings.

How to do it: Review the title tag and headlines to ensure they mirror how people actually search for the topic. Set reader expectations in the headline (i.e., if it’s an explainer, consider ‘what is X’ language; if it’s a visual guide, consider ‘X topic in maps and charts’). Consider A/B testing headlines, or trying different variations for different headline fields (if you can).

Take stock of the page’s H2s (or subheadings) as well. Subheadings are very useful for answering audience questions, while catering directly to a phrase readers use to search. These headings should help readers skim a piece and navigate the page, and be written with long-tail queries in mind.

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The bottom line: SEO is a long-term investment. But there are some quick — and efficient — wins you can implement right now to benefit your publication’s visibility on search.

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2026 is here. The foundational SEO concepts you (still) need to know

WTF is SEO? — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 18:21:29 GMT

Hello, and welcome back. Jessie and Shelby here, back from a restful extended newsletter break. We love this newsletter so much, but… we also love crochet, sewing, playing video games and sleeping in on Sundays. But all jokes aside, it’s nice to be back for another great year of Google shenanigans.

(We wrote this as the intro last year. We still like and do these things. Let’s continue the good vibes into another year!)

This week: As we head into 2026 full of AI uncertainty and volatile SERPs, we wanted to take a step back to remember the foundational concepts still critical for publishers and their growth. We also look ahead to some of the exciting plans WTF is SEO? has for this year (shameless promotion? Perhaps!).

🎉 Register now! Our winter 2026 community call will February 11 at 11:00 ET. for a session on AI and search. Be sure to ask a question!
🎉 Sign up now! Our winter paywall masterclass with Harry Clarkson-Bennett and Barry Adams will run in early March 2026!

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NewzDash: 2026 News SEO Trends & Predictions: Insights From 20 Global Experts On What’s Next

2025 felt like the panic year. In 2026, the real work starts. Last year we worried about AI. This year we’re living it: fewer clicks, more zero-click experiences, and visibility now happens across multiple surfaces, not just rankings. Check out NewzDash’s list of news SEO predictions.

Get the full analysis!

THE 101

Foundational concepts still important in 2026

The year 2025 ended with a lot of AI talk and theories. Industry experts and journalists have predicted that AI will gravely impact publisher search traffic. Press Gazette found that global publishers already reported losing up to a third of their traffic in 2025, and this trend is expected to continue in 2026, according to Chartbeat data.

This report also said most publishers who responded expect to put less effort into traditional Google Search. But despite referral channel headwinds, search — and specifically Google Search — is still a large portion of many publishers’ traffic. As Barry Adams said so eloquently on LinkedIn, moving away from search is a self-fulfilling prophecy, leaving other publishers to monopolize the space. “Put less effort in, and you’ll get less traffic out of it. And down and down the spiral goes.”

It’s still critical to produce quality content to help your readers live better and smarter. SEO foundational concepts are still crucial to the success of publishers in 2026.

Here are some of the important concepts to consider this year.

A new, empty notebook for 2026 planning! Is there a more beautiful sight? Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

AI integration, not assimilation

What it is: AI is everywhere, including in journalism. Every C-suite and major stakeholder is asking how AI can be used, either to save time or make a flashy statement. AI usage by the general public has also increased. A Reuters Institute study found 90 per cent of respondents have heard of at least one of the most popular AI tools in the last year, up from 78 per cent in 2024. And, a large percentage of the public expect news outlets to use generative AI in a responsible manner.

Why it matters in 2026: Integrating AI in your workflow and features seems inevitable at this point, but needs to be done on a case-by-case basis. It should not take away from the integrity of your publication and its mission. Consider experimentation with responsible, ethical approaches. Always, always be transparent.

E.E.A.T

What it is: E.E.A.T — aka Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness — is part of the guidelines used by Google’s human raters to evaluate if Search is providing helpful, relevant content in results.

Why it matters in 2026: This is how Google and people determine what to trust. Google doesn’t just rank individual pages — it ranks sites with authority and relevance signals across all URLs. Content that doesn’t strongly feature E.E.A.T is much less distinctive and useful to readers. In an AI-saturated landscape, E.E.A.T signals are key differentiators between the general “AI slop” and journalism readers will pay for.

Authors

What it is: Authors are real people. As part of a larger news SEO strategy, highlighting authors helps showcase E.E.A.T signals and topic authority — aka subject matter expertise.

Why it matters in 2026: Per our ONA presentation, a publisher’s people — and brand — are core pillars of distinctiveness. Many publications are leaning into reporters as a brand: Wired thinks of its writers as “platform personalities” while the homepage of The New York Times often prominently features short, vertical reporter-led video. People-first, unique, high-quality content builds loyalty and resilience beyond algorithms.

What it is: A topic-based forum site where users share and comment on content, and upvote/downvote to determine what is popular. Google pays Reddit $60-million annually for data access to train LLMs and improved visibility of Reddit on search.

Why it matters in 2026: Not only is Reddit very visible in Google Search, but users are flocking to the platform to get first-hand advice and recommendations, while discussing the biggest news of the day. This growth means publishers should consider developing a strategy for Reddit.

YouTube

What it is: Video is becoming more visible in search and a direct engagement platform. Optimizing video content to rank higher on YouTube and Google Search is a critical strategy. Tactics include keyword research to optimize titles, thumbnails, descriptions and transcripts.

Why it matters in 2026: YouTube is the world’s second most-visited website and rarely loses visibility (it’s owned by Google). This means it’s no longer a secondary focus area for SEOs, but “core search infrastructure,” according to Greg Jarboe. YouTube videos appear across Google Search, Discover, shorts-specific SERP features and AI Overviews (it’s cited in almost 30% of AIOs).

Major live moments — and lots of them

What it is: The Winter Olympics, 2026 World Cup, wars, elections and weather events — and everything in between — are all part of a relentless news cycle this year. Live coverage is synonymous with that.

Why it matters in 2026: These major moments will fill 2026 and readers need up-to-date information — fluid, changing information that a lot of LLMs cannot be trained on, or get extremely wrong. Publishers have a ton of opportunity through live journalism, whether that is blogs, Q&As, video coverage to create connections with the audience. Lean into the “live”-ness of SEO.

WTF is SEO?’s plans for 2026

As WTF is SEO? approaches year five (!!), we’re grateful for all the wonderful opportunities we’ve been given: building community, meeting and learning from so many in the industry, conferences and, ultimately, our current jobs.

In the years ahead, we promise to continue to deliver newsletters that (hopefully) inform and provide real value to the news SEO and audience community. It’s our hope that this space is helpful in wading the never-ending volatile waters of audience engagement.

In addition to that, we’re also keen to expand:

Masterclass webinars: Building on our past workshops with Barry Adams on internal linking and Google Search Console, we’re pleased to offer a course on paywalls in March 2026. Tell us what you want to learn now!
Community calls: We have a community call in the calendar for February 11, 2026 all about AI and search. We will continue to provide quarterly opportunities for WTF is SEO? subscribers to chat and learn from our peers.
Advertisements and sponsorship: We offer title sponsorship for each newsletter (with a 20% discount for four or more bookings). This year, we’re expanding the word count to 500 characters and offering new placements for this sponsorship. More information on our advertising hub.
Presentation and speaking engagements: We couldn’t be more thrilled to be heading to Chicago in March for ONA 2026! We will be speaking on how to run a successful side hustle — without losing your mind! We’re also partnering with Magazine Association of BC and Alberta Magazine Publishers Association to discuss combatting AI in search in February.
Collaborations: We’re always excited about new collaborations. Have an idea? Hit us up!

If you’re interested in anything above, or just wanna chat, reach out to hello@seoforjournalism.com to set up a call with Jessie and Shelby!

The bottom line: Anything can happen in 2026, but the foundational concepts remain. Be nimble, experiment and remember: the reader comes first.

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What’s on tap for news SEO in 2026?

WTF is SEO? — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 18:21:30 GMT

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Hello, and welcome back. Jessie and Shelby here, back for the last newsletter of 2025! We’ve had an amazing fourth (!!!) year running WTF is SEO?. Highlights include more presentations — including our first at ONA! — than we can count; three community calls; six Ask a News SEO interviews; and 40 total newsletters sent. We’re so grateful for our more than 13,000 subscribers and community members.

This week: It’s prediction time! What’s in store for news SEO in 2026? Seventeen experts dig out their magic balls and tell us what Google will do next year, plus how publishers should respond.

ALSO: In 2026, we’re running a paywall masterclass with Barry Adams (Polemic Digital) and Harry Clarkson-Bennett (Leadership in SEO)! Attendees will learn best practices for the technical setup, monetization strategy and content optimization. Tell us what else you want to learn about paywalls!

An A/B test of the subject line revealed “how will Google f**k publishers” was more popular, but our legal department nixed it. 😭 Photo by Fujiphilm on Unsplash

Let’s get it.

THE EXPERTS

The answers below have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Aleyda Solis

With the decline in organic search traffic due to AI search, publishers will need to realign their organic search growth and content strategy to maximize brand and entity recognition across platforms — wherever their audience is — in a way that aligns with their topical authority and USP (unique selling point). Some publishers will also need to rethink their user experience to ensure they provide a delightful web experience, which unfortunately remains a major challenge for many publications.

