Master of the SEO art Barry Adams explains what publishers need to do to improve their relationship with everyone’s biggest source of readers – Google.
Adams, of Polemic Digital, has been building websites and working with many of the world’s leading media brands on SEO strategy for more than 20 years. Speaking at a special seminar in London for senior publishing figures, organized by the Glide Publishing Platform at Amazon’s headquarters, he gave a fascinating and candid introduction to the latest thinking on how to best get traffic from Google.
But first a warning. Google gives and Google takes away. And when it comes to news publishers, the search giant has largely taken off in recent years.
Google search algorithm updates
Google makes major updates to its search algorithm every few months. These are changes to the instructions given to the AI brain that powers Google search. As Adams tells it, Google’s search technology lives in a black box, and even it doesn’t know how search updates will play out when released in the real world. This is why they often have unforeseen consequences and sometimes have to be rolled back.
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The last major Google search update was the link spam update on December 14, 2022 aimed at neutralizing the impact of “spam”. These are links placed on websites with the hope of playing Google’s search rankings. Links to websites are one of the ways Google’s algorithm determines whether they deserve to rank in search.
Google’s ‘Newspocalypse’
Previous changes have included the helpful content update from August 2022, which aimed to crack down on search-engineered articles that summarize what others have written without adding value, and on articles that don’t answer the question in a headline, thus leaving readers feeling cheated.
Adams warns that publishers have faced an uphill battle to appear on Google since March 2018, the date of a Google search update Adams describes as the Newspocalypse — a change that massively downgraded the amount of space Google gave to many news sites.
He uses a graph provided by SEO research company Sistrix to show how the BBC’s search visibility has drastically decreased since 2018, along with most other major news publishers.
“Everybody took a massive dive and hasn’t recovered since. It was the first real instance of Google saying ‘fuck you’ to news sites.”
“In 2018, news publishers were put in a lane and Google said ‘you can rank for this and nothing else’. If you write outside those lanes, it’s harder to get traction in Google’s search results.
“The Daily Mail, for example, rarely ranks for stories about the royal family [despite having great expertise in this area]. Google won’t let them rank for it.”
Adams said that publishers have no appeal and no right of appeal when it comes to Google’s decisions, but they can improve things for themselves through “the power of small wins”. By getting 1% better every day.
The three pillars of Google news SEO strategy
“You can rebuild your visibility until the next time Google says ‘fuck you news sites.'”
Adams breaks down what Google does into three main activities: crawling websites, indexing and ranking them.
The three pillars of SEO as he sees them are directly related to these areas: technology to improve the way your site is crawled, relevance of content to ensure it is indexed and authority (to ensure Google gets the right signals to rank your content in search results).
Google Search Console is the most useful tool for improving technical SEO, says Adams, and you should pay special attention to the core statistics report, server response time and important web vitals. The main web vitals are a test of the user experience (page load time and so on) based on data collected by Google from users of the dominant Chrome browser. You can test your site’s core network for free using sites like PageSpeed Insights. One way to improve a website’s performance is to reduce the use of Javascript in favor of HTML. Since Google reads HTML, Adam’s basic advice is “don’t use Javascript”.
He says: “Google generally indexes JavaScript, but it’s time-consuming, so for news articles it skips that part of the indexing process and only looks at HTML.”
The speed of your website is the most important factor in ensuring that it is regularly crawled by Google. Websites should have a server response time of less than 200 milliseconds, says Adams. Anything slower than 600ms and “you need to worry”.
Writing relevant news content for Google
Accelerated Mobile Pages is, he says, largely dead as a project. This was the format in which websites provided pages that could be quickly displayed on mobile by Google. Reuters, Future and others have all disabled AMP with no ill effects. But, warns Adams, don’t delete AMP unless your “core web vitals” are good.
“Writing for Google and writing for people are almost the same, Google just needs a little more signage.”
Adams said there are three key components of a page that Google pays most attention to when trying to index your article:
1) The Structured Data Header (previously subject to a 110 character limit, but now Google says just keep it short or it will be truncated on some devices)
2) The page header (can be longer)
3) The page title (65 to 70 character limit).
The second most important piece of content is your intro—the summary section that Google indexes and publishes next to your headline in search. So while the headline should outline the topic, the intro should briefly summarize the article.
