Polemic Digital

Today my first Press Gazette comment piece was published. In this article I reflect on the potential impact of AI Overviews, with a new study showing it could have a detrimental effect on many publishers. However, as I argue in the piece, the fuss about AI Overviews masks a bigger problem. And that is that Google can basically switch off organic traffic to any website at any stage, as part of one of their core algorithm updates. This point was also made by Kevin Indig in his latest Growth Memo newsletter (which I highly recommend you subscribe to) and is somewhat slept on by many public media commentators. AI Overviews aren’t the biggest threat. The unpredictability and unaccountability of algorithm updates, that’s the real tiger lurking in the grass.

ICYMI, shortly after my presentation on this topic to the WAN-IFRA World News Media Congress last week, I wrote about the actual impact of AI Overviews on publishers' traffic. In a nutshell: ➡️ AI Overviews don't show for hard news topics (confirmed by Google) ➡️ Initial data shows a small negative impact on traffic ➡️ But... some data shows more clicks from AIO vs a regular SERP ➡️ It appears to be very context-dependent As we start getting more data on AI Overviews, we can better evaluate their impact on the online publishing ecosystem. Read the full newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/epiAFzd8

In the latest edition of SEOforGoogleNews.com, Barry Adams looks into the revelations contained in internal documents released in a recent Google antitrust trial. Turns out, Google is all about Links and Clicks (and Keywords) #seo #newsseo #googlenews

Join me and NewzDash founder and good friend John Shehata on March 11th for a live webinar discussing advanced Technical SEO for News Publishers. We will discuss: - #CoreWebVitals for News Publishers - SEO for #Paywalls - International SEO for News Websites - #TechSEO Audits for News Sites - Large Scale Site Migrations - New/Advanced implementation of Structured Data - Technical SEO for Timeliness & Freshness - #SGE impact on news publishers - #AI in the newsroom - Plus you get to ask us any question about #NewsSEO! Limited seats so reserve your space now! Find the link to register in the comments.

“SEO from A to Z” is a workshop presented by Barry Adams, an expert in search engine optimization, during the activities of the second edition of the Egypt Media Forum. Journalists and media professionals can now register through our website:  www.egymediaforum.com "قواعد التوافق مع محركات البحث من الألف إلى الياء".. ورشة تدريبية يقدمها باري آدامز خبير تحسين محركات البحث، خلال فعاليات النسخة الثانية من منتدى مصر للإعلام. التسجيل متاح الآن للصحافيين والإعلاميين من خلال موقعنا الرسمي #منتدى_مصر_للإعلام_2023 #EMF2023  

Here's our irregular roundup of interesting news and resources in online publishing: SEO for News Websites with Barry Adams https://lnkd.in/e_2JRNx4 NESS 2023 Giveaway! - Ask a News SEO with Barry Adams and John Shehata https://lnkd.in/eDr7-t2m An SEO guide to optimizing your Google Publisher Center account https://lnkd.in/ebN-h_ue AI is killing the grand bargain at the heart of the web https://lnkd.in/e4gHis9f Ask the experts: paywalls, subscription and SEO https://lnkd.in/ezQmBYcT Mastering E.E.A.T: How to create content Google wants https://lnkd.in/eeMzmJZH Top 50 biggest news websites in the world https://lnkd.in/eJtnK2jN Google News SEO Guide 2023: Best Practices for News Publishers https://lnkd.in/eWj84VfP A Step-by-Step News Article Template with SEO Best Practices https://lnkd.in/gWwQ9JiE #seo #googlenews #newsseo #digitalpublishing

🔦NESS 2023 Speaker Spotlight🔦: We're super pleased that Kevin Indig agreed to speak at our event. Kevin is a SEO and growth advisor with an amazing CV, having worked for companies like Shopify, G2, and Atlassian. At #NESS23 he will talk about how AI won't replace writers, but can help hem become 10x better! Catch Kevin's talk and many more from our roster of seasoned industry professionals only at the 2023 News and Editorial SEO Summit. Our special Early Bird offer ends today! Tomorrow ticket prices go up, so grab your ticket quickly. #SEO #NewsSEO #AI #GrowthMarketing #AudienceGrowth

Our last roundup of news & articles relevant to SEO and publishing was well-received, so we're looking to make it a regular thing here. Below a selection of recent articles and resources that we found interesting and useful: Advanced Insights into Googlebot Crawling: https://lnkd.in/e8ekJxCc News publishers declare global principles for bargaining with Big Tech: https://lnkd.in/gpzcNYGH Large language models, explained with a minimum of math and jargon: https://lnkd.in/db9JjWWv Topical Authority for SEO: What it is and How to Build It: https://lnkd.in/eAfQ2Dxx What is the Google Knowledge Graph? https://lnkd.in/enD9gTZF Most popular websites for business news in UK in 2023: https://lnkd.in/ehgdhgKQ How to build a better search engine than Google: https://lnkd.in/gHxUkwdV Give it a like and/or repost it to your network if you appreciate this roundup. #seo #newsseo #onlinenews #digitalpublishing #googlenews

Here's a round up of some of the more interesting stories and resources about online news & digital publishing that we've come across in the past few weeks: Google and Meta have made 6,773 grants to news publishers: What are they up to? https://lnkd.in/ec_vMjVx AI, the media, and the lessons of the past: https://lnkd.in/e3pMq28B Robots.txt is not the answer: Proposing a new meta tag for LLM/AI: https://lnkd.in/eH8BG4nu Google explores AI tools for journalists, in talks with publishers: https://lnkd.in/dfZkbwmE Google News Indexing Disruption Resolved: https://lnkd.in/ewa7xYyK Guard Your SEO: Are News Syndication Partners Hijacking Your Traffic? https://lnkd.in/eGVFGJKR Google to pull news in Canada, generative AI updates and more: https://lnkd.in/eyCwKqvk If you appreciate this post, give it a like and we'll make it a regular thing. #publishing #onlinepublishing #onlinenews #digitalpublishing #seo #newsseo #seoforgooglenews