The search landscape is changing so fast that 1 / 2 of what we knew a year ago about search engine optimization and marketing has become obsolete, reports Greg Jarboe in his SEO-PR Newsblog. Jarboe is just a regular presenter at the Search Engine Strategies (SES) conference and web search versus vertical search (in search areas like news) was one of many new search trends featured at the San Jose SES.
The growth of the news search has only come about within the last few few years. According to Nielsen/Net ratings, in June 2004 CNN.com was still the #1 online news source with Yahoo not too far behind. By January 2005 Yahoo rose to #1 with 23 million readers per month and by June 2005 they certainly were taking out in front with 29 million readers per month, dominating the web news ratings.
News search is playing a larger and bigger role in online marketing. Google has a news search section, as does AOL, MSN and Alta Vista. Sites like Topix are drawing viewers looking for great local trend press news. Recent studies show that 77 percent of Internet users manage to get thier news online and it's the main choice for news in the 18 - 54 year senior years group. People go online and search the news engines by topic and keyword. The LA Times reported on the trend, saying that veteran journalists are looking to the PR field for work, now that so many readers are reading their news online.
If you find a relevant and timely article in Google News, Google will last up that news item in the Google 'One-Box' above the #1 position once you do a website search on a keyword or phrase. Yahoo News now indexes blog posts in a reaction to the clear trend that early adopters turn to blogs for news. Getting the message out in the news search has emerged as an essential part of your search engine optimization and marketing strategy.
Optimizing press releases and news articles is no longer a 'nice-to-do one day' idea or 'something we ought to try.' It's a proven strategy you should be implementing right now. Put these articles into an RSS feed and you'll start to show up in the most unexpected places!
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