SEO for Publishers: How to Maximize Content Visibility

What Is SEO for Publishers & Why Is It Important?

Search motor optimization (SEO) for publishers is the process of improving online publications to make them much visible connected hunt motor results pages (SERPs). 

Publishers tin usage SEO to amended attract traffic and generate revenue—especially if they trust connected advertisement gross for profitability.

Here’s an illustration:

Let’s opportunity a patient displays a banner advertisement astatine the apical of their webpage. And it’s an consciousness advertisement that involves the advertiser paying a definite magnitude of money for each 1,000 views. 

Perhaps the patient is presently earning astir $5,000 per time from this.

If the patient implements a caller SEO strategy to get much postulation from hunt motor results pages (SERPs), that tin lead to much advertisement views and much revenue.

5 Publishing SEO Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Here are 5 challenges successful implementing SEO for publishers. And tips for overcoming them.

1. Adapting to Google Algorithm Updates

Recent Google algorithm updates person caused immoderate publishers to get little visibility and integrated postulation from the SERPs and Google Discover.

Some circumstantial challenges brought astir by algorithm updates see the following:

• Google appears to favor contented from bigger domains, possibly because it views them arsenic having much authority and expertise. As a result, immoderate independent publications’ pages whitethorn struggle to compete.
• Google has started prioritizing user-generated contented connected forums for illustration Reddit and Quora because of accrued personification request for specified content. Which immoderate spot arsenic much unbiased than search-optimized content.
• Google’s SERP features person reduced the disposable abstraction connected SERPs for integrated listings. So there’s much title for hunt visibility.

Take the SERP for “ai information centers ambiance change.”

The apical of the page is dominated by an AI Overview, a consequence from a forum-type website, and a People Also Ask (PAA) box.

Only aft that do we spot immoderate results from publishers.

Overcome these algorithm-related hurdles by:

• Optimizing your contented for Google’s SERP features: Create videos to rank for video carousels aliases an FAQ page to target the PAA box, for instance
• Growing authority by covering topics you’re knowledgeable of: Higher-authority sites thin to rank higher. Once group are acquainted pinch your marque and spot it, they whitethorn spell straight to your publication for accusation alternatively of searching connected Google.
• Doing Reddit SEO: Engage successful applicable conversations connected Reddit truthful that erstwhile searchers position hunt results from Reddit, they whitethorn spot your marque there

2. Getting Google to Map a Constantly Evolving Website

Google’s web crawlers person problem keeping up pinch sites that people tons of caller contented daily, which whitethorn origin these pages to return longer to rank.

The fix?

Direct Google toward the pages you want searchers to find (e.g., up-to-date contented pinch ads and connection links). And steer it distant from little important pages, for illustration older articles and privateness policies.

These strategies will thief Google representation your site:

• Create a search-friendly tract structure. Organize menus and articles hierarchically for easy navigation. Categorize your contented by topics and subtopics to create a website architecture some humans and Google tin understand.
• Optimize your meta tags. These are portion of your website’s HTML and see meta descriptions and title tags. They awesome page relevance, and you tin optimize them successful ways for illustration including your target keywords.
• Optimize your sitemap. Update your sitemap routinely to thief scale your astir important pages and articles. Check retired this XML sitemap for an illustration of what this record looks like.
• Use robots.txt. Include “disallow” commands successful your robots.txt (i.e., a matter record pinch instructions for hunt motor robots) to show crawlers not to crawl unimportant pages

Even if you’ve followed the supra tips, it’s a bully thought to cheque whether Google tin entree your contented utilizing the “Crawlability” study successful Semrush’s Site Audit tool. 

It’ll show you issues that could forestall Google from uncovering and/or indexing important contented connected your site.

3. Making Paywalled Content Discoverable by Google

Paywalled contented whitethorn wounded your hunt motor rankings if Google can’t bypass the paywall to observe and understand the page’s content.

To flooded this challenge, publishers tin usage Google’s flexible sampling guidelines aliases system information to make paywalled pages discoverable while maintaining contented protection.

Here’s how.

Flexible sampling is erstwhile subscribers (and bots) tin research a portion of your content. Some models include:

• Lead-in: Offer portion of the contented (e.g., the first third) and require a subscription for the rest
• Metering: Offer an article quota (e.g., springiness readers entree to a fewer articles per month) and require a subscription for further articles

This is an illustration of metering:

You tin besides usage system information (also known arsenic schema markup) to thief Google place paywalled content.

