Adam Sherk

NOVEMBER 20, 2014

Google Panda was designed to go after sites with a high volume of thin or low-quality content (among other things) in an effort to improve the overall strength of the search results. But the unfortunate reality is that with just about every Panda update well-established brands with good content get caught in the filter.

Sites 278

Sites Google Syndication Template 278

Adam Sherk

APRIL 30, 2013

For publishers it typically involves identifying users that are sharing, discussing and linking to content from your brands and their competitors, and about specific topics. Then building relationships with those users over time and coming up with ideas for outreach, content development and promotion. Google Blog Search.

Blogger 196

Blogger BuzzStream Influencer Tools 196

Adam Sherk

APRIL 16, 2013

Social sites use infinite scrolling as a way to offer a never-ending stream of new content, and it has appeal for sites that want to offer a seamless browsing experience for large groups of items. It allows the content to be accessible within the main framework of the site and better integrated into the internal link graph.

SEO 245

SEO Tips Module Guidelines 245

Adam Sherk

SEPTEMBER 24, 2012

You’d think that Google News would be sophisticated enough to determine relevancy based on the article content even when a non-literal headline is used. In addition the tag is not applicable to content like slideshows and packages that is not eligible for Google News indexation. Blog Tag Optimization Tips for News Sites.

News 162

News Google SEO Publishing 162

Adam Sherk

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

The content within the embedded post does not contribute towards the total word count in the article. It is fine to have editorial text before and after the embedded content, but aim to include at least 80 words prior to it. For the technical details on Google+ embedded posts check out the support content on Google Developer.

Embedding 151

Embedding News Google Tips 151

Adam Sherk

DECEMBER 14, 2010

Google assigns the majority of content on all of them an intermediate reading level which makes sense since that level appeals to the widest audience. Among the news organizations I checked, here are the sites with the greatest percentage of content at a basic or advanced reading level: Most Basic Content. Most Advanced Content.

Sites 232

Sites News Google Yahoo 232

Adam Sherk

MAY 14, 2013

When it comes to link building publishers have a significant advantage because editorial content, be it hard news or evergreen content, lends itself naturally to linking and sharing. In addition producing quality content on a daily basis creates a steady stream of new opportunities. Partner links. Shine or MSN Living.

Publishing 209

Publishing Module Syndication Badge 209

Adam Sherk

JUNE 9, 2010

But Facebook Pages remain a key audience development and content promotion opportunity for publishers so it is important to make the most of them. I have seen plenty of blog posts and conference presentations on how to utilize Static FBML but I rarely see news sites highlighted among the examples of good usage.

News 181

News Sites Yahoo Facebook 181

Adam Sherk

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

Articles need to be “objective news” to lead a story cluster (op-ed, satire, press releases and subscription content are not eligible to lead clusters). Duplication and Novelty Detection – More credit is given to original sources of content. The Google News optimization best practices apply to blogs as well.

News 158

News Google Tips Press Release 158

Adam Sherk

MARCH 7, 2011

As someone who limits his Facebook friends mainly to actual friends but who frequently reads and comments on industry and marketing blogs, for me the main concern with using Facebook Comments is the desire to keep my professional and personal lives separate. I like this idea but not everyone has a blog or a professional Facebook Page.

Comments 132

Comments Publishing Facebook System 132

Adam Sherk

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

Aaron is doing a blog tour in support of the book launch (covering 30 blogs in 10 days), which I thought was an interesting concept. When they’re already consuming content, it’s too late. Over 40% is spent with content. – Adam The traditional news business, as we have known it, is dead. Look at AOL.

News 121

News Press Release Survey SEO 121

Adam Sherk

MARCH 16, 2010

First, a quick look at how news content is currently being included in real-time search results. In its “Latest results” Google blends results from Google News and Google Blog Search with updates from Twitter and Facebook Pages, offering multiple paths in for news and content sites. Tracking data from URL shorteners like Bit.ly

Sites 143

Sites News Yahoo Engineering 143

Adam Sherk

DECEMBER 22, 2009

Data like this is interesting to check out, and it can provide useful insights for marketers and content producers in getting a better understanding of user interest and activities in both search and social media. What were your top referrers/trends in Web search, news search, image search, blog search and video search? Happy New Year.

