How would you optimise a news website?

[seomasters]

I have been asked for advice on how to optimise a news website whose keywords, almost by definition, change every day according to the articles being written.

How would you, for example, do SEO for the NYtimes.com?

Great content and subsequent links I'm sure take care of themselves. Just onsite then? If so.... what?

[Marteen]

I have the same question and i would love to hear more ideas.

[seomasters]

Hi,

Thanks for the response. This is a financial news website with global coverage - so ever so slightly niche, but a serious player within that niche.

With that in mind, I guess it's about just about making sure the site is crawled efficiently and as you say, making sure that it's meeting all webmaster guidelines best practices...

Wow... would never of thought my SEO advice to someone would never involve keyword research / keyword related optimisation....

Thanks again.

[Wayne76]

Hey Chris!

Great question, and since I work for a news organization, I'm happy to answer!

The good news is, depending on the stories you're covering, there may not be a lot of competition for your keywords. For instance, if it's primarily local news, you may only be competing with 3-4 major players, and at that point it really just comes down to the strength of your link profile, the unique content, and title practices (by title practice, I mean making sure your keywords are located in the title, etc.).

If you are working for a media source like the NY Times, the hard work is already done. The NY Times is a recognized authority and is included as a source by the aggregator monsters suich as Google news/blogs, Yahoo news, etc. The only issue you'd fac ein this instance is keeping up with best SEO practices and maintaining the site.

I guess the question is: are you working for an established source, or is this a new site? Is it a global news source, a national news source, or a local source?

Best,

W