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BREAKING
NEWS
STUDY
HOW B2B MARKETERS AND ONLINE 				
PUBLISHERS CAN DRIVE MORE TRAFFIC 			
TO THEIR WEBSITES DURING BREAKING 		
NEWS EVENTS


                                        Inbound Marketing Software				
                                           www.optify.net
Breaking News Study
    ®




Table of Contents
3 INTRODUCTION 

4 MAIN STUDY QUESTIONS 

	       How do search engines treat breaking news?

	       How do Google and Bing treat breaking news event searches differently than the other?

	       What are the common patterns for how search engines operate during breaking news events?

	       How can B2B marketers use this information to drive more traffic?  


10 MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS

12 ANALYSIS OF THREE MAJOR BREAKING NEWS EVENTS

	       Japan tsunami - A worldwide breaking news event

	       Steve Job’s resignation - A business breaking news event

	       Amanda Knox returns to Seattle - A local breaking news event


19 TEN TIPS FOR DRIVING ORGANIC TRAFFIC TO YOUR SITE DURING A BREAKING NEWS EVENT




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Introduction
The topic of “breaking news” has fascinated us since we began providing services to online
publishers. Breaking news presents a unique Inbound Marketing opportunity for B2B Marketers
as well as online publishers to increase visibility and drive incremental traffic during the course
of these events. Traditionally, breaking news has been ignored by B2B marketers due to the
misconception that, by their nature, breaking news are unpredictable and therefore you cannot
prepare for them. But since breaking news events can occur at any time, the promise of this           Breaking News Event
                                                                                                      A breaking news event can occur at			
huge, untapped potential makes that specific type of search results lucrative.                        anytime. Are you prepared?

As B2B marketers, we wanted to offer a unique approach to our colleagues to consider 		
other sources of traffic they might have previously ignored. We took the expertise of online 	
publishers and applied it to B2B marketing. Since B2B marketers operate in a relatively 		
well-defined market, they have the ability to prepare for breaking news events like product
announcements and press releases, and take advantage of the ways the media covers these
events and how the search engines treat them.

Search results are based on many variables and, while the durable elements of SEO hold true           Users Search for Information
regardless of evolving search ranking algorithms, it’s virtually impossible to prescribe a clear      Users search for information at alarming 		
                                                                                                      rates during a breaking news event.
recipe to rank at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs). SERPs have also become
very personalized and it’s harder to predict what will render on the SERP for any specific user
as search engines are beginning to incorporate the user’s history, online behavior, location and
profile information.

With that said, we decided to create a study to help understand the search engine treatment
of keyword searches during breaking news events. We believed that search engines like Bing
and Google, for example, treat search queries on breaking news differently than they do normal
search queries and that treatments differ between the two search engines.                             Drive More Traffic
                                                                                                      Drive more traffic to your site during a 			
                                                                                                      breaking news event.
The key takeaways of this study will help B2B marketers and online publishers to understand
the different treatments of breaking news on SERPs and to leverage this knowledge to rank                                                            3
higher during a breaking news event and drive more traffic to their website.
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                                                                    GLOSSARY OF TERMS                                	


Main Study Questions                                                1.	BREAKING NEWS EVENT			 PLACED RESULTS	
                                                                                             5.	
                                                                        An event, either planned or unplanned,
                                                                        that emerges and is reported as “hot
                                                                                                                                               		
                                                                                                                      Placed results are listings on the search
                                                                                                                      engine results pages that appear as a re-
                                                                        news” or an “emerging” story.                 sult of the Universal Search. Those would
We began this study with a few basic questions in mind:                                                               include videos, images, news, social
                                                                    2.	SERP				 media, books and blogs. Unlike natural
                                                                       A search engine results page (SERP),	          results, the appearance of placed results
       »»   How do search engines treat 		                             is the listing of web pages returned 	
                                                                       by a search engine in response to a 	
                                                                                                                      on the SERPs is inconsistent and is de-
                                                                                                                      termined by a different ranking algorithm
            breaking news?                                             keyword query. The results normally 	
                                                                       include a list of web pages with titles,
                                                                                                                      and subject to experimentation based on
                                                                                                                      a number of ranking factors which seem
                                                                       a link to the page, and a short descrip-       to change and are at this time, are non-
                                                                       tion showing where the keywords have           deterministic and/or indeterminable.
       »»   How do Google and Bing treat                               matched content within the page. A
                                                                       SERP may refer to a single page of links 	 6.		SEARCH TERMS/KEYWORDS	                 	
                                                                       returned, or to the set of all links 	         Also known as index term, subject term,
            breaking news event searches 	                             returned for a search query.                   subject heading, or descriptor, it is a
                                                                                                                      word that captures the essence of the
            differently than the other?                             3.	NATURAL RESULTS			
                                                                       Natural search results are listings 		
                                                                                                                      topic of a document. Search terms are
                                                                                                                      used as keywords to retrieve documents
                                                                       on search engine results pages (SERPs)         in an information system, for instance,
                                                                       that appear because of their relevance         a catalog or a search engine. Search
       »»   What are the common patterns 	                             to the search terms and determined 	
                                                                       by a ranking algorithm that includes
                                                                                                                      terms can consist of a word, phrase, or
                                                                                                                      alphanumerical term.
            for how search engines operate 	                           site authority, and common SEO signals.
                                                                       Natural Results, in opposition to          7.	PERSONALIZED SEARCH 	                 	
            during breaking news events?                               sponsored search results that include
                                                                       pay-per-click (paid) advertising, include
                                                                                                                      Personalized search refers to search ex-
                                                                                                                      periences that are tailored specifically to
                                                                       ranked ‘organic’ results and placed            an individual’s interests by incorporating
                                                                       results that include videos, images and        information about the individual beyond
       »»   How can B2B marketers use this                             other non-web page formats.                    the specific query provided. Google, for
                                                                                                                      example, calibrates search results for
                                                                    4.	UNIVERSAL SEARCH 			
            information to drive more traffic 	                        Universal search (also known as
                                                                                                                      users signed into their account based on
                                                                                                                      prior search history.
                                                                       “blended search”) is the term given
            to their site?                                             to the method Google started using in
                                                                       May 2007 to deliver search results that
                                                                                                                  8.	ABOVE/BELOW THE FOLD	
                                                                                                                      Traditionally, “above the fold” is a
                                                                                                                                                           	

