BY RICHARD REITZ
Q-Fold Editor
Still doubting the power of Google+? If so, here’s more evidence that newspapers need to take it seriously if they want to maintain the highest SEO possible for breaking news.
A story by Chris Winfield at BlueGlass.com further illustrates what I had mentioned earlier in a previous Q-Fold blog – that Google+ posts are giving news stories that much needed top billing when someone searches using Google (which as we all know, is what a lot of people do.)
Winfield noticed that while he was searching for breaking news about the hunt for accused murderer Christopher Dorner, he discovered that a number of individuals and bloggers were making the first Google search page by virtue of their Google+ postings.
It’s not surprising, considering Google really wants you to use Google+, so an incentive like this can be enticing.
You can fight it, of course; decide you don’t want to reward Google for such behavior. But I’m not sure Google is going to flinch. So it seems that utilization of the tool is the best course of action.
In his article Winfield suggests several things to do in order to improve Breaking News SEO. Rather than rehash what he already outlined, I will just suggest that you take a look at what he wrote when you get the chance.
But I will highlight his one suggestion… make sure you have some sort of multimedia video or image that accompanies your update whenever possible.
ChrsWhitfield shows the four elements that boosted a breaking news item’s profile, thanks to a posting on Google+.
He notes that the top results in a search get some appealing bonuses in their listing, provided you have images in your link. The four things that can be shown in a Google listing include:
- An all caps “BREAKING NEWS”
- Logo thumbnail
- A big image
- Freshest result gets a bump (so frequent updates can be helpful.)
Considering its advantages, it makes sense to use Google+ on a regular basis when posting news updates… particularly of the “Breaking News” variety.
Source: “The Google+ Effect on Breaking News,” by Chris Winfield, BlueGlass.com, Feb. 13, 2013
Q-Fold 