Aleyda is a SEO consultant and author of SEOFOMO.

Alexia LaFata

As users increasingly rely on multiple sources to gather information, Google search referrals will likely never be what they once were, but they won’t disappear entirely.

Google and its AI search features will remain a big part of the user journey. For this reason, publishers need to continue meeting Google users where they’re at, whether that’s by smart topical swarming or more multimodal content creation.

Luckily, what’s good for Google users is also what’s good for building and maintaining a brand across all audiences. SEO strategies like E.E.A.T will not only continue into 2026, but will also contribute to various business needs.

Alexia is the senior SEO manager for Vox Media.

Barry Adams

AI will still not have the impact on news that many predicted, and will continue to simmer in the background as a topic of conversation without leading to meaningful change.

Despite abundant proclamations of the death of SEO, search will continue as the single largest driver of traffic to nearly every publisher on the web. Publishers who take their foot off the SEO pedal will suffer and interpret that as a sign of the demise of search. And for them, it’ll be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Publishers that maintain a strong focus on SEO will benefit, soaking up the traffic that others have abandoned.

Google Discover will continue to seduce publishers into bad habits, encouraging low-quality churnalism and clickbait. Publishers who are serious about long-term survival will focus on strengthening their USPs, and paywalls will become more ubiquitous.

Barry is a SEO consultant and author of SEO for Google News.

Clara Soteras

News organizations will need to fully adapt their strategies to changing user behaviour and consumption patterns. Users search differently, expect new formats and have diverse informational, educational and entertainment needs. We must understand what they want, the problems they need to solve and how we can serve them, not only through articles, but also via experiences, videos and safe spaces where they consistently find value.

Staying aware of algorithm updates is important, but even more crucial is tracking audience behaviour in order to respond effectively. Building community and a valuable editorial product will keep users returning. SEO is now about habit-building, cross-format storytelling, video optimization, collaboration with content creators and social algorithms.

Clara is a SEO consultant.

Deborah Carver

In the spirit of year-end big swings, I predict that at least one major news publisher will launch its own algorithmic content feed and ad network that competes with the major social networks.

More generally, in 2026, news organizations will hone in on how digital audiences perceive individual brand experiences, instead of relying solely on the wavering brand of “journalism” to provide credibility.

Publishers will develop AI-powered on-site search tools that serve their existing audiences with better UX and more trustworthy information than a genpop chatbot.

For individual SEOs, the shift means learning how to build semantic search products, rather than optimize for third-party experiences. If you’re a news SEO looking to superpower your career, figure out how to work on internal search products!

Deborah is a content strategy consultant.

Garrett Sussman

News publishers will, ironically, need to lean into bias. People want news that supports their belief system. They still go directly to sources they trust and rely on social platforms, meaning that when they do arrive via Google Discover, AI search or Google Search, they gravitate toward brands they already recognize. If your perspective clashes with theirs, they probably will not click.

Knowing your audience and leaning into that voice is your responsible content strategy. You can’t be everything to everyone. Preferred sources are already shaping Top Stories, and personalization will reinforce what people want to see. Readers want to hear from real people, not generic AI-generated content. Strong on-air personalities, columnists and reporters become critical anchors for growing loyalty across search channels.

Garrett is the director of marketing at iPullRank.

Harry Clarkson-Bennett

Publishers who don’t transition to building a multi-platform experience get lost amongst the noise; individual creators skyrocket the popularity of those who lean into them, and others get lost in the mist. It’s a fantastic opportunity for journalists and individuals. Brands who embrace proper full funnel marketing campaigns and do big, bold things will see success in all channels.

SEO starts to even out a bit as AI Mode edges a little closer, but Google will make more of an effort to insert a few sodding links here and there. The best publishers start to figure out some alternative ways to monetize.

Harry is the SEO director for The Telegraph and author of Leadership in SEO.

Johnny Herge

In 2026 we will see the authors themselves become increasingly important. An author, as opposed to a publisher, is a more reliable way to measure the reliability of a specific article. This also mitigates two potential issues: a great article missing out on visibility because the publisher is not authoritative enough, and a bad article only receiving visibility because of the publisher’s authority.

Johnny is a senior specialist of technical SEO at Amsive.

John Shehata

In 2026, AI Overviews will become the biggest concern for news publishers since they appear directly in search results and increasingly absorb user attention. More publishers will diversify revenue through video, creator style content and direct partnerships with AI platforms. Google will win the AI platform race, and web guides will emerge as the new interface for navigating the web. Google Discover will remain the top traffic driver, and more publishers will finally understand that Discover is an extension of Search, not a separate channel. Consolidation will accelerate as more publishers join larger groups for survival. The biggest wins will come from teams that integrate real time data, audience intent and cross-platform visibility into one workflow.

John is the founder of NewzDash.

Joy Johnston

The meteoric rise of LLMs and Google’s AI search products will hit speed bumps in 2026, from regulatory rulings to users’ aversion to ad proliferation to a growing return on investment demand from stakeholders.

Expect volatility and acquisitions in the AI visibility tool market. This reckoning will dial down the hype and bring some clarity about AI’s best use cases in the newsroom as well as AI’s actual impact on search behaviour, news publisher SERP visibility and search traffic. Successful newsrooms will focus on multimodal SEO fundamentals while diversifying content distribution streams to deliver high-quality, original content in formats their audience prefers and that LLMs and Google’s AI search tools can process and surface.

Joy is a news SEO strategist for Trisolute News Dashboard.

Kevin Indig

2026: The Year the Open Web Closes for Good.

We saw the cracks form in 2025, but 2026 will be the year the wall goes up. Look beyond The New York Times. CNN and Reuters — the giants of free, ad-supported news — started rolling out paywalls in late 2024.

Or, look at Reddit, which aggressively blocked search crawlers to turn its public square into a private data fortress. These aren’t outliers; they are the new standard. As AI Overviews increasingly satisfy the search, visit is becoming endangered.

Consequently, publishers are rethinking the purpose of visibility. Reach is still the game, but the goal is no longer click volume. It’s a connection. We are trading high-volume, anonymous traffic for lower-volume, high-value relationships. In 2026, the open web will become a collection of gated communities. Publishers will stop feeding the large language models that are starving them. If you want high-quality, human-verified journalism, you’ll have to log in.

Kevin is a growth advisor and author of Growth Memo.

Louisa Frahm

Search-friendly content will need to be recirculated beyond the first page of Google for publishers to stay relevant and authoritative. Search will remain a valuable trigger for content ideation, but publishers will have to take an intensified approach to reach their audiences anywhere and everywhere that they’re digesting content.

First, we’ll have to increase our odds of appearing in AI Overviews and chatbot modules by tapping into their preferences, including clear headings, bullet point lists and FAQ formatting. Second, we’ll have to recirculate content always in all ways through related channels including apps, social media, newsletters and videos, to maximize visibility in timely windows.

Brand loyalty will need to be prioritized and amplified to offset negative side effects of the AI age.

Louisa is the SEO director for ESPN.

Oleg Korneitchouk

More news organizations will bring their content behind a paywall or regwall and explore monetization options outside of advertising (especially events). Even though overall page views are likely to shrink, the remaining views will come from a more focused audience. Nailing down your target audience is key.

Expect more partnerships between organizations and influencers that share audiences, and more reporters-turned-influencers. Newsrooms will need to build up rapport with their audiences wherever they currently are, and funnel them into their ecosystem — while still engaging on off-site platforms.

Oleg is a SEO consultant.

Rebecca Zamon

2026 is going to be a turning point in the general public’s use of AI in their daily lives, a huge challenge for news publishers fighting the uphill battle against summaries.

I predict a focus for news organizations in the areas where they can set themselves apart instead of trying to fight the platforms: live coverage and trusted voices. Formats like live blogs, which provide immediate coverage that can’t easily be ingested by LLMs, are an opportunity. Similarly, as people get used to looking to AI for general information, they’ll turn to brands and names they know to verify it or go deeper.

If publishers can demonstrate they’re worthy of the audience’s trust, it can build a lasting relationship.

Rebecca is the audience growth manager for The Globe and Mail.

Ryan Y. Kellett

This year, I’ve gotten numerous text messages from media executives along these lines: “Hey Ryan, do you know someone who’d be interested in leading our AI strategy? Big job!”

Most of these leaders want to be able to delegate their AI planning, so hiring the right person makes perfect sense. But my response usually surprises: look at hiring and promoting from your existing SEO team.

SEOs are among the best equipped in news organizations to handle the big AI questions of intellectual property, licensing, tracking, algorithms, content auditing, topic authority and more. News SEOs have had no choice in the past two years but to become AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and then GEO (generative engine optimization) experts within their larger organizations — perfect training for the even bigger questions ahead.

These are the ideal candidates for big strategy and operational roles leading change. It’s about time after decades of being cast into organizational backwaters.

Ryan is an independent journalism consultant.