                                                                       include other content like images, maps,       graphic design concept that refers to the
                                                                       videos, music, news, social snippets,          location of an important news story or
From the data and insights gathered in this study we were able to      books, blogs and more. 			                     a visually appealing photograph on the
                                                                       					 upper half of the front page of a news-
answer these questions and create a plan for B2B marketers and 	       					 paper. In the case of web pages, the part
online publishers to better position themselves on SERPs when 	        					 of a page that’s visible without scrolling
                                                                       					 media data (Facebook “Likes,” Twitter
reacting to breaking news events.                                      					 shares and Google+ shares.) To calculate
                                                                       					 data, the tool assumes a standard-size
                                                                       					 monitor resolution (800 X 640).
                                                                       					                                                                                        4
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In conducting this study, we chose three types of breaking 			
news events to analyze:


         A WORLDWIDE NEWS EVENT      1     A BUSINESS NEWS EVENT       2       A LOCAL NEWS EVENT      3




  The devastating earthquake and tsunami       The resignation of the late      The return of Amanda Knox
        that hit Japan on March 11, 2011   Steve Jobs on August 24, 2011     to Seattle on October 4, 2011




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We chose these three events because they represent three unique types of breaking news:
an environmental event with worldwide humanitarian impact (the tsunami); a business
news event (Steve Jobs’ resignation); and a local news event with worldwide attention
(Amanda Knox returns to Seattle): 	


       A worldwide news event (The devastating 		
       earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on
       March 11, 2011).                                                                      An Worldwide News Event
                                                                                             Japan Tsunami


       A business news event (The resignation of 	
       the late Steve Jobs’ on August 24, 2011).

       A local news event (The return of Amanda 	
       Knox to Seattle on October 4, 2011).
                                                                                             A Business News Event	
                                                                                             Steve Jobs Resigns
For each of these breaking news events, we identified keywords that we thought would
drive the highest search volume during the event. For example, appropriate terms relating
to Steve Jobs’ resignation might include “Steve Jobs,” “Apple” or “Steve Jobs Resigns from
Apple.”

For each of those phrases, we captured screenshots of the keyword searches and 	
compared the manner in which the two search engines treated the news differently. 	
We looked at the evolution of each SERP over time for the same keyword search, and 	
then compared our findings about the evolution of each search-engine SERP.
                                                                                             A Local News Event 	
                                                                                             Amanda Knox Returns to Seattle


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We searched without logging into Google and a cleared search history to keep the SERP
clean of personalized results. We also measured the SERP “real estate” for the keywords we
searched using a software tool we created for this task. This tool assumes a standard-size
monitor resolution to show the percentage of the real estate the natural organic results 		
occupied above the fold. The tool also provided us with data on the natural-organic results
such as page rank, inbound links and social media data (Facebook “Likes,” Twitter shares
and Google+ shares).




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Study Constraints
By its nature, this study is based on observation and its results are mostly anecdotal. To support
our observations with more quantitative data we used Optify’s software to analyze how the “real
estate” of the SERP is being allocated. The analysis was done for the results above the fold, the
area visible in most standard monitors without scrolling down, and for the results on the first
SERP only. These observations and findings are included in the study.


Key Findings
    •	 Both search engines changed the format of the SERP and the way they render the
       results during the breaking news events by introducing additional results to the typical
       natural-organic results. These additional results changed the way both search engines
       rendered the SERP and consequently the position of the natural-organic results on the
       SERP.

    •	 Both search engines used the top of the SERP, the most prestigious SERP real-estate, to                                               70%
       serve “useful,” placed results. On average, about 70% of the SERP real estate above the       On Average 70% of the SERP real estate above the
                                                                                                                     fold was used for placed results
       fold was used for placed results rather than natural-organic results. While Google used
       that area to provide information and helpful links such as additional information and 	
       related searches, Bing used the area to serve results from its own news properties
       (MSN.com).

