Expert keyword research tips for news SEO
Keyword research strategies from news SEO experts. Here’s how editors from NBC, ESPN, WSJ and the Philadelphia Inquirer do keyword research to maximize their SEO efforts
#SPONSORED
NewzDash Provides Real-Time Search Volume Data
🚀 The ULTIMATE SEO tool for getting News Topical Authority (ie., the Super Bowl!) Track real-time topic trends, topic rankings, and analyze your visibility and competition. Level up your SEO game today!
Hello, and welcome back. Jessie here, back from the yarn store. Turns out crochet — not knitting — is the Q1 hobby for me. My bank account thinks I should pick one craft-based hobby and stick with it, but my brain loves to start new things.
This week: We asked SEO consultants and editors from NBC, ESPN, WSJ and the Philadelphia Inquirer for their best keyword research tips and tricks. We’ve got expert guidance on using Google Trends, Google Search Console, SEMRush, the SERPs — and more! — to test as part of your keyword research process.
WE HIT 10,000 SUBSCRIBERS!! We’re so immensely grateful for the support of the WTF is SEO? community. Everyone who opens our emails, attends a community call, replies to a Slack post or refers us to friends: We’re so thankful for you!
Join our community of more than 1,600 news SEOs on Slack to chat any time.
Let’s get it.
THE EXPERTS
Keyword research: Expert tips, tricks and advice
In previous newsletters, we've covered what keywords are and how to effectively conduct keyword research for news SEO.
Now that we’ve outlined the basics of doing keyword research, let's look at ways to level up our efforts. We consulted editors from a range of publications and agencies for their expert keyword research tips. Below, we’ve highlighted pointers from each expert, respective to their areas of focus.
Look at synonyms for Top Stories
Will Flannigan, SEO Editor at The Wall Street Journal, suggests looking for related phrases for keywords. For example, if a query like “student debt” does not return a Top Stories box, he will look at related terms like “student loans” or “loan forgiveness”' until a news box is surfaced.
These search terms are not so meaningfully different that we would expect different results page experiences. They're all related to the same storyline — in this case, the Biden administration's move to ensure more borrowers have their student loan debt forgiven. But when we look at the SERPs, they are very different:
A Google search for “loan relief program” does not return a Top Stories box.
Meanwhile, both “loan forgiveness” and “student debt” show the news box.
For “loan forgiveness,” the number one position is reserved for official government resources, while “student debt” has Top Stories right at the top of the SERP.
Optimizing for how readers are actually looking for information is a must for news SEO. This SERPs research is a great habit, too. Be intentional with the keywords chosen for stories, and don't focus every story on the same single keyword or phrase. Identify which terms return Top Stories boxes or other rich snippet features.
Change up the terms you use in headlines, URLs and decks (aka, the meta description). Being intentional in optimizing for different queries can actually help your overall search efforts.
Look for rising queries in Google Trends
Louisa Frahm, SEO Director at ESPN, uses Google Trends for rising queries and long-term keyword phrase opportunities. This research informs eventual evergreen content — including lists and explainers — that can “extend the shelf life of breaking news topics,” says Louisa. Writing to match the interest of rising queries means you’re better positioned when/if those terms become a top, overall search term.
Here’s Google’s definition: Rising queries are “related queries with the biggest increase in searches since the last time period. Results marked ‘Breakout’ have a tremendous increase, probably because these topics are new and had few (if any) prior searches.”
Look at the SERPs for movement from Top Stories to organic results
Will also continuously monitors the SERPs for hints to inform his keyword strategy.
Some breaking news stories start in Top Stories, and morph into organic results later. When that position shift happens, he reoptimizes the story or explainer to maintain its visibility.
“As any good news SEO will tell you, keyword targets shift frequently during developing news events,” Will says. Louisa added that keyword research is a “fluid and ongoing process.”