Steven Wilson-Beales

The AI search hype bubble is going to burst as publishers fail to see the return on investment after paying for some very expensive tools.

Expect a renewed interest in SEO from the C-suite; double down on the basics and build up your case studies. Publishers will start to move away from page views as their key metric, focusing instead on visibility, engagement and conversions. Original content will be prioritized over churning out news stories.

A review of meaningful distribution will follow — do you really need to be on Reddit if your audience isn’t there?

Steven is a SEO and content strategy consultant.

Vahe Arabian

News organizations will increasingly shape their publishing and SEO strategies around large language models. Visibility will no longer depend only on traditional search optimization, but also on how well stories are structured, labeled and delivered so that LLMs can interpret and surface them accurately. One clear sign of this shift is the rise of adaptive paywalls that respond to a reader’s intent in real time.

Publishers will optimize for LLM-driven SEO by building systems that identify why a reader has arrived at a story. That intent will activate tailored access rules: a softened paywall for civic-value reporting, an extended preview for readers who are trying to understand a topic or a timed pass for those using the material for work. Newsrooms will also craft concise summaries that meet an immediate need.

Behind the scenes, controlled access to paywalled sections, article chunking and internal decision models will protect rights and maintain attribution. In this landscape, optimizing for LLMs becomes the next evolution of publisher SEO, ensuring journalism can be discovered, trusted and valued in an AI-shaped information world.

Vahe is the founder of the State of Digital Publishing.

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Our favourite newsletters of 2025

WTF is SEO? — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 18:21:38 GMT

🎉 Launching in early 2026: We’re pleased to present the third workshop in our series of WTF is SEO? masterclass calls! 🎉

Join an all-star news SEO lineup for a masterclass on paywall SEO for publishers. Jessie Willms and Shelby Blackley (WTF is SEO?), Barry Adams (Polemic Digital), and Harry Clarkson-Bennett (Leadership in SEO) will lead attendees through a series of paywall tactics and strategies in this two-hour workshop.

Tell us what you want to learn

Hello, and welcome back. Jessie and Shelby here, back from a snowy weekend in Toronto. We both went to Canada’s biggest craft fair, the One of a Kind Show (tell us in the comments who is more likely to have blown their budget!). Jessie also went to a gift exchange (and somehow went home with her own gift!) while Shelby had a few wobbly pops at a Christmas drag show before hitting up a karaoke bar. Very similar weekends, clearly.

This week: It’s the end of the year! Can you believe it? We dive into the archive and pull out our favourite newsletters, and the top advice from a looooong year in news SEO.

ALSO! Catch us at ONA26 in Chicago on March 30-April 1! We’ll be doing a session on balancing a full-time job with a side hustle (while having a life), and a few other talks! And we love meeting community members!

Imagine your calendar was only this busy? The dream. Photo by Windows on Unsplash

Let’s get it.

THE BEST OF 2025

Technical SEO

Must-know technical SEO topics include: Crawling, indexing and ranking (how Google works); ranking factors (signals used to rank content); algorithm updates (Google’s attempt to improve results); website structure; internal linking (how pages are connected); backlinks (authority signal from external sites); core web vitals (metrics of site experience); structured data (explicit clues for Google about a webpage); duplicate (multiple) and thin (not enough substance) content.

Ask the SEO Experts: Handling algorithm updates

Lily Ray, Michael King and Ryan Sammy unpacked how the March 2025 Google core algorithm update affected publishers. They also offered advice about changes on search. Their tips? Shift from chasing traffic to focusing on deeper content value, brand building and bottom-of-the-funnel engagement. For overall algorithm strategies, don’t do “anything too risky,” says Lily. More often than not, you won’t get dinged if you stay the course.

What is GEO?

Generative Engine Optimization: One of (many) acronyms about optimizing content for generative AI engines and visibility in chatbots. There’s a lot of overlap between “GEO” — something the industry still isn’t quite sold is a discipline — and SEO. The best practices remain the same: produce quality content in your niche, have a technically sound site and increase brand awareness.

The five headline fields

There are five headline fields that Google recognizes and publishers can optimize for (if their CMS allows). They are: the on-page visible headline