First, adhd HTML people names astir the paywalled sections of your page. Google offers this example:

<body>

<p>This content is outside a paywall and is visible to all.</p>

<div class="paywall">This content is inside a paywall and requires a subscription or registration.</div>

</body>

Then, adhd the NewsArticle system information to show Google that the page contented is down a paywall:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "NewsArticle",
  "mainEntityOfPage": {
    "@type": "WebPage",
    "@id": "https://example.org/article"
  },
  (...)
"isAccessibleForFree": "False",
  "hasPart": {
    "@type": "WebPageElement",
    "isAccessibleForFree": "False",
    "cssSelector": ".paywall"
  }
}

4. Keeping Page Speeds Fast When Using Tracking Pixels

Tracking pixels thief advertisers and publishers understand which ads lend to visits, sales, sign-ups, and different conversions by search users’ behavior.

Poor search pixel practices (like adding unnecessary pixels to your pages) tin origin your pages to load slower. Which tin negatively amended your ranking performance.

Minimize the effect of search pixels connected your page velocity by:

• Limiting your pixel use: The much codification you adhd to a page, the much apt you’ll slow down page speed. Prioritize basal pixels (e.g., conversion pixels). And don’t adhd pixels to pages you don’t request to track.
• Using asynchronous code: That intends coding your page to load contented and search pixel codification simultaneously
• Tracking the effect of immoderate changes: After adding aliases updating search pixels, cheque the effect of your actions by entering your URL into Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool

5. Dealing pinch Keyword Cannibalization

Keyword cannibalization happens erstwhile aggregate pages connected the aforesaid tract compete pinch each different for the aforesaid hunt rankings.

In different words, it happens erstwhile 2 pages target the aforesaid keyword and fulfill the aforesaid hunt intent. Or if Google interprets them arsenic doing this.

Keyword cannibalization tin beryllium difficult to debar for manufacture and news publishers that create aggregate pieces of contented connected akin topics. And astatine scale.

Here’s really to lick it:

Use Semrush’s Position Tracking to find pages wherever keyword cannibalization occurs.

First, set up your project, past spell to the “Cannibalization” tab.

You’ll spot the pursuing astatine the apical of the report:

• The number of affected keywords: Keywords wherever you person much than 1 page ranking successful the apical 100
• The number of cannibal pages: URLs that stock a top-100 keyword ranking pinch 1 aliases much different URLs

Then, scroll down to the “Cannibalization” section. And click connected “Keywords” to get a database of affected keywords.

Click connected the downward arrow to spot the URLs competing for the aforesaid keyword. And the competing URLs’ rankings for the keyword (on the latest day successful view).

Then, region the imaginable for further cannibalization by doing the following:

• Combining pages pinch akin contented into a single, broad page. And redirect the alternate pages to the main page.
• Editing your pages to attraction connected different target keywords aliases chopped aspects of a topic

Mapping your keywords and topics—and checking if these overlap pinch existing pages’ target keywords and topics—before creating them tin besides forestall keyword cannibalization issues from cropping up.

9 SEO Tips for Publishers

Here are 9 SEO tips for publishers to summation visibility and conversions:

1. Put Readers Before Algorithms

Creating contented that resonates pinch readers and encourages them to share, link, and return to your tract is much important than penning for hunt motor algorithms. 

Creating genuinely reliable and engaging contented will apt amended your hunt rankings and organic traffic complete time.

Google emphasizes this point:

Google’s automated ranking systems are designed to coming helpful, reliable accusation that's chiefly created to use people, not to summation hunt motor rankings, successful the apical Search results.

Do the pursuing to create value contented that resonates pinch readers:

• Ensure your contented meets search intent (i.e., the information down a search). For example, if users are looking for places to sojourn successful Mexico, create an article that recommends Mexican tourer destinations alternatively of discussing the country’s history.
• Add original insights and investigation to your content. Interview experts to enrich your contented pinch insights gleaned complete years of experience. Or behaviour surveys and coming information to backmost up your claims.
• Avoid keyword stuffing, which is utilizing keywords many times and unnaturally. Both readers and hunt engines will find the contented difficult to follow—they mightiness moreover spot it arsenic spammy.

2. Do Keyword Research

Create applicable contented for your niche by conducting keyword research, which uncovers the phrases your target readers type into hunt engines.

Your keyword investigation strategy depends connected the type of publication you have.

Say you tally an manufacture publication that produces in-depth guides connected topics successful your niche. Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool tin show you applicable hunt position for topics worthy covering.

Enter your target taxable and domain into the tool, take your target location, and past click “Search.”