Especially in the context of breaking or quickly-evolving news landscape, user behaviour is constantly shifting, Louisa says. Re-optimization keeps your content as visible as possible.
Search results change minute-by-minute, which means the keywords you’re optimizing for change all the time, too. What you first consider the primary keyword may become a different phrase. Switch up headlines with different terms as news develops.
Look local on a short time period
Caryn Shaffer, Senior SEO Editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer, uses Google Trends — with a very narrow time filter — to help uncover what’s happening in the city. It’s a useful temperature-taking exercise, Caryn says, to see what’s driving the conversation.
Using the example of anticipating a huge snowstorm, Caryn uses Google Trends to find questions people are asking — around school closures, trash pickup, etc. — that can then be used as the basis of a service journalism story
Use a tight time filter in Google Trends over the course of a day to uncover new angles and identify which keywords persist. Those persistent queries are the must-cover keywords, Caryn says.
Related tip: Use this who, what, where, when and why comparison in Google Trends — with narrow time and region filters — to see what readers in your area are searching for right now.
Look at GSC data to find areas of improvement
Andrew Coco, SEO Director for Peacock & NBC Sports, uses regular expressions (regex) to filter in Google Search Console’s Performance report to then find keyword optimization opportunities for content on NBC sites that’s already ranking. (Regex: Extremely helpful, but a nightmare to write. HUGE thanks to Andrew for doing the heavy lifting on regular expressions!)
In Google Search Console, navigate to “Search results” under Performance report (in the left-hand navigation). Click +New to add a filter, then the Custom (regex) option and the "Matches" regex.
From there, use one of the expressions below:
To find all question-focused queries/pages:
who|what|when|where|why|how|aren't|does|could|should.Andrew uses this report to see the site’s performance on question terms. “If we are underperforming for any,” he says, “we can find the page in question and try to better answer the question.”
To find find long-tail keyword opportunities:
([^" "]*\s){6,}?.This returns all queries with seven or more words (you can increment the number — in this case, 6 — to suit your long-tail needs). Alternatively, use this to find queries over 30 characters:
^[\w\W\s\S]{30,}. Andrew uses these filters to identify longer keyphrases, which helps him spot trends “that can help us craft how we write for certain topics.”
For queries that start or end with a specific keyword:
^keywordorkeywords$.
“Sometimes there can be noise when filtering down to queries that simply contain a specific keyword. It is often helpful to narrow down to see when the query starts or ends with a specific keyword,” Andrew says.
Remember that Google Search Console data is not real-time. It tells you your performance so far, but cannot provide new opportunities.
Pro tip: The Keywords Everywhere browser extension works in GSC to bring in even more data. Install the extension and open GSC to see monthly volume, CPC and competition data directly in the Performance report.
Look at SEMRush (or another tool) for evergreen SEO
Alli Berry, a SEO consultant, starts evergreen SEO with broad seed keywords — terms like "stock market" or "tech stocks."
Then, she looks at those keywords on search to see what content already exists and is ranking on SERPs. She then looks at those sites to understand how competitors are covering the topic. Next, Alli uses SEMrush's Keyword Magic Tool (or a similar tool from another brand) to explore secondary keywords, related questions and see the search volumes for each.
Plug your competitors into a keyword gap tool to identify keywords other outlets are ranking for that you're not. This is especially valuable if you’re competing against really big publishers in your space. From here, Alli says, map out your high-level content categories and see which of your competitors are most visible in your target niche.
Narrow down your keyword selection based on relevance. Consider search volume and CPC data, too. This approach helps you identify valuable keywords for both organic and paid search.
For mapping out evergreen content, especially at scale, start by laying out the verticals and fill in the specific pieces that will be published and updated over time. Alli suggests starting with the high-level categories you want to cover, then use competitive research to see which outlets are doing that better than your publication on each niche. From there, brainstorm ways to make your coverage distinct or 10x content.
