Adam Sherk

DECEMBER 17, 2013

So as I stumble across the finish line, here are my top posts of 2013 by pageviews: The Most Common Google News Errors and How to Avoid Them. SEO Tips for Infinite Scrolling. SEO Guidelines for Sponsored Content and Partner Links. Google+ Engagement for News Sites: Top Performers and One-Year Growth Rates.

SEO 129

SEO Publishing Social Media Sports 129

Adam Sherk

JULY 9, 2013

Mining keyword research, analytics and competitive data to identify new evergreen content opportunities does not always get the attention it deserves from busy editorial teams, despite this being an area with considerable upside for publishers. Keyword Research for Content Planning. Step 7: Finalize your targets.

Research 183

Research Content Hitwise Adwords 183

Adam Sherk

SEPTEMBER 24, 2012

The Google News news_keywords meta tag is now available to all publishers that are approved for inclusion. It is nice that Google News is trying to accommodate publishers and allow for more witty, print-style headlines. But it is fair to say that Google News has always been a strange beast.

News 162

News Google SEO Publishing 162

Adam Sherk

NOVEMBER 23, 2009

Google saga today, as the Financial Times reports that discussions have taken place between News Corp and Microsoft on an exclusive deal with Bing that would lead to News Corp blocking its news sites (such as The Wall Street Journal ) from Google. Google-less? – If You de-Index Will They Still Come?

News 101

News Google Hitwise Press Release 101

Adam Sherk

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

Home About Contact PR Publishing SEO Social Media Subscribe Adam Sherk Google News Optimization Tips by Adam Sherk on September 3, 2009 This week Google put out a video to give publishers more information on how Google News works and how best to optimize for it. This is data driven and not an “arbitrary decision.”

News 158

News Google Tips Press Release 158

Adam Sherk

DECEMBER 2, 2009

But 57% also indicated that they plan to increase their focus on SEO: That’s good news, because even just 2-3 years ago many companies’ efforts to integrate SEO and PR activities did not extend much beyond press release optimization. That’s certainly important but it’s just one tactic; there are a lot more opportunities to explore.

Vocus 166

Vocus SEO Social Media Press Release 166

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. Essentially Google has turned up the dial on its “query deserves freshness” algorithm. It is simply a recent event that illustrates the Google freshness update in action.

Reputation 155

Reputation Google Wikipedia Embedding 155

Adam Sherk

JULY 9, 2009

In looking at syndicated content on Yahoo News, most of the syndicated articles do not include attribution links (each news source likely has to request or provide them), but among those that do exist there is a problem. Which News Sites Have the Most Valuable Facebook Pages?

Syndication 100

Syndication Yahoo SEO News 100

Adam Sherk

AUGUST 20, 2009

Google employee “Inbal” later provided a more specific time window, indicating “the rate at which we recrawl may vary, but we try to go back and check for changes in article content within the first 12 hours after we first find it.” I went looking for an updated story in Google News today and was able to find an example.

News 101

News Google Syndication Press Release 101

Adam Sherk

OCTOBER 28, 2010

Monitoring search trends and hot topics for keyword targeting and content ideas is a common practice among publishers these days. While this pollutes the search results when taken to the extreme (see below), done right it is an effective editorial SEO tactic. But that doesn’t mean that opportunities never arise. The Down Side.

Trends 114

Trends Embedding Content Patterns 114

Adam Sherk

FEBRUARY 17, 2010

Sharing and discussing content is a key component of Google Buzz, so it’s a natural fit for article promotion and audience development. To what degree that happens depends on how well Google does at improving the interface and functionality. Related posts: Google Social Search: Are You in Your Target Audiences’ Social Circles?

Sites 118

Sites News Google Facebook 118

Adam Sherk

DECEMBER 1, 2009

Home About Contact PR Publishing SEO Social Media Subscribe Adam Sherk Does Google News Sitemaps New Format Help Publishers? by Adam Sherk on December 1, 2009 In November Google announced a new format for Google News Sitemaps with several changes including new tags that provide additional detail on each submitted article.