`;` the</code> tag; the structured data headline; the open graph title; and the homepage/internal link headline. Not every site can optimize for all five, but each field helps reach different audiences or platforms. If you can, do so to increase reach and performance.</p><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{"nodeId":"e9c096b5-a224-4fc3-b9b3-66b6273b74d0","caption":"#SPONSORED","cta":"Read full story","showBylines":true,"size":"sm","isEditorNode":true,"title":"How to best optimize the 5 headline fields","publishedBylines":[{"id":26630381,"name":"WTF is SEO?","bio":"Two audience and SEO editors (Jessie Willms and Shelby Blackley) sharing advice, interviews and more on using search for news and publishers.","photo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7d9faf9d-4bd3-4e2b-aa94-4fb6051c0c18_845x822.png","is_guest":false,"bestseller_tier":null}],"post_date":"2025-03-10T17:21:50.821Z","cover_image":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ef16ced4-10b3-46d3-8611-f8f3cf014940_1456x1048.png","cover_image_alt":null,"canonical_url":"https://www.seoforjournalism.com/p/5-headline-fields-best-practices","section_name":null,"video_upload_id":null,"id":158743082,"type":"newsletter","reaction_count":10,"comment_count":0,"publication_id":276040,"publication_name":"WTF is SEO?","publication_logo_url":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!k2su!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F022d5d9c-1af5-4193-a7f4-3eb586adc0cb_623x623.png","belowTheFold":true,"youtube_url":null,"show_links":null,"feed_url":null}"></div><div><hr></div><h3>Three AI tools</h3><p>There are a ton of AI and <a href="https://www.seoforjournalism.com/p/ai-visibility-monitoring-tools-news-seo">AI-powered tools</a> on the market. What matters is the tool that works for you. News SEOs can leverage ChatGPT for data wrangling and competitive analysis, or use AI-powered features in Semrush or Ahrefs to enhance content optimization, keyword research and other tedious tasks. <strong>Human intervention is </strong><em><strong>always</strong></em><strong> needed</strong> with any AI.</p><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{"nodeId":"d888ef15-b405-433b-93cf-2c1f711ed129","caption":"Join our Top Stories panel on June 18th!","cta":"Read full story","showBylines":true,"size":"sm","isEditorNode":true,"title":"3 AI tools for news SEO","publishedBylines":[{"id":26630381,"name":"WTF is SEO?","bio":"Two audience and SEO editors (Jessie Willms and Shelby Blackley) sharing advice, interviews and more on using search for news and publishers.","photo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7d9faf9d-4bd3-4e2b-aa94-4fb6051c0c18_845x822.png","is_guest":false,"bestseller_tier":null}],"post_date":"2025-06-09T17:21:16.652Z","cover_image":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/f6917223-41b3-4be8-befa-b6c9f96ef121_1456x1048.png","cover_image_alt":null,"canonical_url":"https://www.seoforjournalism.com/p/ai-tools-news-seo","section_name":null,"video_upload_id":null,"id":165498913,"type":"newsletter","reaction_count":15,"comment_count":0,"publication_id":276040,"publication_name":"WTF is SEO?","publication_logo_url":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!k2su!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F022d5d9c-1af5-4193-a7f4-3eb586adc0cb_623x623.png","belowTheFold":true,"youtube_url":null,"show_links":null,"feed_url":null}"></div><div><hr></div><h3>Content SEO</h3><p><strong>Must-know content SEO topics include:</strong> <a href="https://www.seoforjournalism.com/p/eeat-content-google-guidelines">E.E.A.T </a>(a framework for evaluating content quality); <a href="https://www.seoforjournalism.com/p/topical-authority-for-news-publishers">topic authority</a> (subject matter expertise; <a href="https://www.seoforjournalism.com/p/keyword-research-news-seo-tips">keyword research</a> (the information people are looking for); <a href="https://www.seoforjournalism.com/p/search-intent-news-seo">search intent</a> (the <em>why</em> behind a query); and on-page SEO (the on-page elements like headlines, subheadings, metadata, URLs, images and internal links).</p><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{"nodeId":"4cc6a640-f5ef-45ab-93c4-40b1b376ec08","caption":"#SPONSORED","cta":"Read full story","showBylines":true,"size":"sm","isEditorNode":true,"title":"Content SEO: What every news SEO needs to know","publishedBylines":[{"id":26630381,"name":"WTF is SEO?","bio":"Two audience and SEO editors (Jessie Willms and Shelby Blackley) sharing advice, interviews and more on using search for news and publishers.","photo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7d9faf9d-4bd3-4e2b-aa94-4fb6051c0c18_845x822.png","is_guest":false,"bestseller_tier":null}],"post_date":"2025-01-21T18:21:55.314Z","cover_image":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/b1ae0e82-b2a0-4ad0-9376-c7e8f9d7f1fd_1456x1048.png","cover_image_alt":null,"canonical_url":"https://www.seoforjournalism.com/p/content-news-seo-concepts","section_name":null,"video_upload_id":null,"id":155292823,"type":"newsletter","reaction_count":10,"comment_count":1,"publication_id":276040,"publication_name":"WTF is SEO?","publication_logo_url":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!k2su!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F022d5d9c-1af5-4193-a7f4-3eb586adc0cb_623x623.png","belowTheFold":true,"youtube_url":null,"show_links":null,"feed_url":null}"></div><div><hr></div><h3>Query fan-out</h3><p><strong>Query fan-out</strong> is the process that powers <a href="https://www.seoforjournalism.com/p/ai-mode-reactions-google-future">Google’s AI Mode</a>. It explodes a user’s single prompt into many related subqueries, pulling passage-level snippets from numerous sources — and mediums, including text, video and maps — into responses. It’s a major shift in how Google works as it collapses the traditional search journey into a single path and reduces reliance on multiple sources — and publishers.</p><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{"nodeId":"ad54f915-62b5-468c-ad84-0df5b74fa858","caption":"Get the totes out of Jessie’s house!","cta":"Read full story","showBylines":true,"size":"sm","isEditorNode":true,"title":"What query fan-out means for the future of search ","publishedBylines":[{"id":26630381,"name":"WTF is SEO?","bio":"Two audience and SEO editors (Jessie Willms and Shelby Blackley) sharing advice, interviews and more on using search for news and publishers.","photo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7d9faf9d-4bd3-4e2b-aa94-4fb6051c0c18_845x822.png","is_guest":false,"bestseller_tier":null}],"post_date":"2025-07-07T17:21:15.907Z","cover_image":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cPcY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1536ead0-b6e1-426d-a313-d48eda98b0c2_1456x1048.png","cover_image_alt":null,"canonical_url":"https://www.seoforjournalism.com/p/query-fan-out-technique-google-ai-mode","section_name":null,"video_upload_id":null,"id":167715046,"type":"newsletter","reaction_count":11,"comment_count":1,"publication_id":276040,"publication_name":"WTF is SEO?","publication_logo_url":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!k2su!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F022d5d9c-1af5-4193-a7f4-3eb586adc0cb_623x623.png","belowTheFold":true,"youtube_url":null,"show_links":null,"feed_url":null}"></div><div><hr></div><h3>Zero-click search (what is and what to do)</h3><p><strong>Zero-click search occurs</strong> when a user types something into Google and the answer is directly on the results page, eliminating the need to click. Accelerated by AI Overviews and AI Mode, it’s a threat to publisher traffic.</p><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{"nodeId":"3bb9ad47-97cd-48fd-8a69-9fb6c6a253a8","caption":"Pleasssssssse help us get the totes out of Jessie’s house! Please!","cta":"Read full story","showBylines":true,"size":"sm","isEditorNode":true,"title":"What is zero-click search? ","publishedBylines":[{"id":26630381,"name":"WTF is SEO?","bio":"Two audience and SEO editors (Jessie Willms and Shelby Blackley) sharing advice, interviews and more on using search for news and publishers.","photo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7d9faf9d-4bd3-4e2b-aa94-4fb6051c0c18_845x822.png","is_guest":false,"bestseller_tier":null}],"post_date":"2025-09-22T17:21:06.057Z","cover_image":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/8ba0b48b-8d13-4c38-aaab-9265fb948594_1456x1048.png","cover_image_alt":null,"canonical_url":"https://www.seoforjournalism.com/p/google-zero-click-search-news-seo","section_name":null,"video_upload_id":null,"id":174252936,"type":"newsletter","reaction_count":16,"comment_count":1,"publication_id":276040,"publication_name":"WTF is SEO?","publication_logo_url":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!k2su!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F022d5d9c-1af5-4193-a7f4-3eb586adc0cb_623x623.png","belowTheFold":true,"youtube_url":null,"show_links":null,"feed_url":null}"></div><p>How experts advise publishers respond:</p><ul><li><p><strong>Louisa Frahm, SEO director at ESPN: </strong>“Emphasize brand visibility and direct relationships with readers.”</p></li><li><p><strong>Alexia LaFata, senior manager for SEO at Vox Media: “</strong>Build a brand so strong and authoritative that a reader will want to check out your content no matter where [you appear].”</p></li><li><p><strong>Clara Soteras, SEO consultant for news publishers: </strong>“Strengthen both the brand and the product itself, building something genuinely unique that fosters audience loyalty.”</p></li></ul><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{"nodeId":"8668d16d-e73e-4006-8704-8bcc6920e40b","caption":"#SPONSORED","cta":"Read full story","showBylines":true,"size":"sm","isEditorNode":true,"title":"What publishers need to do about zero-click search","publishedBylines":[{"id":26630381,"name":"WTF is SEO?","bio":"Two audience and SEO editors (Jessie Willms and Shelby Blackley) sharing advice, interviews and more on using search for news and publishers.","photo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7d9faf9d-4bd3-4e2b-aa94-4fb6051c0c18_845x822.png","is_guest":false,"bestseller_tier":null}],"post_date":"2025-10-20T17:35:24.708Z","cover_image":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d0b7510f-8f98-410c-b15e-79e816d90874_1456x1048.png","cover_image_alt":null,"canonical_url":"https://www.seoforjournalism.com/p/zero-click-search-news-seo-experts","section_name":null,"video_upload_id":null,"id":176493299,"type":"newsletter","reaction_count":8,"comment_count":0,"publication_id":276040,"publication_name":"WTF is SEO?","publication_logo_url":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!k2su!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F022d5d9c-1af5-4193-a7f4-3eb586adc0cb_623x623.png","belowTheFold":true,"youtube_url":null,"show_links":null,"feed_url":null}"></div><div><hr></div><h3>Two highlights from NESS: Discover and paywall strategies</h3><p>Stand-out NESS sessions included Lily Ray’s presentation on Google Discover and Harry Clarkson-Bennett’s talk on publisher revenue.</p><p>Lily reiterated that the best headlines feature authority figures, concrete numbers, strong emotion or controversy. Optimal length: <strong>90–105 characters</strong> (and not more than 130 characters).</p><p>Harry explained that paywalls work best when content is unique and high-value. To succeed, SEOs should maximize traffic value, advocate for paid search and build AI-resilient assets.</p><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{"nodeId":"df7c4ffa-ab37-4d48-ae30-3075712acf54","caption":"Please help us get the totes out of Jessie’s house! She’s running out of room for yarn!","cta":"Read full story","showBylines":true,"size":"sm","isEditorNode":true,"title":"What we learned at NESS 2025 (pt. 1)","publishedBylines":[{"id":26630381,"name":"WTF is SEO?","bio":"Two audience and SEO editors (Jessie Willms and Shelby Blackley) sharing advice, interviews and more on using search for news and publishers.","photo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7d9faf9d-4bd3-4e2b-aa94-4fb6051c0c18_845x822.png","is_guest":false,"bestseller_tier":null}],"post_date":"2025-10-27T17:21:09.305Z","cover_image":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/26d9c9d1-447f-4928-a540-ac0ba3986db5_1456x1048.png","cover_image_alt":null,"canonical_url":"https://www.seoforjournalism.com/p/ness-news-seo-2025-recap","section_name":null,"video_upload_id":null,"id":177182894,"type":"newsletter","reaction_count":11,"comment_count":2,"publication_id":276040,"publication_name":"WTF is SEO?","publication_logo_url":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!k2su!