Trends 167

Trends How To Digg Press Release 167

Adam Sherk

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

Google’s recent algorithm change that favors the most recent content for certain types of queries offers good opportunities for news and content sites. Prior to the freshness change the news onebox would have still been prominent but only 2-3 of the natural listings would likely have been brand new content.

Reputation 155

Reputation Google Wikipedia Embedding 155

Adam Sherk

FEBRUARY 2, 2011

In case you’re counting that’s 47 blog tags between the two posts. As I covered in my post on blog tag optimization this type of over-tagging has little SEO benefit and in the extreme it can even be a negative. In the second post above the tags take up almost as much space as the actual editorial content. In a word: no.

Sports 118

Sports SEO News Issues 118

Adam Sherk

DECEMBER 1, 2009

While designed to help Google News better interpret and categorize the content in the sitemaps, the tags also provide publishers with additional chances for exposure. It also has the potential to do the opposite; users may disregard non-editorial content such as press releases in greater volume now that it is easier to identify.

News 104

News Publishing Google Press Release 104

Adam Sherk

OCTOBER 6, 2010

by Adam Sherk on October 6, 2010 It is safe to say that most news sites are now experimenting with various forms of user engagement and content promotion through social media. But in going through the site a substantial portion of the content is news so I opted to include it. Also surprised how well some magazines did.

Sites 176

Sites News Postrank Engagement 176

Adam Sherk

OCTOBER 29, 2009

by Adam Sherk on October 29, 2009 This week Google unveiled Google Social Search , an opt-in feature that provides additional search results with content from a user’s “social circle” of friends and trusted sources. The same goes for the sites and blogs you follow via Google Reader. If not how do we get there?

Google 109

Google Google Reader Press Release Survey 109

Adam Sherk

NOVEMBER 21, 2011

The photo and video sharing site offers great opportunities for promoting lifestyle content and reaching niche audiences and specific demographics. Kerry Jones did an excellent one on the BlueGlass blog: Everything You Need to Know About Pinterest. Pinterest is getting a lot of attention these days and deservedly so.

Publishing 130

Publishing NoFollow Brands Real Estate 130

Adam Sherk

OCTOBER 14, 2015

I’ve been enjoying a needed break from blogging this year but I thought it was time to pop my head up and share some thoughts. Some are newer, others are longstanding, but I wanted to gather them together and focus on the benefits for news and content sites. Syndication and Sponsored Content.

SEO 100

SEO Syndication Marketing NoFollow 100

Adam Sherk

AUGUST 14, 2009

Home About Contact PR Publishing SEO Social Media Subscribe Adam Sherk Great Example of a Multimedia News Article from ESPN.com by Adam Sherk on August 14, 2009 Recently I wrote about the importance of including meaningful content in videos embedded in press releases.

Examples 102

Examples News Press Release Embedding 102

Adam Sherk

OCTOBER 1, 2009

A tactic that some news and content sites employ is monitoring Google’s Hot Trends list in an effort to identify hot topics and then quickly produce matching content around them. Does this work? So how do you monitor these trends? I’ve primarily stuck to aggregated trend/topic lists to keep the list manageable.

Trends 146

Trends Tools Embedding Digg 146

Adam Sherk

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

The content on search engines and social media gets a little lost among all the stats and charts so I thought I’d summarize that data here. Search Engines 34% of the public now use search engines to find news at least three days a week, up from 19% in 2008. Sitemap | RSS | © 2009-present AdamSherk.com Using Thesis Wordpress Theme.

Survey 140

Survey Social Networking Engineering Research 140

Adam Sherk

JANUARY 4, 2010

Also I’ve only been blogging here for about six months, so I’m still building up momentum. But since all the cool kids have been sharing their top posts I wanted to join in, plus follow my own advice on identifying your top trends. Adam is part of the Define Search Strategies consulting team, which is owned by The New York Times Company.

SEO 101

SEO News Social Media Syndication 101

Adam Sherk

JANUARY 21, 2010

Shining a Spotlight on Video News Webmaster Tools: Updates to Search queries, Parameter handling and Messages Twitter data lets NPR glimpse a future of app-loving news junkies Shared Items Disclaimer The opinions expressed on this blog are Adam Sherks own and do not necessarily reflect the views of his company or its clients.