News 104

News Publishing Google Press Release 104

Adam Sherk

AUGUST 22, 2011

User reactions have been mixed so far (some find them overwhelming or borderline obnoxious) but Google is touting the user benefits and the expanded sitelinks appear to be here to stay. Do Google’s Expanded Domain Results Apply to News and Video Listings? Rich Snippets: Increase Google Visibility for Reviews through Microformats.

Google 215

Google URL Sites Issues 215

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. Recommended Tactics. Link reclamation.

Publishing 209

Publishing Module Syndication Badge 209

Adam Sherk

AUGUST 24, 2010

Home About Contact PR Publishing SEO Social Media Subscribe Adam Sherk Do Google’s Expanded Domain Results Apply to News and Video Listings? This gives publishers the opportunity for greater exposure to users looking for content from their specific site (and who may not be familiar with the “site:” search operator).

News 113

News List Google Embedding 113

Adam Sherk

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

News publishers are all too familiar with the fact that Google News doesn’t always do such a great job of favoring original sources in its story clusters. Today I noticed an example that is worth pointing out because you’d think Google News would be able to handle it properly. Google News Optimization Tips.

News 121

News Google Syndication Aggregator 121

Adam Sherk

OCTOBER 29, 2009

Home About Contact PR Publishing SEO Social Media Subscribe Adam Sherk Google Social Search: Are You in Your Target Audiences’ Social Circles? So if you link to your Twitter account on your Google profile the people you’re following on Twitter become part of your social circle. If not how do we get there?

Google 109

Google Google Reader Press Release Survey 109

Adam Sherk

OCTOBER 7, 2014

Editorial teams and content creators are always on the lookout for useful tools for keyword research and content planning. Google AdWords: Keyword Planner. Google’s Keyword Planner has become a hassle for new users to set up since it now requires having an AdWords account. Google Trends. Keyword Research.

Analysis 241

Analysis Research Trends Tools 241

Adam Sherk

MAY 12, 2010

So “borrowing” content isn’t a Web-only phenomenon, it’s just a lot easier to spot now. Shifting from poaching content to paying for it, it really is no wonder that the AP seems so threatened by Google. A wire service’s whole business model is built around selling the same content to as many news outlets as possible.

Content 116

Content Aggregator Press Release Syndication 116

Adam Sherk

JANUARY 4, 2010

Home About Contact PR Publishing SEO Social Media Subscribe Adam Sherk My Top 10 Posts of 2009 on News Media, SEO and Social Media by Adam Sherk on January 4, 2010 I was going to post this last week but then opted wisely for letting myself enjoy a holiday break. Here’s wishing everyone an interesting and productive 2010.

SEO 101

SEO News Social Media Syndication 101

Adam Sherk

MAY 22, 2009

Home About Contact PR Publishing SEO Social Media Subscribe Adam Sherk Google News Wants Title Tags to Match Headlines? That’s interesting because a basic best practice in editorial SEO is to customize on-page headlines in the title tag (when necessary) to make them more literal and keyword focused.

News 100

News Google Syndication Press Release 100

Adam Sherk

MAY 13, 2009

Initially Google is supporting data on reviews and people. .&# Initially Google is supporting data on reviews and people. Reviews in particular offer a good opportunity for publishers as many content sites produce multiple types of reviews on a regular basis. But now is a good time to begin experimenting with it.

Review 100

Review Google Embedding Press Release 100

Adam Sherk

OCTOBER 8, 2009

Home About Contact PR Publishing SEO Social Media Subscribe Adam Sherk The Most Common Causes of Duplicate Content on News Media Sites by Adam Sherk on October 8, 2009 Although search engines keep improving on their ability to deal with duplicate content, this continues to be one of the main SEO issues facing news and content sites.

Sites 105

Sites News Syndication Content 105

Adam Sherk

JUNE 5, 2009

While it’s good news that Google is continuing to improve its ability to deal with JavaScript, this change also impacts the way that many publishers display sponsored links on their sites. Is Google going to run out and start penalizing sites with sponsored links in JavaScript? Google News Wants Title Tags to Match Headlines?

