The session explored the challenges, tactics and opportunities unique to online publishers. It covered solutions for technical obstacles, duplicate content and CMS issues, writing keyword rich headlines, training the editorial staff and updating the publishing culture from print to online. It also taught publishers how to save jobs by leveraging SEO, drive traffic to their site, and put advertising dollars back in their pockets.
Liesel Kipp, VP, Global Head of Product Management, Thomson Reuters
Covered how to be an effective in-house SEO in the publishing industry. Her tips were:
- Define opportunity in dollars. Show how the competition is capturing money that you should be making.
- Have clear KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). Make sure they tell a story.
- Set goals and layout a strategic plan.
- Build relationships within the company. Get everyone involved and communicate the results of their actions.
Allison Fabella, SEO Manager, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Allison covered sitemaps and how much she loves them. She discussed web and news sitemaps and stressed the importance of article IDs and timestamps in news sitemaps to help with Google News. She noted that XML sitemaps can store a maximum of 50,000 URLs.
Ulli Muenker, Search Marketing Manager, BusinessWeek
Ulli provided tips for launching an SEO program and winning over editorial. Her first tips were regarding withing effectively with editorial. They included:
- Spread the excitement about SEO. Get high-level buy-in, finding SEO champions to get others excited, and create peer relationships to overcome skepticism. To do this, she suggested showing projected traffic increases, competitor’s search traffic results, and demonstrate the before and after page optimization.
- Conduct regular training. Both for new hires and existing staff, run individual and small group training sessions.
- Make editorial part of the success. Reward them for positive efforts and success, create incentive, and recognize individuals in front of others.
Brent Payne, SEO Director, Tribune
Brent spoke on using Twitter to drive additional traffic, branding, and attention to your publishing site. He covered the different Twitter account types such as:
- RSS feeds of best site content (no personalization or following of people)
- Company celebrity profiles
- Employees (not official representatives)
- Brand persona. Usually ran by a group but keeps same consistency and voice.
It was a good session indeed. Unfortunately my pen ran out for Marshall Simmonds of the New York Times but his speech was articulate and intriguing.