Look at TikTok for SEO inspo
For a holistic keyword research approach, Vahe Arabian, the founder of State of Digital Publishing, suggests looking at TikTok with “the same utility as Google Trends” for stronger overall outcomes.
The popularity of TikTok, coupled with the declining dominance of Google in exploratory search, prompted the search giant to introduce more short-form video content on its platform. And, with the further integration of “SGE results [and] social media profiles, social activity impact of Discover traffic,” Vahe says, this is an approach to explore.
Meanwhile, we know many social stories can become search plays — remember butter boards or baked feta pasta? Both started as short-form video content and showed up in Google Trends as trending queries: “Why is my feta pasta not creamy?” and “butter board disgusting.”
Here’s are the steps Vahe outlines for using TikTok for inspiration:
Understand your audience first, regardless of whether you’re doing keyword research on search or social. You should know your audience's interests and the questions they might have that are relevant to your niche as a starting point.
On TikTok, look at the Creative Center, browsing trending topics and looking for themes in the industry most relevant to your niche.
Return to Google and look up “X industry + TikTok trends” to identify the emerging trends readers might be looking for. From here, continue keyword research as you would normally, looking at related search pages for popular content and ideas.
Understanding what your potential readers are looking for — on social or search, or elsewhere — is the foundation of any research strategy.
Communicate the keyword research
Caryn uses an internal Slack channel to communicate SEO tips. While stating a universal truth — nobody needs another Slack channel 🙃 — she says the regular cadence of her internal reporting made it the most useful communication channel.
Caryn and her team use this channel to post trends they’re spotting, pitch ideas and — crucially — report back when search-informed stories are performing well on Google. This internal feedback loop keeps SEO and the team’s search wins front of mind for the wider newsroom.
Louisa adds that when keyword strategies are successful, it’s an opportunity to reinforce buy-in from senior editors on your overall SEO strategy. She says to always flag positive case studies to editorial leads.
The bottom line: There’s more to keyword research for news than (gasp!) Google Trends. Effective keyword research helps maximize your impact. To that end, use Google Search Console, the Top Stories box monitor the SERPs landscape and look to social to help keep you ahead of the competition.
#SPONSORED - The Classifieds
Get your company in front of more than 10,000 writers, editors and digital marketers working in news and publishing. Sponsor the WTF is SEO? newsletter today!
THE JOBS LIST
Audience or SEO jobs in journalism. Want to include a position for promotion? Email us.
The Points Guy is hiring a newsletter editor (Remote or in office, multiple locations).
RECOMMENDED READING
Google news and updates
🤖 Search Engine Roundtable: Is Google likely to change the acceptance process for Google News?
🤖 Search Engine Journal: Google is updating its official SEO Starter Guide. “The guide will be more concise and focus on general concepts,” reports SEJ.
🤖 Matt G. Southern/SEJ: “Google's Search Relations team plans to update their SEO Starter Guide, focusing on debunking myths and modernizing advice.” Adds Barry Schwartz on Twitter: It will be shorter and out soon.
🤖 Roger Montti/Search Engine Journal: Google fired Appen, the company that provides Search Quality Raters.
🤖 Roger Montti/Search Engine Journal: Google’s John Mueller answers a question about triggering a complete website re-index.
Even more recommended reading
🏆 Lily Ray for SISTRIX: “2023 was an unforgettable year in the SEO industry. In this report you’ll find the SISTRIX annual winners list and analysis of some of the more interesting gains.”
💻 Aleyda Solis: The impact of Google’s SGE and what to do about it (with a handy Google tracking spreadsheet).
Insider Intelligence: The ChatGPT store is live. What does that mean for SEO?
🤔 Mark Williams-Cook: “Do you know why tools like Google Keyword Planner and Keywords Everywhere give such different search volumes to tools like Ahrefs and SEMRush?”
📓 Glenn Gabe on Twitter: “A BIG Notes update from Google.”
ℹ️ Search Engine Roundtable: Google SGE impact by industry and emerging features
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