Social Media 122

Social Media Press Release Microblogging Survey 122

Adam Sherk

APRIL 26, 2010

News and content sites are a natural fit for participation and Facebook is encouraging news site adoption by showcasing sites that are already experimenting with it. So I thought I’d take a look at some early examples of Facebook Open Graph integration on news sites.

News 149

News Module Widget Facebook 149

Adam Sherk

AUGUST 11, 2010

This is particularly appealing for publishers with content that may be of interest to specific audiences as opposed to the wider Digg user base. These are anchored by the main NBC Local profile that highlights the best local content with a better chance of having a wide appeal. It serves as an aggregator of our best local content.

Digg 166

Digg Marketing News Press Release 166

Adam Sherk

FEBRUARY 23, 2010

by Adam Sherk on February 23, 2010 There is an interesting article in BusinessWeek on how AOL is utilizing software and analytics data in an effort to match content with user interests and monetize it more successfully. Are you sure you want to write that article, Dave? Is this a good thing? Done right, I say absolutely.

Hitwise 110

Hitwise Press Release Adsense Syndication 110

Adam Sherk

JULY 13, 2010

The good news is that some of the models currently being considered include free access for users who come in from links in blogs and social media, so at least in some cases exposure will not be limited solely to paid subscribers. Has anyone ever framed a good comment thread from a company blog, or a collection of “likes” on a Facebook Page?

Press Release 141

Press Release SEO News Survey 141

Adam Sherk

MAY 22, 2009

Due to space limitations and to try to grab on-site users’ attention, news sites sometimes use shorter and/or wittier “tout links&# on home pages, section fronts and in popular content modules. Home About Contact PR Publishing SEO Social Media Subscribe Adam Sherk Google News Wants Title Tags to Match Headlines?

News 100

News Google Syndication Press Release 100

Adam Sherk

JANUARY 26, 2010

1st Quarter: Blog mentions Two days after the conference championships, which team is being blogged about more? Google Blog Search has 519,933 total results for “Indianapolis Colts” and 20,776 in the past week. So I’m going to gloss over all of that and just look at four things, one for each quarter in the Super Bowl.

Team 150

Team Social Media Digg Press Release 150

Adam Sherk

AUGUST 31, 2009

Home About Contact PR Publishing SEO Social Media Subscribe Adam Sherk Yahoo Adds Enhanced News Results to SearchMonkey by Adam Sherk on August 31, 2009 On Friday Yahoo announced new additions to its SearchMonkey enhanced results, including options for news content. For technical details and instructions see the SearchMonkey News help page.

Yahoo 101

Yahoo News Syndication Press Release 101

Adam Sherk

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

Most news sites have an official Facebook Page now, with the typical approach being to add a daily stream of links to new content while promoting site features, apps, feeds, etc. Some news sites are supplementing content links with direct questions and comments to users, but this does not appear to be happening in any significant volume.

Sites 238

Sites News Engagement Facebook 238

Adam Sherk

AUGUST 25, 2009

Home About Contact PR Publishing SEO Social Media Subscribe Adam Sherk 5 Ways to Deal with Seasonal Dips in Search Engine Traffic by Adam Sherk on August 25, 2009 July and August are a time when many content sites see a seasonal dip in all forms of traffic, including search engine referrals.

Engineering 102

Engineering Hitwise Health Care Press Release 102

Adam Sherk

JANUARY 28, 2010

. “The future of news is about distributing content as widely as possible and monetising not just content but relationships. A handful of very large publishers, like the NYT, may be able to scrap together some compelling content on a regular basis. Thing is, that’s going to be time consuming and expensive to make.

iPad 129

iPad Apple News iPhone 129

Adam Sherk

AUGUST 11, 2009

I’d seen some of the tips previously via Twitter and on the Pro PR Tips blog , but the book presents them in a nice, clean format that makes for a good read. By the way, ITDatabase is giving away free copies of the book to tech PR professionals; you can fill out a form on their blog. What are some of your favorites?

Tips 102

Tips Publishing Press Release Syndication 102

Adam Sherk

JANUARY 14, 2010

Word of mouth on Twitter, Facebook and other sites (including The White House blog ) has raised over $2 million to-date through mobile phone donations organized by mGive. Social media users are doing their part too. Adam is part of the Define Search Strategies consulting team, which is owned by The New York Times Company.

News 129

News Sites Digg Press Release 129