INTERVIEW to Clara SoterasSEO consultant in media and digital strategy, professor at the University of Barcelona and author of the book “SEO instruction manual for media”, which has also just been launched in English - under the title "SEO Playbook for News Publishers" - and is a manual completely focused on a global audience, with new examples and screenshots and use cases.
-Clara, how has SEO changed the work of the traditional journalist?
The truth is that SEO changed the way content is worked and distributed in newsrooms several years ago, but it has not changed journalism. Yes, what a journalist must now take into account when planning the publication of his article has changed, how to title it but above all also how to show it to the user. That is, is it better to offer an explainer format to tell the latest changes in the self-employed quotas announced by the Government? Would it be good to answer questions readers have beyond explaining political statements? This has evolved and incorporating an SEO mentality into the journalistic routine means having more visibility potential for each editor's content.
Now, with the arrival of AI and the application in the search engine, we have made another leap forward (not backward). Simply, the user has once again changed the way they consume information or the editorial product and we have to adapt. The goal, in the end, is to offer the user what they need and give it to them in the best possible way, talking about format, channel and platform.
-Is it something that there is still reluctance in newsrooms or have professionals had no choice but to assume that their job, in addition to writing, researching and verifying, now also entails having knowledge of SEO and putting it into practice.
I think this debate has long since been overcome. With the incorporation of SEO profiles in newsrooms, it has become necessary that they are essential roles to help with the traffic acquisition strategy. Let's not forget that the KPI of page views is still very present in the Spanish media ecosystem to place us in the ranking and “measure” ourselves.
I always say that there are news and articles that are "products" that help differentiate us from the competition and that other editorial brand and that make you unique, with your exclusives, your topics and your reports and analysis, while there are articles that will facilitate the volume to attract new consumers, such as, for example, learning to play with the Google Discover algorithm that precisely this summer, with the last major Google update, has caused the monthly traffic of various general media. I think that now AI has been able to take on that role and that it is capturing the interest and also the fears and fears of journalists in the newsrooms.
-However, with the emergence of AI... we can say that SEO has even become outdated. Now we talk about AEO: what would it consist of?
There are those who talk about AEO or GEO or LLMO. For me, and for many colleagues who have been dedicated to this for a long time, we can say that SEO has changed again and incorporates some more new features to take into account or that the usual ranking factors have been recalculated and have changed in percentage terms and we must shift our focus. Even so, it is not true that it is something totally different and that we no longer have to talk about SEO.
SEO is not dead, but it has changed, as it has been doing all its life because user behavior changes, so does the way we optimize for platforms. Talking only about GEO or AEO, for me is something totally marketing-oriented that I would not like to add to, because the ranking factors remain the same and good quality content, the technical optimization of the website and the authority and trust in journalists, is still there and more important than ever.
-What practices are beneficial for the journalist's work and should now also be integrated into their day-to-day work?
When I train journalists and newsrooms, the first thing I explain to them is that I have also been a journalist and that, therefore, I understand their needs and resources, as well as that they only have two hands to carry out several tasks at the same time and, in addition, now also SEO. So the way to evangelize SEO in newsrooms is very important because it has to be part of the daily news publication mechanism.
In fact, I always explain to them what the process of publishing breaking news, breaking news, is like, and I explain all the points of the mechanism, placing the action of publishing halfway. That's when they understand that there is a lot of prior and subsequent work to continue positioning and optimizing that topic for the reader. Knowing how to headline or how to capture trends or how to plan content for a big event is also important for a journalist or a section coordinator. The final question should be: do we write to be read, right? Well, we have to incorporate the visibility and optimization layer so as not to remain hidden on the network.
-How does the arrival of AI in search results –AI Overviews– on Google affect media traffic?
Well, we are really seeing that the most affected media are those that had the most timeless or evergreen content. In this way, working with the current news of the day allows you to continue positioning in the Top Stories or Featured News module that Google presents, while timeless searches are already history and the AI answers them, as it already did with zero click, those searches that Google already answered directly without having to search, such as the age of a famous person, the weather in a specific city or the result of the last soccer match. Now we have to change the strategy a little and really create articles and content that offer something useful to the user, not simply position for the sake of positioning. Making evergreen articles will help us create authority regarding a topic but not get clicks.
-Is it possible to minimize its impact or must we assume that the Internet user will no longer click and will stay with the AI summary that Google offers him?
We are seeing the first studies that already cite drastic drops in clicks, such as the 34.5% fewer clicks reported by Ahrefs. Yes, it is happening on all websites and more so on informational ones, not so much on transactional ones.
It is vital to change the content focus and perhaps stop creating those miraculous guides to products, foods or endless movie lists to really offer something of value to the user. Why not create a movie recommender based on your interests? Why not create a community that shares your food list to make recipes together? SEO is no longer just SEO and right now that is what I am also working on with different media and newsrooms, creating a community around an editorial product.
-In addition to the impact of AI, many media outlets are suffering from seeing their reach reduced after each update of Google's algorithm. What measures can you take to recover positioning and not lose so much traffic?
Google Discover traffic is still there, although there are fewer and fewer options to appear in the showcase now that they will also include brands and influencers through their social networks. Now, the important thing here is to diversify the sources of media monetization and it cannot be that we continue chasing the KPI of page views to make ends meet. Beyond subscriptions there are communities, events, training, services... Traffic is something else but it should not be the only thing. We must be references for our audience by thinking about where and how we can generate business. What are we experts in and what can make us different?
-What should neither journalists nor the media do to be “penalized” by Google's algorithm today?
They should not continue betting on low-quality content and focused on only inflating the current analytics. Nor would it be advisable to continue working as if there were few journalists in the newsroom, using the generic signature too often, since it does not give any authenticity and authority to the media's journalists and we are not helping Google to understand that we have expert reporters on these topics.
We must aim to be differential and give veracity to the information, work on the topics and categories that concern us and not talk about psychology and health if we are really a sports media or try to talk about video games if our specialty is economic information. In fact, some of the most awarded media and least affected by the latest algorithm updates are local media, since they are precisely very specialized and focused on their local audience by offering service information.
In this way, I stick with the recommendation of becoming a reference for your audience, be it local, be it generalist, be it niche, but create something different that differentiates you from your competition and that the user wants to come to you, today, tomorrow and next year.
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