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F022d5d9c-1af5-4193-a7f4-3eb586adc0cb_623x623.png","belowTheFold":true,"youtube_url":null,"show_links":null,"feed_url":null}"></div><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{"nodeId":"b915da5c-14d0-4510-8180-4367a6c6dbad","caption":"#SPONSORED","cta":"Read full story","showBylines":true,"size":"sm","isEditorNode":true,"title":"What we learned at NESS 2025 (pt. 2)","publishedBylines":[{"id":26630381,"name":"WTF is SEO?","bio":"Two audience and SEO editors (Jessie Willms and Shelby Blackley) sharing advice, interviews and more on using search for news and publishers.","photo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7d9faf9d-4bd3-4e2b-aa94-4fb6051c0c18_845x822.png","is_guest":false,"bestseller_tier":null}],"post_date":"2025-11-03T18:21:09.330Z","cover_image":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/33b3a9a4-0bec-4b93-ad03-14de008e2c1a_1456x1048.png","cover_image_alt":null,"canonical_url":"https://www.seoforjournalism.com/p/news-seo-ness-2025-recap","section_name":null,"video_upload_id":null,"id":177890721,"type":"newsletter","reaction_count":13,"comment_count":0,"publication_id":276040,"publication_name":"WTF is SEO?","publication_logo_url":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!k2su!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F022d5d9c-1af5-4193-a7f4-3eb586adc0cb_623x623.png","belowTheFold":true,"youtube_url":null,"show_links":null,"feed_url":null}"></div><div><hr></div><p><strong>The bottom line: </strong>2025 was a year full of changes in news SEO. Publishers faced volatility on the SERPs and declining traffic. The response to these threats is a strong focus on high-quality and unique content, building distinct brands and direct relationships with readers.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{"url":"https://www.seoforjournalism.com/subscribe?","text":"Subscribe now","action":null,"class":null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.seoforjournalism.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><div><hr></div><p><strong>#SPONSORED - The Classifieds</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xtr2!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F671c1e38-3cdf-43b5-b154-0a73307f9acc_700x200.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Get your company in front of more than 13,500 writers, editors and digital marketers working in news and publishing. <a href="https://www.passionfroot.me/wtf-is-seo">Sponsor the WTF is SEO? newsletter</a>!</p><div><hr></div><p><strong>THE JOBS LIST</strong></p><p><em>Audience or SEO jobs in journalism. Want to include a position for promotion? <a href="mailto:seoforjournalism@gmail.com">Email us.</a></em></p><ul><li><p><strong>The Times and Sunday Times </strong>are hiring an<strong> <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/anna-sbuttoni-60679925_were-hiring-the-times-and-sunday-times-activity-7402410641346437120-WKqI?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAQOaNwBFudrJREhr7JknKegKk-eMjpmjFw">SEO editor</a></strong> (London, UK).</p></li></ul><div><hr></div><h4><strong>RECOMMENDED READING</strong></h4><p><strong>Google news and updates</strong></p><ol><li><p>🤖 <strong>Google (breaking!):</strong> Introducing <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2025/12/social-channels-search-console">social channels directly in Search Console</a>.</p></li><li><p><strong>🤖 Google: </strong><a href="https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2025/12/ai-powered-configuration">AI-powered configuration for analysis</a> is coming to Search Console.</p></li><li><p>🤖<strong> Barry Schwartz:</strong> Google home page search bar upload feature <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-home-page-search-bar-upload-feature-goes-directly-to-ai-mode-results-465599">goes directly to AI Mode results</a>.</p></li></ol><p><strong>Even more recommended reading</strong></p><ol><li><p><strong>🚨 Robert Hart: </strong>OpenAI declares <a href="https://www.theverge.com/news/836212/openai-code-red-chatgpt">‘code red’ as Google catches up in AI race</a>.</p></li><li><p><strong>✏️ Marie Gilot:</strong> My Nieman Lab 2026 news prediction:<strong> </strong><a href="https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/sorry-the-explainer-is-dead/">The explainer is dead</a>.</p></li><li><p><strong>🤔 Sam Kriss: </strong><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/magazine/chatbot-writing-style.html">Why does AI write like … that?</a></p></li><li><p><strong>🗑️ Kat Tenbarge: </strong>AI slop is <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/ai-slop-is-ruining-reddit-for-everyone/">ruining Reddit for everyone</a>.</p></li><li><p><strong>🔍 Nick LeRoy:</strong> Niche down: <a href="https://www.seojobs.com/blog/niche-down-your-guide-to-specializing-in-seo/">Your guide to specializing in SEO</a>.</p></li><li><p><strong>📈 Gianluca Fiorelli and Cyrus Shepard:</strong> Decoding Google’s updates: <a href="https://www.advancedwebranking.com/blog/what-drives-search-visibility">What truly drives visibility today.</a></p></li><li><p><strong>🤑 Aleyda Solis:</strong> Top <a href="https://www.aleydasolis.com/en/search-engine-optimization/black-friday-seo-traffic-winners/">Black Friday organic search traffic</a> winners and trends in 2025.</p></li></ol><div><hr></div><p><strong>What did you think of this week’s newsletter?</strong></p><p><em>(Click to leave feedback.)</em></p><ul><li><p><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScA0HMEFbS5Vhcr6VRdZa1UrpmSr3s-4C2X_IvrM2U33OsZjw/viewform?usp=sf_link">Loved it 😍</a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSew-Cn8U10VpcyuJlG5dRKk2M2jMvSbxYTwQxLVSux1OkmDCQ/viewform?usp=sf_link">Only OK 🙂</a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdal9I25rxkE0Yvn6_HZx6E-RWMHtSxUuf61E9gKteqFI8OYg/viewform?usp=sf_link">Needs work 😐</a></p></li></ul><div><hr></div><p><strong>Catch up: Last week’s newsletter</strong></p><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{"nodeId":"c74131be-b78b-4c5b-b66c-cedb065e7510","caption":"#SPONSORED","cta":"Read full story","showBylines":true,"size":"sm","isEditorNode":true,"title":"It’s the Olympics – again. 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Send us a note on Twitter (<a href="https://twitter.com/jessiewillms">Jessie</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/shelbyblackley">Shelby</a>) or to our email: <a href="mailto:seoforjournalism@gmail.com">seoforjournalism@gmail.com</a>.</p><div><hr></div><p><em>Written by <a href="https://twitter.com/jessiewillms">Jessie Willms</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/shelbyblackley">Shelby Blackley</a></em></p> </article> <article> <h1>It’s the Olympics – again. Here’s how to win on search</h1> <p>WTF is SEO? — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 18:21:09 GMT</p> <p><strong>#SPONSORED</strong></p><p><strong><a href="https://www.amionai.com/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=wtf-seo-dec-1">Do you know why ChatGPT isn’t mentioning you?</a></strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.amionai.com/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=wtf-seo-dec-1" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title>No more stalling. Receive a deep scan and personalized action plan to start appearing in ChatGPT. Get a weekly list of action items based on which citations are used in your market. Track your progress and see what moves the needle in getting new customers. Used and trusted by 9,200+ marketers! Tell me why I’m not getting leads Hello, and welcome back. Shelby here, finally situated in Canada for an extended time. After a very chaotic fall season filled with so much excitement, grief, travel and lessons, I’m grateful to be hanging out at home for a while. Let’s see how long it lasts! This week: Nine hacks for your 2026 Winter Olympics SEO strategy. If you’re already thinking about this event, congratulations! It’s likely already taking up most of your mental capacity. If you haven’t thought about this event yet, well… there are still 66 days to go! Let’s get ready. We’re partnering with Indiegraf for a webinar on AI and what publishers need to know on Dec. 10 at 2 p.m. ET/7 p.m. GMT. Sign up today! Yes, I am “working.” Sixteen straight hours of watching figure skating is “work.” Photo by Content Pixie on Unsplash Let’s get it. THE 101 Nine hacks for your SEO strategy for the 2026 Winter Olympics The Olympics are a massive tentpole event, and are likely taking a big chunk of resources in your newsroom. Tentpole events — non-breaking, non-daily news that is scheduled in advance and have a set timeframe — rely greatly on planning. Here are nine ways to make the most of the search interest coming up in the Winter Olympics. 1. Establish your organization’s commitment level Establish how much your publication will invest in the Winter Olympics. This will determine how much energy the audience team needs to contribute, as well. Ask stakeholders the following questions to gauge investment: How many writers/editors are we sending? How many writers/editors will be dedicated to the event remotely? Are we focusing on our country’s performance, local Olympians or state/province-wide coverage? Are we focusing on multiple countries? Are there niche topics during the Olympics to cover? These can be the environment/climate impact, the socioeconomic implications, the geopolitical landscape, etc. (The Olympics are full of angles.) Which athletes do we care about most/will our audience be most interested in? Determining the above will help guide how detailed your guidance and recommendations will be. If your newsroom is only planning on writing a few times during the event, your guidance will be more limited than if the company is sending droves of people to Milano Cortina. From there, you can establish how much the publication realistically can and should publish before and during the Olympics. That could be 5-10 stories per day, stories just on key moments, a live blog each day or a combination thereof. The Olympics are a seasonal event. They occur roughly every two years and follow a lot of the same patterns — audience interest tends to reoccur. 🔗 Read more: We’ve covered the Olympics before, and other SEO strategies to implement. 2. Conduct keyword (and audience) research Next, review the previous years’ top and rising keywords on Google Trends. Include multiple keyword variations, including the general Olympics topic as well as the Winter and Summer topics. This is great for understanding peoples’ patterns and behaviours for an event of this scale. Use Google Trends to compare the common search terms for your publication’s regional coverage areas too (for example, Canada-wide versus just Saskatchewan). Focus on topics over keywords. How does your outlet establish topic authority around the Olympics? Are there specific subjects covered regularly that apply to the two-week event? 🔥 Pro tip: Google Trends has a 2026 Winter Olympics topic in its list; follow it for rising and top keywords to build out coverage areas of interest for your publication. Look at SERPs, too: Search the keywords and topics you want to rank for. Take inventory of what’s showing up, who’s showing up and what people also ask (PAA) questions are being surfaced so you know what ranking opportunities there are and where your content might appear. Also, take stock of what Google features — including AI — are showing up and for which terms. 🚨 Louisa Frahm, SEO director at ESPN, shared incredible tips on Google Trends. Rewatch the video recording or review our slides. 🚨 Create a document with guidance for on-page optimizations. Include: The main-focus keywords (“Olympics 2026”) and secondary terms to use in headlines, URLs, subheads, linking, etc.; Athletes: What names are relevant to your coverage area? They will be searched, especially if they get a medal. Your country isn’t necessary, but do keyword research around your country and “olympics” to see what returns on SERPs. You may find a story idea to address later. Your country’s governing organizations (i.e., Curling Canada, British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association, USA Hockey) are good to include when writing about policies or social issues. E.g., in Canada, Hockey Canada will be of high interest after the trial earlier this year. From there, establish your competitive set, and whether they are national brands or local/niche outlets. Take a look at their websites and their Olympics coverage so far, as well as how prominent it is on the homepage and social media channels. This competitive set information should also be documented somewhere for your broader team to use and refer to during the Olympics. 3. Create content inventory Get an understanding of your newsroom’s plans and priorities. Somewhere central — a spreadsheet, Airtable or in your CMS — make note of all stories (published and to be published) for updating and recirculation. From there, build a wishlist of assets. Should your publication publish a medal tracker or preview a specific hockey player before the event begins? Was there something a competitor already has? Note all explainers, stories and other articles you want, including their headline/URL suggestions and update cadences. Build them out like pitches and provide the Olympics team (or appropriate editor) as much guidance as possible. Include even how it will help toward their goals. A few considerations: Stats: Recaps, medal counts, information about contests, events or matches that are relevant to your audience (don’t write about luge if no one cares in your region!); People: Human-interest pieces about athletes or behind-the-scenes folks; Politics: Hard-hitting analysis or investigative journalism on the scandals among governing bodies; The ‘magic’ moments: Be a bit psychic. Identify these moments as they are happening and have general assignment writers ready to jump on the trend. 