Note: Most news sites will have an area where you can write your Google summary separately from the on-page intro (thus allowing for more creative news and feature intros).
Adams describes internal links in articles as the “SEO superpower” – especially when it comes to linking to the site’s own topic and subject pages.
“If you do it systematically, you will see massive payoff, it just works.”
Expertise, authority and trustworthiness
When it comes to the actual URLs of your stories, Adams says these are “a very small ranking factor.” So when it comes to the URL structure he simply says, “Define it once, then leave it alone”.
Google employs thousands of raters who use published guidelines to rank websites to ensure those with the Expertise, Authority and Trustworthiness (EAT) feature appear in search results.
SEO tips and pitfalls for news publishers:
How to make scoops work
Adams recommends three key ways news websites can impress Google reviewers:
Google claims to reward content creators. But The Sun has complained that scoops are often buried in searches by imitators who have done little more than lift the story.
Adams says: “Google says they want to give prominence to the first publishers of a story. That’s not happening. Google has a preference for newer articles. If you’re first with a breaking story, you’re not going to rank for it the story.
“Google triggers top stories [on search] because of search volume and publishing volume. If you’re the first with a breaking story, nothing has happened.”
If you have a scoop, Adams suggests writing spin-off articles throughout the day. And if you can’t write the first article about a story, writing the best one can bring more traffic anyway.
AI-written content is risky
If a major update has been made to a story, he suggests giving it a new URL and setting up a redirect from the previous one so Google knows it’s a new story and crawls it again. High prominence on the home page also helps Google find stories.
Advertising overload is a lose-lose strategy
According to Adams, AI-written content is a surefire way to undermine your site’s EAT score with Google, and it’s something the search engine can easily detect.
Overloading a website with ads for short-term games is a self-defeating strategy, according to Adams.
Era of easy clicks is coming to an end
“Too many ads hurt the site in the long run because they slow down the page load speed. A fast page load speed is better for everything: better for the advertisers and better for Google.”
Adams predicts that in the next year or so, Google will stop rewarding articles like “what time is X soccer game on” that are written solely to attract cheap clicks while providing little or no value to the reader. “It’s better to own a topic and write about it in depth.” He suggests that these types of articles will be penalized by Google “probably before the end of March in the next core update”.
Topics in this article:
How can I post on Google for free?
- Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out errors, provide story tips or submit a letter for publication on our ‘Letters Page’ blog
- Let’s break down each step in more detail.
- Sign in to Google My Business. Start by signing in to your Google My Business account on your computer or mobile device. …
- Select the type of post you want to create. …
Create the post. …
How much does it cost to be Google verified?
Publish your post. …
Check your mail status.
Does Google business cost money?
Is it free to post on Google? Posting jobs on Google is free for everyone.
Do you have to pay for Google Workspace?
The Google Guarantee costs $50 a month for verified business owners; this only applies to becoming a Google Guaranteed Business. This certification will place your business in an upgraded profile in the Google My Business listings.
How much does Gmail charge for business account?
How do I contact Google to verify my business? Click “Call me now” in the Google My Business app. An automatic message will provide the code, which you should enter in the app, then click on the arrow symbol. You have now verified your business profile on Google. A limited number of businesses will be able to confirm via e-mail.
Who is eligible for Google guaranteed?
Is a business profile on Google free? Yes, creating your business profile on Google is free. Create your profile for free and manage your business from Google Search and Maps to start reaching more customers.
How does Google guarantee work?
When you sign up for Google Workspace, you get a 14-day free trial. After your paid subscription starts, we automatically charge your primary payment method at the beginning of the next month.
How long does it take to become Google Guaranteed?
Google Workspace starts at $6 per user per month and includes the following: An ad-free Gmail account with your business domain name, such as susan@example.com. Ownership of employee accounts. 24/7 phone, email and chat support.
Does it cost money to be Google guaranteed?
All business owners must pass the background check, plus all employees entering customers’ homes. Once you’ve proven to Google that your business can be trusted, you’ll pay a fee of $50 each month to keep the green mark next to your business name.
How does Google guarantee work?
