Keyword Match: Publishers and SEO, Says Hearst's Dan Roberts

The silent thought in many publishers' minds when the subject of search engine optimization (SEO) comes up may be "Sounds great -- in theory. But how do I do it?" Speaking from experience, Dan Roberts, a senior SEO analyst for Hearst Digital Media of New York, says achieving top rankings involves buy-in by all involved -- from the editors to the top brass.Roberts, who will be a presenter during the Publishing Business Conference and Expo in March, should know. In 2006, he helped create a search-friendly proprietary content management system (CMS) that boosted Hearst's 2007 search traffic by 51 percent and accounted for most of network's unique visits and its overall traffic. He recently provided advice for publishers who would like to know SEO for themselves.INBOX: What can publishing executives do to enhance their site traffic?DAN ROBERTS: Ultimately that's what search is about … answering the questions that your audience is asking. INBOX: Should publishers who don't understand SEO hire an outside expert, or is it better for them to learn on their own?ROBERTS: A publishing executive wants somebody who actually knows both, ideally, the digital space (search engine optimization) and publishing, and to have them bring the publisher up to speed as best they can.INBOX: What components should publishers look for in content management systems to ensure that they're search-friendly and support their SEO efforts?ROBERTS: Flexibility, first and foremost. The more flexible your CMS is, the better your chances that you'll be able to be competitive in the search space. … With CMS, it all comes down to keywords, and how you use those keywords, and where those keywords appear. And there are a number of critical fields where you want them to appear. And if your CMS doesn't support, for instance, being able to use keywords in your file names, it's not the end of the world. But it's a missed opportunity and it's one less opportunity to reinforce what that page is about.INBOX: What best practices do you advise to achieve top rankings?ROBERTS: Keyword research is fundamental; understanding your audience. … A lot of times they don't know that they're coming to your site. But when they see a search result that is relevant to them, they're going to click through.INBOX: How should publishers make their results stand out among commonly searched keywords?ROBERTS: With a common keyword like … 'global warming,' in and of itself, is a highly, highly competitive phrase. … If it's an article about the causes of global warming, then you want to get more specific and talk about the causes of global warming. because you're not going to rank for global warming. … You [can] create a list of 15 household items that contribute to global warming. … It always has to be contextually relevant.INBOX: What procedures should publishers put in place to ensure their editors use keywords? Should these always be included in copy?ROBERTS: It all comes down to training. … In our organization, we sort of take a loaves and fishes approach where we have a very light SEO staff and yet we manage 25 different sites' optimization campaigns. So, logistically, the best way we can do that is to train the editors intuitively to use keywords in a way, as they're publishing the article. And it really makes the most sense because they're hands-on in the content … You have to come back to them and say, 'This is the reason we do this. We grew search traffic 80 percent over last year and it's thanks to the good work that you guys are doing.' And maybe going to another team and saying 'You guys moved the needle about 10 percent. We feel there's a lot of room for growth for you guys. Let's sit down again and review some best practices.' [Editor's note: Roberts adds that the 80-percent figure is Hearst's 2008 year-over-year search traffic improvement.]INBOX: What members of the staff are key to support successful SEO efforts? How do you get them to buy in?ROBERTS: I would say the editors are one of the most important pieces of the puzzle. But it's really the entire staff. Everything from the producers to the developers to the editors to even the executives. … We have a number of executives who understand the value of it and who make it a priority and who give us the authority to say 'These are requirements. These are things that you guys need to be doing.'INBOX: Should content change to match SEO efforts, or should SEO efforts match content?ROBERTS: I would say SEO should match the content, initially. … You have to establish results. It's much easier to wrap SEO around existing content than it is to convince an editor to publish content based on what you're seeing in SEO. Now, the magic happens when you turn the corner and you get to the point where either the editor decides themselves based on some key word analysis they're doing, when they start to see the opportunities and embrace them … . We have one site in particular that has done just that, where their content strategy shifted almost entirely based on some of the results they were seeing from search and social media … they've doubled their search volume year over year for the past two years. [It's] Popular Mechanics.

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Keyword Match: Publishers and SEO, Says Hearst's Dan Roberts

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