4. Topic tag page Having a prominent Olympic category or tag page will depend on your site structure and level of commitment. But regardless of the type of collection page, ensure the Olympics one is linked prominently in the navigation and — if possible — on the homepage. The homepage provides the strongest signal of subject matter expertise, which you want to identify as soon as possible. Optimize the </code> and <code><h1></code> tags for this page to target the 2026 Winter Olympics and your specified main keywords.</p><p><strong>Everything</strong> <strong>published</strong> about the Olympics should be linked to from this page. <strong>Consider linking the collection page on first reference</strong> of the Olympics in stories, too, to ensure the two-way relationship. The more content found on a tag page the better and will <a href="https://www.seoforgooglenews.com/p/tagging-categorisation-for-news">help build the site’s authority ahead of the event</a>.</p><p>If you can customize your collection pages, consider adding links to sections or tags that are associated with the Olympics (i.e., if you have a skiing tag, link it from the Olympics page).</p><div><hr></div><h3>5. Determine Live coverage</h3><p>In the past, <a href="https://www.seoforjournalism.com/p/breaking-news-seo-publishers">live coverage (i.e., live blogs)</a> dominated the Olympics, especially for those general keywords where up-to-date coverage is pertinent. However, not every newsroom is able to be live for <em>every</em> event, and some can only be live for one central blog.</p><p><strong>Establish your bandwidth and capacity </strong>as soon as possible. It’s hard to capture all of your audience in one live blog, so determine how wide a net you want to cast. Set expectations early.</p><p>From there, establish your SEO strategy for the live blog:</p><ul><li><p>Does it have the proper <a href="https://schema.org/LiveBlogPosting">structured data</a> to signal each update?</p></li><li><p>Establish a linking strategy;</p><ul><li><p>Link intentionally in stories that are related and add to <a href="https://www.seoforjournalism.com/p/navigation-news-seo">site navigations</a> where possible.</p></li></ul></li><li><p>Determine homepage prominence;</p><ul><li><p>If there are multiple lives, determine a strategy for visibility (on the homepage and elsewhere) and headlines to avoid cannibalization.</p></li></ul></li><li><p>Give headline guidance during the moment;</p><ul><li><p>Establish an update cadence (i.e., do you want a consistent headline during the Opening Ceremonies, or up-to-date?).</p></li></ul></li><li><p>How often does a “rolling” live blog update?</p><ul><li><p>Do you want a fresh URL daily for Google’s <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ranking-systems-guide">query deserves freshness</a> signal?</p></li></ul></li></ul><p><strong>The Olympics are on CET (Central European Time).</strong> Even when it is overnight in Italy, there will be interest across the world. This means live files — and others — need to be at their best at all times.</p><p><strong>A rolling file:</strong></p><ul><li><p>Compiles all of the day’s events in one place;</p></li><li><p>Provides easy links to that day’s coverage as well as links to the broader coverage;</p></li><li><p>Links to your content hub, which houses all of the information someone may need.</p></li></ul><p>Whether you choose to do a live file is up to your team’s capacity and strategy, but a rolling, updated story should be simple if you’re expecting the Olympics to be a large portion of your job.</p><ul><li><p><strong>🔥 Pro tip: </strong>While a rolling file will link out to many pieces of more in-depth reporting, the file itself should still serve some kind of reader intent. The content should be easily digestible and readers should be able to get all the information they need so they can continue on with their day. Keep it concise.</p></li></ul><div><hr></div><h3>6. Enforce good communication</h3><p>We very much are team over-communicate. <em>Everyone</em> should know who handles what and where to discuss story ideas, and where to go in breaking news moments.</p><p>This Olympics especially, it’s harder to have a main base; Milano Cortina’s locations for some events are up to four hours apart. <strong>Ensuring proper communication is </strong><em><strong>crucial</strong></em><strong> to win the event.</strong></p><p>Work with stakeholders to determine the following:</p><ul><li><p>Where should most communication occur?</p><ul><li><p>Is there <em>a</em> specific Slack channel, or multiple for designated events/locations?</p></li></ul></li><li><p>Who are the main editors/stakeholders for specific coverage/locations?</p></li><li><p>What reporting needs to be done? What is the cadence? (Daily, every other day, weekly, etc.)</p><ul><li><p>Who needs to know about these reports?</p></li></ul></li><li><p>If/when there is a change in guidance, where should you communicate it?</p></li><li><p>Where can you share daily wins or reinforce positive behaviour/learnings?</p></li></ul><p>Success for planned news events happens when newsrooms over-communicate. As audience editors, we should reinforce what’s working and how it helps our coverage daily. Daily Olympics-specific notes identifies areas to win immediately <em>and</em> keeps up morale for those in the deep trenches. It’s a marathon, not a sprint!</p><div><hr></div><h3>7. Technical audit and considerations</h3><p>Conduct a technical audit of your site well in advance of the Olympics, ensuring the infrastructure can handle a (likely) spike in traffic from the event. Work closely with your engineering teams to protect the site from going down during the Olympics and that it is capable of handling any “fun” formats (i.e., an interactive that requires more server bandwidth).</p><p>From there, ensure the following:</p><ul><li><p>Are all pages <a href="https://www.seoforjournalism.com/p/how-does-google-search-work-news-publishers">crawlable and indexable</a> by Google?</p></li><li><p>Are there any <a href="https://www.seoforgooglenews.com/p/most-common-seo-issues-news-publishers">glaring issues</a> in Google Search Console that need to be attended to?</p></li><li><p>Are all desired links <a href="https://www.semrush.com/blog/nofollow-links/?">followable</a>?</p></li><li><p>Is there proper Schema on <a href="https://schema.org/LiveBlogPosting">live blogs</a> and <a href="https://schema.org/NewsArticle">articles</a>?</p></li><li><p>Is there <a href="https://www.seoforgooglenews.com/p/structured-data-for-news-publishers">proper structured data</a> for your <a href="https://schema.org/Person">authors</a> highlighting where they are located during the event?</p></li></ul><ul><li><p>🔥 <strong>Pro tip: </strong>Read through <a href="https://www.seoforgooglenews.com/">Barry Adams’ robust newsletter</a> for all technical necessities.</p></li></ul><div><hr></div><h3>8. Determine metrics and measures of success</h3><p>Much of this will likely be determined by people who make more money than you. It’s important you know and communicate the metrics that are of focus to your publication’s senior leadership.</p><p>If there are specific audience goals — you want to grow newsletter open rate by X per cent or you’d like to increase visibility on search from the Summer Olympics to X per cent — note those, too. Make sure everyone is aware of the metrics of success.</p><p>Some to consider:</p><ul><li><p>Did we reach a certain <strong>threshold of unique page views?</strong> Is it higher than the Summer Olympics?</p></li><li><p>Is time spent (or engagement rate) higher than average?</p></li><li><p>How many <strong>subscribers did you convert</strong> from Olympics-related coverage?</p></li><li><p>How much <strong>traffic arrived from search</strong> as a percentage of overall visits?</p></li><li><p>Did we jump on major news quicker than usual?</p></li><li><p>Did we build our newsletter audience?</p></li></ul><p>These will help you interpret what success means in a major event like the Olympics, where almost every organization is fighting for the same shrinking space.</p><div><hr></div><h3>9. Have fun</h3><p>Whether you’re in Milano Cortina or sitting in the comfort of your home, the Olympics are <em>so</em> much fun to cover. Enjoy the crazy moments that you cannot predict and the camaraderie of being in a newsroom working on the biggest story of the event. <strong>And don’t forget to order yourself some newsroom pizza.</strong></p><div><hr></div><p><strong>The bottom line: </strong>Big planned news events like this are, truly, audience editors’ Olympics. We’ll be in the story more than many people in the newsroom, so it’s crucial to ensure early planning and consistent coverage. Make it count to serve your audience what they want to know as your country competes.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{"url":"https://www.seoforjournalism.com/subscribe?","text":"Subscribe now","action":null,"class":null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.seoforjournalism.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><div><hr></div><p><strong>#SPONSORED - The Classifieds</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ufy8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F58cd731a-4759-45a1-85f3-eebecb6fd990_700x200.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Get your company in front of more than 13,500 writers, editors and digital marketers working in news and publishing. <a href="https://www.passionfroot.me/wtf-is-seo">Sponsor the WTF is SEO? newsletter</a>!</p><div><hr></div><p><strong>THE JOBS LIST</strong></p><p><em>Audience or SEO jobs in journalism. Want to include a position for promotion? <a href="mailto:seoforjournalism@gmail.com">Email us.</a></em></p><ul><li><p><strong>The Associated Press</strong> is hiring an <strong><a href="https://careers.ap.org/job/New-York-Analyst-Web-Analytics-1-NY-10281/1344670900/">Audience Data Strategist</a></strong> (New York, N.Y., hybrid).</p></li><li><p><strong>CBC News</strong> is hiring a <strong><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4323456882/?refId=Na0%2FHNyckF2xnNW4qikbog%3D%3D&trackingId=Na0%2FHNyckF2xnNW4qikbog%3D%3D">YouTube Coordinating Producer</a></strong> (Toronto, Canada).</p></li><li><p><strong>Politico</strong> is hiring an <strong><a href="http://linkedin.com/jobs/view/4323810776/?refId=zpIZkt0u%2B5Zfy94pXcO07g%3D%3D&trackingId=zpIZkt0u%2B5Zfy94pXcO07g%3D%3D">Audience Editor</a></strong> (Arlington, V.A.).</p></li></ul><div><hr></div><h4><strong>RECOMMENDED READING</strong></h4><p><strong>Google news and updates</strong></p><ol><li><p><strong>🤖 Barry Schwartz: </strong>Google says rewriting AI content with human content <a href="https://www.seroundtable.com/rewriting-ai-content-to-human-google-seo-40514.html">will not lead to recovery</a>.</p></li><li><p><strong>🤖 Barry Schwartz: </strong>Google says <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-sem-and-seo-will-need-to-coevolve-with-search-since-seo-is-not-dead-465093">SEO/SEM need to coevolve with search</a> (and SEO is not dead!).</p></li></ol><p><strong>Even more recommended reading</strong></p><ol><li><p><strong>🦁 Kevin Indig:</strong> The Alpha is <a href="https://www.growth-memo.com/p/the-alpha-is-not-llm-monitoring">not LLM monitoring</a>.</p></li><li><p>📈 <strong>Stefan Mustieles: </strong>What happens when you <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/stefanmustieles_what-happens-when-you-delete-over-50-of-activity-7397166864868745216-1GfI?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAA40mt8BNaVExjdzILn_PFRqHZvFKc4xkEk">delete over 50 per cent of a website’s content</a>?</p></li><li><p>👓 <strong>Nikki Lam:</strong> Beyond SERP visibility: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/beyond-serp-visibility-7-success-criteria-for-organic-search-in-2026-465176">7 success criteria for organic search</a> in 2026.</p></li><li><p>0️⃣ <strong>Curtis Weyant:</strong> <a href="https://searchengineland.com/guide/measuring-visibility-in-zero-click-world">Measuring zero-click search</a>: Visibility-first SEO for AI results.</p></li><li><p>📄 <strong>Ross Simmonds:</strong> Navigating <a href="https://moz.com/blog/navigating-content-marketing-amidst-ai-whiteboard-friday">content marketing amidst the rise of AI</a> [Whiteboard Friday].</p></li></ol><div><hr></div><p><strong>What did you think of this week’s newsletter?</strong></p><p><em>(Click to leave feedback.)