You’ll spot keyword suggestions based connected your first phrase, positive accusation like:

• Intent: The keyword’s hunt intent.
• Volume: The keyword’s mean monthly hunt volume. Keywords pinch higher hunt volumes tin bring successful much postulation but tin besides beryllium much competitive.
• Potential Traffic (Pot. Traffic): How overmuch postulation you could get from ranking for the keyword
• Personal Keyword Difficulty (PKD %): A percent people of your circumstantial site’s chances of ranking successful the apical 10 for that keyword. The little the score, the higher your chances.

You tin besides click the topics connected the near to select by subtopic:

From there, take the keywords that champion fresh your brand’s contented strategy.

For instance, you whitethorn want to target keywords pinch commercialized intent if you intend to people pieces pinch connection links. Since readers whitethorn click these links to bargain thing you’ve promoted successful your content.

You could besides spell for keywords pinch debased PKD %, arsenic these will beryllium easier to rank for.

3. Update Your Content for Freshness

Keep your contented fresh—meaning updated and relevant—so it ranks good for news-related and different time-sensitive hunt queries.

Examples of queries that require content freshness see the following:

• “trending memes”—where searchers are looking for the latest viral memes
• “olympics sailing results”—where searchers want the latest Olympics sailing results
• “train breakdown”—if a train breakdown has conscionable happened successful the searcher’s city
• “blackpink performance dates 2025”—where searchers want dates for Blackpink concerts happening successful 2025

People who hunt these queries want the astir caller and up-to-date information. So hunt motor algorithms will prioritize ranking contented that provides it.

Keep your contented caller by:

• Using media monitoring devices to intimately travel discussions successful your niche. That way, you’ll beryllium successful the cognize astir caller events. And tin update your pages—or create caller ones—to screen them.
• Updating your pages successful consequence to the latest developments. For example, accusation tin go inaccurate pursuing a alteration to the law. Update immoderate pages containing references to that rule arsenic soon arsenic possible.
• Regularly auditing your pages for underperforming content. Auditing your tract reveals pages that person begun to gaffe successful performance. And updating those pages will support your contented caller and tin amended your hunt rankings.

4. Optimize for Google News

Optimize your contented to look connected Google News, which provides users pinch a personalized provender of news articles from various publishers based connected their preferred topics.

Google ranks publishers’ contented successful Google News utilizing factors like:

• Your content’s relevance to a news topic
• Your publication’s authoritativeness
• Your content’s freshness
• Your content’s location and language

So, optimize your contented accordingly. For example, you tin do the following:

• Research keywords applicable to a news taxable you want to cover, and adhd these keywords to your content
• Publish your contented soon aft applicable incidents happen
• Create contented successful your target readers’ preferred languages

Getting backlinks (links from different sites to yours) tin besides summation your publication’s authoritativeness.

Then, way your content’s Google News capacity successful Google Search Console. By going to the “Performance connected Google News” report.

Image Source: Google Developers

5. Use Structured Data to Make Your Pages Stand Out

Structured information makes paywalled contented much discoverable and besides helps Google understand your contented better, truthful it tin create much eye-catching and clickable listings connected SERPs.

For example, system information tin show Google what a news article’s header and main image are. So Google tin prominently show those elements connected the SERP:

This makes news articles much clickable than a plain bluish link.

Types of system data that are applicable to publishers see the following:

• Article
• NewsArticle
• Review
• Video
• Speakable

Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper makes it easy to make system data.

First, take the due information type from the list.

Enter the URL of the page you want to use the markup to aliases paste the page’s HTML. Then, prime “Start Tagging.”

The instrumentality will load your page connected the near and a “Records” sheet connected the right:

Highlight the elements you’d for illustration to people up and prime the corresponding information point.

For example, item your article’s writer and take the “Author” information point from the pop-up menu.

The instrumentality will return the author’s sanction and spot it adjacent to the “Author” section connected the correct side.

You tin besides tag items connected your page manually. On the correct side, scroll down until you spot the “Add missing tags” button.

Click it to unfastened a pop-up model for adding tags manually.

Continue adding markup items.

When you’re done, click the “Create HTML” fastener astatine the apical correct of the surface to make system information you tin adhd to your site.

Click the drop-down paper astatine the apical to take betwixt JSON-LD (recommended) and microdata.

Copy the code. Then, spell to your content guidance system (CMS) aliases different website level and paste the codification into your page’s <head> section.

After you’re done, cheque that you’ve implemented your system information correctly utilizing Site Audit’s “Markup” report. 

It’ll show you which pages person schema markup and if immoderate of your pages person invalid system data.

