Thread by @semrush

Do you think about your homepage?

Hey there 👋. I’m @shelbyblackley, SEO Manager for @mashable & co-creator of #WTFisSEO?, a newsletter that helps news publishers do search better. 🤓

SEO for news is complex. But your homepage is a secret to ranking.

#SEOThread

We spend hours upon hours optimizing our daily articles so Google will rank them in Top Stories, Google News, and Discover.

We focus a ton on optimizing the:
☑️ Headlines
☑️ Decks
☑️ Slugs/URLs

of our daily news files.

#SEOThread @shelbyblackley

We wait patiently for Google to index the URL.

But what if there was a faster way for Google to find that fresh, new story you just published? 🤔🤔

The crawlers need to get to it somehow. 🧐

Enter your homepage. 🔗

#SEOThread @shelbyblackley

Crawlers enter your site from the homepage and follow the URLs linked from there.

They then index and rank your homepage stories and follow the internal links in those stories to other stories. And so on.

#SEOThread @shelbyblackley

Linking a story from your homepage speeds up the indexing process because crawlers go through your homepage first.

You’re signaling that right now, this story is important to your readers. 🚨🚨

#SEOThread @shelbyblackley

Linking from your homepage is an advantage:
☑️ Fast signal of new, fresh content
☑️ Repromote evergreen articles related to the story
☑️ Link to big investigations
☑️ Boost your org's E.A.T signals
☑️ Rank higher. Get more traffic. Get more subs. 🥪

#SEOThread @shelbyblackley

Look at the structure of your homepage:

Do you have...

🤔A "latest news" widget for articles to receive a link once published?
🤔A sidebar of "trending" articles?
🤔A section for categories, "best work" or "reader favourites"?

#SEOThread @shelbyblackley

#NewsSEO means giving visibility to as many stories as possible.

Your homepage can be the first major link your article receives. 🔗

Then, package the story. Link to it in related articles so it can be found by readers multiple ways.

#SEOThread @shelbyblackley

That may mean:
☑️ A "read more" link under the main story
☑️ A list of top stories of the day
☑️ A package of most informative stories on a topic

#SEOThread @shelbyblackley

Your homepage is just one component of a good news SEO strategy.

Think strategically, and work with your editors to best surface articles.

And don't forget: quality content is king, but it doesn't matter if no one finds it. 🗞️📰

#SEOThread @shelbyblackley