</em></p><ul><li><p><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScA0HMEFbS5Vhcr6VRdZa1UrpmSr3s-4C2X_IvrM2U33OsZjw/viewform?usp=sf_link">Loved it 😍</a></p></li><li><p><a 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publishers.","photo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7d9faf9d-4bd3-4e2b-aa94-4fb6051c0c18_845x822.png","is_guest":false,"bestseller_tier":null},{"id":875399,"name":"Jessie Willms","bio":"SEO/audience editor, The Globe and Mail\nWriter/co-founder, https://seoforjournalism.com/\nInstructor, Centennial \n🌱for the planetx","photo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/8efe2d9d-03a9-4c6c-9094-cc28651aacb6_400x400.jpeg","is_guest":true,"bestseller_tier":null,"primaryPublicationSubscribeUrl":"https://jessiewillms.substack.com/subscribe?","primaryPublicationUrl":"https://jessiewillms.substack.com","primaryPublicationName":"Jessie 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data-attrs="{"nodeId":"2aa5431d-6302-4d93-826b-78143e678149","caption":"#SPONSORED","cta":"Read full story","showBylines":true,"size":"sm","isEditorNode":true,"title":"Google news and updates","publishedBylines":[{"id":26630381,"name":"WTF is SEO?","bio":"Two audience and SEO editors (Jessie Willms and Shelby Blackley) sharing advice, interviews and more on using search for news and publishers.","photo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7d9faf9d-4bd3-4e2b-aa94-4fb6051c0c18_845x822.png","is_guest":false,"bestseller_tier":null}],"post_date":"2025-11-24T18:21:34.130Z","cover_image":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/54dffc00-339c-4bf2-b86e-84990e64ba72_1456x1048.png","cover_image_alt":null,"canonical_url":"https://www.seoforjournalism.com/p/google-news-updates-november-2025","section_name":null,"video_upload_id":null,"id":179820933,"type":"newsletter","reaction_count":11,"comment_count":0,"publication_id":276040,"publication_name":"WTF is SEO?","publication_logo_url":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!k2su!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F022d5d9c-1af5-4193-a7f4-3eb586adc0cb_623x623.png","belowTheFold":true,"youtube_url":null,"show_links":null,"feed_url":null}"></div><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{"nodeId":"4c86ae8c-3f7e-41c4-bac7-886e2a0b7b10","caption":"Hello, and welcome back. Shelby here, reporting live from New York City! I’m over the moon to spend the next few days with my colleagues at The Athletic, planning for what can only be described as a nutty 2026 — a Winter Olympics and a North American-hosted World Cup? I may never sleep again.","cta":"Read full story","showBylines":true,"size":"sm","isEditorNode":true,"title":"9 tips for Black Friday success","publishedBylines":[{"id":26630381,"name":"WTF is SEO?","bio":"Two audience and SEO editors (Jessie Willms and Shelby Blackley) sharing advice, interviews and more on using search for news and publishers.","photo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7d9faf9d-4bd3-4e2b-aa94-4fb6051c0c18_845x822.png","is_guest":false,"bestseller_tier":null}],"post_date":"2025-11-17T18:21:03.116Z","cover_image":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/02139425-b948-41a3-8c81-87ac54538d13_1456x1048.png","cover_image_alt":null,"canonical_url":"https://www.seoforjournalism.com/p/black-friday-affiliate-seo-nine-tips","section_name":null,"video_upload_id":null,"id":179148748,"type":"newsletter","reaction_count":13,"comment_count":1,"publication_id":276040,"publication_name":"WTF is SEO?","publication_logo_url":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!k2su!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F022d5d9c-1af5-4193-a7f4-3eb586adc0cb_623x623.png","belowTheFold":true,"youtube_url":null,"show_links":null,"feed_url":null}"></div><div><hr></div><p>Have something you’d like us to discuss? Send us a note on Twitter (<a href="https://twitter.com/jessiewillms">Jessie</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/shelbyblackley">Shelby</a>) or to our email: <a href="mailto:seoforjournalism@gmail.com">seoforjournalism@gmail.com</a>.</p><div><hr></div><p><em>Written by <a href="https://twitter.com/jessiewillms">Jessie Willms</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/shelbyblackley">Shelby Blackley</a></em></p> </article> <article> <h1>Google news and updates</h1> <p>WTF is SEO? — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 18:21:34 GMT</p> <p><strong>#SPONSORED </strong></p><h4><strong>🏆 <a href="https://www.newzdash.com/page/test-newzdash-now?utm_source=wtfseo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=promo&utm_id=newzdash">NewzDash Optimizes Your Google Discover in Real-Time</a></strong></h4><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.newzdash.com/page/test-newzdash-now?utm_source=wtfseo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=promo&utm_id=newzdash" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title> The ONLY SEO platform that provides competitive Google Discover Data in real-time: ✅ Top Trending Articles ✅ Top Trafficked Domains ✅ Top Trending Topics ✅ YoY Discover Analysis ✅ Article headline and image tracking ✅ Live Discover Optimization Geta FREE DEMO & site analysis Hello, and welcome back. Jessie and Shelby here, both back from busy, trips-filled weeks! Most recently, we celebrated Shelby’s new apartment, and got to see Yoshi (Shelby’s corgi) show off his new tricks. This week: Google news and updates. We recap recent changes to Google’s AI model, Gemini, the company’s GenAI offerings, the anti-spam antitrust investigation, plus improvements to Google Search Console (actually good tweaks!). Thanks to everyone who joined our recent community call. Louisa Frahm, SEO director at ESPN, shared incredible tips on Google Trends. Rewatch the video recording or read a summary or look at our slides. We’re partnering with Indiegraf for a webinar on AI and what publishers need to know on Dec. 10 at 2 p.m. ET/7 p.m. GMT. Sign up today! Google! The big G! Photo by Firmbee.com on Unsplash Let’s get it. THE 101 Google’s updates to AI Introducing Gemini 3 What is it? Last week, Google announced Gemini 3, the newest iteration of the large language model (LLM) driving all of the company’s artificial intelligence features. In a press release, Google said Gemini 3 is “much better at figuring out the context and intent behind your request,” which means fewer prompts by the user to get the intended result. Google also announced it is adding Gemini to Android Auto. Google always planned to replace Google Assistant with Gemini across its platforms due to its more conversational AI model that can interpret and respond to more sophisticated prompts, but are now rolling it out everywhere people use its products. What it means: The company said Gemini will be used in its features immediately: AI Mode, the Gemini app, AI Studio, Vertex AI and Google Antigravity, its agentic development platform. This is a change from previous releases, where Google waited before making the newest Gemini iteration the default. New AI-powered features in Search for travel What is it? Similar to Slack’s canvas feature, Google’s new Canvas tool in AI Mode can now build out a detailed itinerary based on personalized prompts. Google also announced two other travel-aided features: the global rollout of Flight Deals, the AI-powered search tool; and AI-powered agentic booking, which can currently schedule restaurant reservations and can potentially do hotels in the new year. Closing arguments in U.S. vs. Google ad tech case What is it? Last week, the ad tech antitrust trial finished with closing arguments, including testimony from Google’s lawyers in a final plea to avoid the breakup of its advertising business. After ruling in April that the company holds two illegal ad tech monopolies, the same judge will decide what to do to restore competition. The U.S. Department of Justice has asked the judge to force Google to sell its ad exchange, AdX. What it means: The decision could change how publishers generate revenue from ads. Both sides presented long-held views: the DoJ argued for a structural remedy (aka a sale of Google’s ad business), while Google stated such a change would cause “significant uncertainty and disruption” for advertisers and publishers, saying this is all rooted in trust. EU antitrust investigation into Google’s anti spam policy What is it? The European Union opened an antitrust investigation in early November into Google’s spam policies following complaints that the updates hurt revenue. This follows Google’s crackdown of spam in algorithm updates. Reminder: Google’s spam updates are in response to the proliferation of AI and spam content in Search results. Google’s site reputation abuse policy targeted sites that have pages from third parties, using the host for a boost in rankings (aka parasite SEO). The EU said this crackdown had a negative impact on a legitimate and often-used monetization tool for publishers. Antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said Google’s policies “do not allow news publishers to be treated in a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory manner” in Search. She also said the investigation will ensure publishers don’t lose out on this revenue stream at a “difficult time for the industry.” In response, Google said in a blog post that the investigation “is misguided and risks harming millions of European users.” The company said their anti-spam efforts are how they cull “pay-for-play tactics that degrade our results.” Anti-spam policies are meant to “level the playing field,” so spammy tactics are not used to edge out the competition, Google said. What it means: If the investigation is successful, Google could be faced with fines worth up to 10 per cent of parent company Alphabet’s global annual turnover. If a systemic issue is uncovered, the investigators could recommend another divestiture of Google’s — similar to the ad monopoly ruling — or ban the company from making acquisitions. Google adds confusion around structured data What is it? Google recently added a deprecation notice to the practice problem documentation as part of its effort to “simplify the search results page,” saying it will be fully deprecated in January 2026. This announcement caused confusion, including on Reddit, where one user asked, “Is Schema still worth it?” This confusion prompted a reply from Google, saying as part of the review process, the company identified infrequently used features that don’t add value. The changes are unlikely to be noticed by most users. “In these cases, we’ve found that other advancements on the search results page are able to get people what they’re looking for more seamlessly.” What it means: Google is constantly tweaking search results. Deprecating some features is common, and it’s not an indication Google is radically changing its use or use of structured data. Google adds custom annotations to Google Search Console What is it? Google announced two minor tweaks to Google Search Console this month with the addition of annotations and the branded queries feature. With the annotations feature, users can: Add up to 200 annotations per property; Delete (but not edit) annotations; Write up to 120 characters, attached to a specific date; Each user with property access will be able to view custom annotations (so don’t leave snarky notes in the annotations!). A screenshot from Google showcasing the custom annotation. Google said the feature is designed to allow users to add “contextual notes” directly into Search Console reports. “Think of it as a personal notebook for your Search data.” Annotations can help mark when Google’s algorithm updates rolled out, when a site introduced product or design changes, when new site features were added, or when significant news events occurred. With the branded query feature, users can: Segment query data into branded and non-branded groups; Apply this filtering across all search types (web, image, video and news); Track key metrics (impressions, clicks, position and CTR) against these groups. Google said that it uses an “internal, AI-assisted system” to determine the terms differentiation (it’s not just regex!). Screenshot from Google showing the branded and non-branded query breakdown. The feature is being rolled out slowly in the coming weeks. What it means: Some of this functionality has been available in third-party tools (like GSC Guardian) for a while, and while it is not as helpful as a Top Stories or AI Overview filter, it is still a nice tweak to GSC. Subscribe now #SPONSORED - The Classifieds Get your company in front of more than 13,500 writers, editors and digital marketers working in news and publishing. Sponsor the WTF is SEO? newsletter! RECOMMENDED READING 🔥 Semrush: Adobe to acquire Semrush. 👎 Aleyda Solis: What’s the worst take about AI search right now? 🤖 Danny Goodwin: Most ChatGPT links get 0% CTR — even the highly visible ones. 🔮 Daniel Cheung: SEO’s future isn’t content. It’s governance. 💡 Shaun Anderson: Decoded: Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines for content quality. 🌍 Dani Leitner: Multilingual SEO: Building topical authority across languages. ⛈️ Aleyda Solis: Navigating algorithm shifts and AI Overviews [slide presentation]. 🔗 Fabrice Canel & Krishna Madhavan: How AI Search is changing the way conversions are measured. What did you think of this week’s newsletter? (Click to leave feedback.) Loved it 😍 Only OK 🙂 Needs work 😐 Catch up: Last week’s newsletter Have something you’d like us to discuss? Send us a note on Twitter (Jessie or Shelby) or to our email: seoforjournalism@gmail.com. Written by Jessie Willms and Shelby Blackley