6. Optimize Your Images

Optimize your images truthful your pages load faster and are easier for hunt engines to understand— which tin amended your pages’ hunt rankings.

To trim your images’ load speeds, compress them pinch a free instrumentality for illustration TinyPNG. 

Just upload your image, and the instrumentality will compress it (i.e., make the record size smaller).

Compressing your images whitethorn trim their quality. So, find a bully equilibrium betwixt record size and quality.

Also, group up lazy-loading connected your tract to guarantee images only load erstwhile they look connected the screen.

This way, your pages won’t load images until users are fresh to spot them. Which tin thief your pages load faster.

If your tract runs connected WordPress, you tin instal a plugin for illustration LazyLoad to do this.

Last but not least, adhd replacement matter (usually called alt text) to your images to thief hunt engines understand their content. Which tin summation your images’ chances of ranking well.

Plus, alt matter improves accessibility for visually impaired users, which tin further summation engagement.

Alt matter besides appears erstwhile an image can’t load. That way, moreover users pinch slow net speeds tin still understand the image’s contents.

Most contented guidance systems person image alt matter settings, which intends you don’t request to adhd alt matter to your image’s HTML directly. 

Here’s what this mounting looks for illustration successful WordPress:

Keep your alt matter descriptive and concise and adhd applicable keywords wherever appropriate.

Internal links are links that link pages wrong the aforesaid website, and they administer ranking authority and thief hunt engines understand the relationships betwixt your content. 

Find charismatic pages and orphan pages (i.e., pages pinch nary soul links pointing to them) utilizing Semrush’s Site Audit.

Create a task wrong the tool. And click connected “View details” nether “Internal Linking.”

The “Internal Linking” study will show you which of your pages person the astir authority and which ones person the slightest authority.

Click connected “# issues” beside “Orphaned sitemap pages” to get a afloat database of URLs.

Add links from your charismatic pages to related low-ranking aliases orphaned pages.

8. Build Backlinks to Grow Readership

Build backlinks to turn referral postulation from different sites and to thief your rankings.

Google uses backlinks to fig retired whether your tract is trustworthy. Backlinks from charismatic websites awesome to Google that it tin spot your content.

A higher level of spot tin lead to amended hunt rankings and much integrated traffic.

Here’s an illustration of a backlink connected a publisher’s website:

Newsworthy stories and in-depth features people pull shares. So, you whitethorn gain backlinks pinch minimal effort.

You tin besides people contented successful business pinch different publication, influencer, aliases brand. Or promote them to nexus to what you’ve created.

Find retired what types of contented pull backlinks pinch Semrush’s Backlink Analytics tool.

It besides shows you the sites your competitors person gotten backlinks from. And those sites whitethorn beryllium consenting to nexus to you.

Type a competitor URL into the instrumentality and click “Analyze.”

Head to the “Referring Domains” tab. Then, look astatine the “Root Domain / Category” file of the “Referring Domains” section.

Here, you’ll spot the sites that nexus to your competitor and that mightiness besides want to nexus to you.

Next, click the “Indexed Pages” tab.

Here, you’ll spot which of your competitor’s pages person the astir referring domains, indicating the astir celebrated types of contented your assemblage enjoys.

Use these pages to animate the contented you create.

9. Use Canonical Tags to Rank the Right URLs

If you person aggregate URLs pointing to the aforesaid page, usage canonical tags to thief web crawlers scale and property ranking powerfulness to the page URL you want to rank.

A canonical tag is HTML that looks for illustration this:

<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/" />

This tag lets you group your page’s “official” URL (also called the main aliases superior version). This is important if your publication has parameterized URLs owed to filtering, tags, aliases archiving.

For example, present are 2 URLs that nonstop to the aforesaid article:

• “https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2024/10/moon-cat-behavior-science/680320/”—which is the page’s charismatic URL
• “https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2024/10/moon-cat-behavior-science/680320/?utm_source=ground.news&utm_medium=referral”—which contains parameters identifying wherever the scholar came from

The publication wants each the ranking authority to spell to the charismatic URL, not the parameterized one. So, it tin adhd a canonical tag that points to the charismatic URL.

Your CMS should connection options for mounting up canonical URLs.

For instance, you tin instal the Yoast SEO plugin to automatically adhd canonical tags to each your pages if you’re utilizing WordPress.

Boost Your Readership and Revenue pinch SEO for Publishers

If you want to bring successful readers and gross done hunt engines, put successful SEO devices to instrumentality the tips above.

Semrush provides complete 50 of these devices successful a azygous platform. 

Sign up for a free account to effort them.