SEO for breaking news

Gwen Milder, Senior SEO Editor at The Washington Post, delves into SEO for the media industry and breaking news. As news events unfold rapidly, there's a pressing need for efficient strategies to promptly deliver content to the audience. Amidst breaking news efforts, SEOs face the challenge of ensuring timely indexation and strategically publishing content to bolster their internal linking strategy. Today, Gwen discusses SEO for breaking news.
About the speaker

Gwen Milder

The Washington Post

is a little camera shy

Gwen is Senior SEO Editor at The Washington Post

Show Notes

  • 01:34
    Balancing breaking news and authority building in SEO
    SEO at The Washington Post focuses on breaking news and building authority around specific topics. There's an expectation that regular coverage of a topic helps The Post get into the news box, but they also prioritize breaking news based on the significance of the opportunity.
  • 03:23
    Ensuring on page SEO for breaking news at The Washington Post
    SEO provides advanced training for writers and editors to enable quick decisions in breaking news moments. SEO has also established workflows to promptly address breaking news, stressing the importance of speed when a story can attract significant traffic.
  • 05:13
    Integration of SEO in the breaking news process
    In an ideal scenario, SEO is integrated into the development and execution of breaking news articles. However, in the fast-paced world of news, decisions must often be made within minutes, making relationship-building critical to staying ahead of developments.
  • 06:18
    The importance of internal linking in breaking news efforts
    Internal linking aids both the algorithm and user experience by keeping readers engaged and on the site longer. However, having a strategy for the content being published is crucial, ensuring distinct reasons for multiple URLs and strategizing how they fit together.
  • 08:10
    Crawling and indexing challenges in breaking news
    Despite being a reputable website, The Washington Post faces challenges in getting breaking news content crawled and indexed quickly enough. While efforts like live blog schema help, the volatility of SERPs and news events presents a constant balancing act between speed and discoverability.
  • 09:51
    Leveraging live update pages in breaking news strategy
    Live update pages/live files play a strategic role in covering live events and breaking news, offering a dynamic experience similar to a live X feed. These pages build authority, provide a live experience, and provide opportunities for internal linking.
  • 12:41 A B testing page types for news content optimization
    The Washington Post A/B tests different page types for news content, including lists and answering common questions. While there's no set manual, the focus is on leveraging different schema types and page structures to appear in SERP features for current news queries.
  • 14:04
    Tracking SERP appearance time for breaking news articles
    For The Washington Post, the quickest turnaround from publishing to SERP appearance has been about 5 to 10 minutes. This process is monitored both through strategic observation of the SERP and third-party tools for minute-by-minute tracking of publisher appearances.
  • 16:55
    Preparing for breaking news success
    Preparation is key in breaking news moments, as it allows teams to strategize and make decisions ahead of time. Having early conversations and strategizing as a team around known events can significantly increase success, even amidst resource and time constraints.

Quotes

  • "In breaking news, it's important to have a search or audience perspective, because that's what we're trying to provide. Who are these readers? Where can we meet them? How can we do that as fast as possible?" - Gwen Milder

  • "In breaking news moments, we want to do it for internal linking. Specifically, we want to do it for the algorithm. But we also want to do it for the user so that they stay on our site longer and see the breadth of our reporting." - Gwen Milder

  • "We look at different schema types, page types, or even how we can structure regular article pages to get picked up in SERPs like Featured Snippets, as it relates to news questions at the moment." - Gwen Milder

  • "In the best case scenario, its taken 5-10 minutes from an article being published to seeing it in the SERPs. If we have a lot of authority on a topic and strong coverage, anecdotally, we're at an advantage in those moments." - Gwen Milder

  • "The best way to win in a breaking news moment is to prepare for it, which sounds a little contradictory. But we've seen success with it over and over again, just trying to think ahead a little bit more." - Gwen Milder

About the speaker

Gwen Milder

The Washington Post

is a little camera shy

Gwen is Senior SEO Editor at The Washington Post

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