What: Search Engine Optimization for Journalists

Where: Google+ Hangout

When: Thursday, January 17th 5pm PT/8pm ET

Exposure and reaching a larger audience are key components to online journalism. Learning how to use the tools the web provides gives us the means to raise the level of discourse. The IVN team will put together a Google+ hangout on Jan. 17 at 5pm PT to help writers understand the system of Search Engine Optimization.

What is SEO & Why Is It Important to Journalists?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an algorithm Google uses to interpret and rank web pages. As it pertains to journalists, practicing SEO properly will help your article rank higher for relevant search terms. This is one of the most effective tools journalists have to increase article visibility.

We look to open the discussion to anyone participating in our workshop.

What Keywords Do I Use?

A focus keyword dictates how your article will be found on Google and your SEO ranking itself. Journalists should stay away from broad keywords as they will be ranked with larger news sources. Journalists should think about what a reader would search for as it relates to an articles content.

Where Do Keywords Need To Be?

When using Wordpress on IVN, a focus keyword should be found in your article's URL, meta description, page title, and multiple times in the copy. We will dig deeper into how to do this with articles.

What Else Improves SEO Ranking?

Within your article, including links to sources, increasing the word count, and adding a picture will help your SEO ranking. Pictures should be renamed to include your focus keyword.

Without getting into too much detail, we've outlined the topics we'll discuss in the workshop. All contributors are welcome and encouraged to participate in the workshop. We look forward to helping anyone become a better journalist!