In this Indiegraf Webinar, Shelby Blackley and Jessie Willms, co-founders of the newsletter WTF is SEO?, share their guide to the fundamentals of search engine optimization — or SEO — for news. This session aimed to help journalists, digital publishers, and content creators improve their search strategies.
It was so well-received by our community that we invited them back a few months later to dive deeper into writing SEO-optimized headlines. In this blog post, we’re sharing a recap of the key takeaways from that first session. If you are a journalist, publisher, or content creator, this is a good place to begin.
What Is SEO and Why Is It So Important?
In the context of news and journalism, SEO is the process of optimizing content and thinking about how to capture and respond to search interest. “If you’re thinking about different things that you want to write but aren’t necessarily sure where to start, we can use search to inform a lot of those things,” says Blackley.
“News SEO is really important because it also captures a lot of the top-of-the-funnel effort to find these new readers and people that are looking for information.”
How Do Search Engines Even Work?
Search engines crawl content across the internet, processing the information that they find into an index that is then used to provide content for relevant queries.
For example, the process can look like this: A story is published > a search engine spider crawls the code/content > the spider stores it in an appropriate file > a reader searches for something > and the story surfaces if it matches the appropriate query.
You’re Writing for People Using Google, Not Just Google Itself
SEO allows you to cater to existing interests and optimize for audiences actively seeking specific information, expanding coverage beyond regular news. For example, consider adding explainers or FAQs. “A lot of people ask why are we writing for Google?” says Blackley.
“It’s one of my favourite questions to be asked because you’re not writing for Google, you’re writing for the people that are using Google, and 93 percent of all online experiences start with some type of search.”
Despite the rise of AI and direct channels, search engines remain a crucial platform for users actively seeking information. These searchers, unlike social media users, often exhibit more loyalty and a higher likelihood of subscribing or donating.
SEO is vital for capturing this top-of-funnel new audience that publications often overlook due to their focus on dedicated readers. “90% of people will read a headline and not click,” says Blackley. “So our job is to make them click on our content and to give them the information that they’re looking for.”
What Is Keyword Research?
“Keyword research is the foundation of everything that we do, especially in news,” says Blackley. “SEO keyword research is finding, analyzing, and understanding the different ways that readers are actively seeking out information.”
What are the best keywords people are using? Are there specific questions that are being asked? For example, if you’re a local publication in Toronto, are you covering all of the different things that are occurring in that area that people are looking for? Publishers can use search and keyword research to figure that out.
Use Keyword Data to Guide Your Editorial Decisions
Keyword research uses search data to find story opportunities and relevant keywords. It helps identify trends, ensuring content targets what the largest audience is searching for. Using the best keyword in headlines is crucial for reaching the desired audience.
WTF is SEO? recommends focusing on choosing relevant SEO aspects for your niche publication to meet your audience’s needs. Always consider the search intent, which is the “why” behind people’s searches.
Reader questions can also reveal content needs, such as “how to move to Canada after an election” or “what to bring to Cuba”. These questions, aligned with intent, can inform potential content formats like explainers versus news stories.
Keyword research also informs editorial strategy by identifying unanswered audience questions and popular topics. Consider creating FAQs or in-depth investigations based on this research.
While addressing audience interests is key, also assess keyword volume to ensure sufficient interest in your content. Don’t prioritize solely personal passions over topics with demonstrated audience demand.
Google Trends and Other Free Tools for SEO
Google Trends provides current and historical data on keyword trends, including trending topics, past performance, and category-based insights. Its latest update offers multiple related term lists for deeper audience understanding. Glimpse, a Chrome extension for Google Trends, adds search volume data (which Google doesn’t provide) and growth-based keyword suggestions for more intensive research.
Keywords Everywhere is another Chrome extension showing search trends, volume, and related questions on Google’s search results pages. Google Search Console, which should be connected to your site, provides data on keywords driving traffic (up to 85 percent accuracy) and how people are finding your brand, highlighting well-performing niche topics in search.
Blackley recommends using Google itself to research keywords and analyze the search results, including the top stories and competitors in your specific area, as these can vary. This is a valuable way to understand the local search landscape relevant to you.
If you didn’t catch the live session, the replay is still available — and well worth your time. Shelby and Jessie go deeper into each concept and share a helpful checklist of actions you can take right away to improve your SEO. It’s a useful resource for anyone working in news or publishing who wants to reach more readers through search.