Publishing 100

Publishing Google NoFollow Guidelines 100

Adam Sherk

APRIL 8, 2010

Home About Contact PR Publishing SEO Social Media Subscribe Adam Sherk The Wrap, Newser and Content Aggregation: How Much Attribution is Enough? To me the real question is: when one site aggregates another’s content, how much attribution is enough? Make it simple and logical to get to actual Wrap content from that page.”

Aggregator 110

Aggregator Content Syndication Journal 110

Adam Sherk

OCTOBER 27, 2009

Related posts: The Wrap, Newser and Content Aggregation: How Much Attribution is Enough? The Most Popular News Sites on YouTube Google Living Stories – Just Snazzy Topic Pages or is Google onto Something? How “popularity” is determined is not specifically defined, but it is likely a simple metric like page views.

Content 112

Content Press Release Digg Survey 112

Adam Sherk

APRIL 30, 2009

Home About Contact PR Publishing SEO Social Media Subscribe Adam Sherk Publishers: Solve Tracking Code, Duplicate Content Issues with the Canonical URL Tag by Adam Sherk on April 30, 2009 Really you shouldn’t need it. What you should be doing is avoiding duplicate content altogether.

Issues 100

Issues Publishing URL Syndication 100

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+ Tools.

Blogger 196

Blogger BuzzStream Influencer Tools 196

Adam Sherk

OCTOBER 18, 2011

Press release optimization doesn’t get the attention it once did, at least within the SEO community. But since SEO and PR are my main areas of focus I thought I’d share my version as well. Check what news stories and press releases currently come up for your top candidates in Google News and Yahoo News. Content Optimization.

Press Release 206

Press Release Tips Adwords Yahoo 206

Adam Sherk

AUGUST 14, 2012

I spend a lot of time auditing websites which means I am regularly in the Google Webmaster Tools profiles for a variety of sites. Lifestyle content is the big winner but there are good opportunities for publishers in nearly any topical area. It is also important to remember that the value of links (from any site) extends beyond SEO.

Survey 166

Survey Sites Publishing NoFollow 166

Adam Sherk

JANUARY 20, 2011

For the past couple years Google has been embedding a Hot Trends graph in the regular search results for the top 100 fastest rising terms. Did Google discontinue this feature? Search Trend Optimization for Evergreen Content. I did some checking but can’t find any official confirmation or references in other places.

Embedding 114

Embedding Trends Google Tools 114

Adam Sherk

APRIL 13, 2010

Home About Contact PR Publishing SEO Social Media Subscribe Adam Sherk 25 Major News Sites Ranked by Page Speed by Adam Sherk on April 13, 2010 Now that site speed is officially a Google ranking factor, site performance and page load time are important for SEO as well as usability. I just ran its numbers.

Sites 161

Sites News Yahoo Journal 161

Adam Sherk

MARCH 8, 2012

It comes down to effective selection, placement and formatting of social buttons on all key templates, and customizing those elements for different types of content. One interesting takeaway was the user base and types of content that do well in Social Reader can be quite different from the main site. How does social media impact SEO?

Publishing 215

Publishing Questions Social Media Activities 215

Adam Sherk

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

Home About Contact PR Publishing SEO Social Media Subscribe Adam Sherk Pew Research News Survey: Findings on Search Engines, Social Networks and Twitter by Adam Sherk on September 13, 2010 The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press has published the results of its latest survey on news consumption and related topics.

Survey 140

Survey Social Networking Engineering Research 140

Adam Sherk

MARCH 16, 2010

Home About Contact PR Publishing SEO Social Media Subscribe Adam Sherk Real-time Search Optimization for News Sites by Adam Sherk on March 16, 2010 The major search engines are making real-time search a priority, resulting in good visibility opportunities for news sites especially for breaking news.

Sites 143

Sites News Yahoo Engineering 143

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. I personally found that Google Trends tends to be a little more sensationalistic than the others. Does this work?

Trends 146

Trends Tools Embedding Digg 146

Adam Sherk

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

Home About Contact PR Publishing SEO Social Media Subscribe Adam Sherk Why the News Business Isn’t Profitable by Guest on September 10, 2010 This is a guest post from Aaron Goldman , author of Everything I Know about Marketing I Learned from Google. You just Google it, right? Over 40% is spent with content. Look at AOL.

News 121

News Press Release Survey SEO 121