SAN JOSE, CA — News search engines are worth exploring as they are a good way to get targeted traffic to a Web site, panelists at the “News Search SEO” session at SES San Jose said.
The group discussed how to make use of press releases and news content to tap into the power of news search.
Traditional media is losing its value and the Internet is growing at an exponential rate,” said Sally Falkow, president of Expansion Plus Inc., Los Angeles, CA. “To be successful, you have got to get your news online.”
The public, as well as the media, use news search engines daily, so it is important to make press releases visible.
“On average, 97 million Americans use the Internet,” said Greg Jarboe, president and co-founder of Acton, MA-based SEO-PR. “Sixty million of those Internet users use search engines. Fifty million Americans get news online.”
Mr. Jarboe also said that news search engines are among the top ten news and media sites.
“One way into news search is through blogs,” said Nan Dawkins, partner at RedBoots Consulting, McLean, VA. “Thirty-nine percent of internet users report using blogs. That’s roughly 57 million adults.”
Blogs are a source of news, and sometimes they even serve as watchdogs for mainstream media, Ms. Dawkins said.
It is imperative to create a target list of blogs and then test them in Google and Yahoo and follow what happens, Ms. Dawkins said.
Pay for post does not work. In order to woo bloggers, one must act like a blogger. You have to get interested and participate in the blog.
You have to get to know them, their interests and so on. And then, when the release you have is relevant to what they are blogging, you can present them with it
“Don’t spam,” she warned. “Blogs can help you dominate the news search shelf space so you have to go about things the right way.”