STARTING SOON: Google Trends community call [together with Trisolute News Dashboard]
WTF is SEO? — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 15:21:36 GMT
Hello, WTF is SEO? community! 
HAPPENING TODAY! Our community call, in partnership with Trisolute News Dashboard, is starting SOON, at 11 a.m. ET/4 p.m. GMT.
Join via this video call link: https://meet.google.com/tsy-tqmd-jdg
We’re diving into Google Trends, with special guest Louisa Frahm, SEO Director for ESPN!

We’ll discuss how to turn Google Trends data into content ideas. Louisa will share her expert insights on maximizing the platform for content strategy and topic ideation.
Louisa will highlight practical ways to use Google Trends, Google News, Google Autocomplete and People Also Ask to uncover fresh and relevant story ideas. She’ll share insider tips for interpreting rising and related queries to capitalize on breaking news, tentpole events, and seasonal search patterns. 
If you’ve ever wondered how to go beyond the basics with Google Trends, this community call is your chance to learn from one of the best — and most generous — news SEOs working today. 
Register NOW for this panel!
Attendees are encouraged to bring questions. 
Here are the details for the panel:
Date: November 19, 2025
Time: 11 a.m ET / 4 p.m. GMT 
Host Time Zone: Eastern - New York/Toronto
How to join us on Google Meet:
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/tsy-tqmd-jdg
Register NOW for this panel!
Please note: By joining this call, you agree to abide by our WTF is SEO? community guidelines. Failure to respect our guidelines will result in your removal from the community call, at the discretion of WTF is SEO?.
ALSO! 
We’re thrilled to partner with Trisolute News Dashboard, a widely used tool in the news SEO community, for this panel!
The Trisolute News Dashboard is THE best-in-class, award-winning news SEO tool serving online news publishers since 2012. We demystify the news SEO universe and increase publishers’ visibility with near-real-time data and actionable insights while helping to build search authority on Google News, SERPs and Discover.
Please note: By attending this event, you agree to make your name available to Trisolute.
Please reply directly to this email if you have any questions.
Your pals in news SEO, 
Jessie and Shelby
Recommended reading before the panel
Have something you’d like us to discuss? Send us a note on Twitter (Jessie or Shelby) or to our email: seoforjournalism@gmail.com.
Written by Jessie Willms and Shelby Blackley 
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