If a customer is not satisfied with the quality of your work, Google may, at its discretion, refund the customer up to the amount of the job invoice for the initial services provided by you, up to a lifetime limit.
Why is my Google ranking so low?
From Google directly; Complete your application with Pinkerton (this usually takes about 30 minutes). After you have completed your application, you will be notified within the two week period if your application has been approved or declined.
How much does the Google warranty cost? The Google Guarantee program does not charge for impressions or clicks. Instead, businesses pay for each direct sales lead received through local service ads.
How long does it take to rank 1 in Google?
If a customer is not satisfied with the quality of your work, Google may, at its discretion, refund the customer up to the amount of the job invoice for the initial services provided by you, up to a lifetime limit.
How long does SEO take to rank?
Many factors can cause your rankings to drop in Google. Most often we see drops due to changes made to the website, but they can also be due to an algorithm update, technical issues, improvements made by competitors, changes in SERP layout or a Google penalty.
What is the fastest way to rank on Google Page 1?
Why is my website ranking low on Google? Your site has been penalized by Google This could be anything from building lots of spam backlinks to your site, to using over-optimized anchor text or thin/duplicate content. Receiving a penalty will result in a loss of organic traffic and rankings making your site difficult to find in search results.
What is most searched on Google 2022?
According to seo.co, it can take anywhere from three to six months to rank on the first page of Google, provided you write good content and optimize your website for search engines. If there is high competition or you have not optimized your website, it may take six to 12 months to see results.
The short answer is between 4-12 months. The longer answer has to do with all the factors we discussed that relate to your SEO strategy. If you target keywords with low competition, you can start seeing results within 4-6 months.
What are the top 3 Google searches?
To improve on-page SEO, try to create longer content of at least 1800 words. As for keywords, try to use the keywords at the beginning of the title tags and insert the keyword two to three times per page. All in all, on-page optimization is one of the easiest ways to increase your rankings.
Who is most searched person on Google 2022?
In 2022, the most searched word in Google was Wordle, while Ukraine was the most searched news.
What is the most search in Google in 2022?
What is trending on Google 2022? What were we looking for in 2022? Wordle, Johnny Depp highlights Google’s top US trends of the year. Wordle, the popular word-guessing game, was the most popular search in the US in 2022. The most popular news topic of the year was election results, with the mid-term elections taking place last month.
What’s the most searched thing on Google 2022?
Top 100 Most Searched Keywords in the World Some of the top keywords that have generated the most traffic worldwide over the past year will come as no surprise. “Youtube”, “facebook” and “translate” got top positions with “pornhub” in second place.
What is the #1 searched thing on Google?
| BTS V and Jungkook take top spots in Google’s 2022 list of most searched Asians worldwide – India Today. | “Youtube”, “facebook” and “translate” got top positions with “pornhub” in second place. âTranslateâ appears for the first time among the three most searched terms, and âweatherâ has also jumped into our top five, nearly reaching 200 million searches per month. | 2022’s most popular search term is Facebook, with an average of 213,000,000 searches per month in 2022. This is closely followed by YouTube, Amazon, weather and Walmart. |
|---|---|---|
| # | Keywords | Search volume |
| 1 | 144,000,000 | |
| 2 | youtube | 144,000,000 |
| 3 | amazon | 120,000,000 |
What is the #1 searched thing on Google?
| 4 | weather | 95,000,000 |
|---|---|---|
| # | Keywords | Search volume |
| 1 | 144,000,000 | |
| 2 | youtube | 144,000,000 |
| 3 | amazon | 120,000,000 |
What is the most searched thing on Google 2022?
4
Why am I not getting more Google stories?
weather
95,000,000
Where is my Google stories?
Google has released its annual “Year in Search” report, which outlines the most popular searches of 2022 around the world. The report reveals that the popular online game Wordle topped the list globally.
Why are there no stories on Google?
To get new stories, open your app and swipe down on the screen. Check that you are connected to Wi-Fi or mobile data. If the app closes or specific content is empty, learn how to clear the app’s cache and data.
How do I get my Google stories back?
Why am I not getting Google News? The Google app on your phone lets you enable and disable the Discover feed. If you or someone else has disabled that option, that’s why your feed isn’t showing or updating. Activate the feed and you’re good to go.