    •	 Both search engines reacted quickly to events by surfacing placed results such as news,
       videos, images and real time updates above the natural results section of the SERP. 	
       This offers an opportunity for B2B marketers to “rank” their content on the first page
       during real time events.									
       												
       												
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•	 The extent and pace of changes to the natural-organic results seemed to be a function
   of the magnitude of the event; the bigger the event was (i.e. the Japan Tsunami case)
   the higher the rate and extent of changes to the organic results. For the local breaking
   news event (i.e. Amanda Knox’s return to Seattle) there was still a clear change to the
   way the search engines rendered the SERP, but the pace and extent of updates to the
   natural-organic results were slower and smaller.


•	 In the news section of the SERP, Bing favored recency by serving results just a few 	
   seconds old, while Google favored authority and reach, serving results from big 		
   publications with high volumes of social media shares. Google kept updates longer
   on the news section and favored authoritative sites. Bing on the other hand, surfaced
   news results that were only a few minutes old, and updated them frequently.
                                                                                              Why Ranking
•	 The remainder of the SERP featured the natural-organic results related to the 	
   search terms. Bing was more “stable” than Google as it was slower to update the
                                                                                              Matters		
   natural-organic results to reflect news and real time updates and rewarded sites that      				
   made it to the top of the results by keeping them longer. Google, on the other hand,       Read 15 Takeaways 	
   moved its natural-organic results ranking to a different ranking algorithm during real     from another study 	
   time events. It reacted faster to breaking news events as evidenced by rapid changes
                                                                                              conducted by Optify 	
   to the 	natural-organic results. This was consistent with claims from Google that it 		
   gives the most relevant results to its users. 							
                                                                                              Research which shows
   												                                                                               how top search 		
   												                                                                               rankings matter.		
   						

                                                                                              Click to Read
                                                                                              The Tips

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Main Recommendations
 •	 Create and use multi-format content. As a B2B marketer, you need to use all the tools 	
    the web is offering you to drive traffic. We found that during breaking news events, 	
    the top of the SERP is actually not the natural-organic results but placed results 	
    (news, videos and images), so make sure you produce multi-format content to take 	
    advantage of this behavior.


 •	 Control and plan for your own company’s breaking news. If this is your breaking news
    event, make sure you prepare for it and control it, because once it’s out there it’s out 	
    of your hands. Use PR embargoes to control release dates, brief media to control the 	
    message and make sure you’re using the keywords and terms you know people search
    for or the ones you want people to search for. Connect with industry influencers before
    you break the news and make sure you get their coverage and influence their message.
    The way your news will be covered is more important than your actual news!


 •	 Prepare for unexpected breaking news events within your industry. If this isn’t your 	
    event, you can still prepare for it. Know the business lingo for your industry so that 		
    keyword research and content optimized for these terms can be prepared in advance.
    Build a strong content team that can respond quickly to events in your industry based
    on the keyword strategy you’ve implemented. This can make the difference between 	
    appearing on the second SERP (no traffic) and appearing on the top of the first SERP
    (lots of traffic).


 •	 Build your authority in advance. A lot of what will determine your inclusion on the SERP
    is how well search engines recognize you. Are your pages indexed? Do you have a good
    page rank? Are you considered a news site? Some of the basic SEO practices will get you
    there but you need to start well before a breaking news event to build your reputation
    and authority with the search engines.
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•	 Build your social network and use it. It’s been proven and spoken about by search
   engines that social signals play a role in organic ranking. In the case of breaking news
   events their role seems even bigger. We believe that social signals such as shares, 		
   Likes, Tweets and +1’s determine what coverage will be surfaced at the top of the SERP 	
   during breaking news events. In addition, given the high level of personalization that
   search engines are now incorporating, social networks can impact how the SERP will 	
   be rendered for different users. In order to leverage this behavior you need to make 	
   sure you build your network in advance and use it on a regular basis to promote and
   share your content. This will have an impact on the SERPs but also on your overall 	
   traffic during breaking news events.


•	 Stay fresh and unique. Since Bing favors recency and searchers favor compelling 	
   content, find an angle to the story that is uniquely yours. Release fresh content that
   is linked to your key page on a frequent basis The combination of both elements will
   increase the chances of your content being shared and surfaced on the SERP.




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Analysis of Three Major Breaking 			
News Events
Japan Tsunami – A worldwide breaking news event
On March 11, 2011, a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. The magnitude-8.9
offshore quake struck at 2:46 pm local time and was the strongest earthquake to hit Japan on
record. It ranked as the fifth-largest earthquake in the world since 1900 and was nearly 8,000                 Japan Tsunami
                                                                                                      	      A worldwide news event
times stronger than the one that devastated Christchurch, New Zealand, a month earlier.

The news about the earthquake and the developing tsunami traveled quickly and made its way
onto SERPs only a few hours after the actual event took place.

We used the following search terms in this event: Japan, Tsunami, Japan Earthquake, 	
Japan Tsunami.


Observations

    •	 Bing and Google used the top area for their unique content. While Google served generic
       information (e.g. earthquake statistics and important links such as a link to the Tsunami
       warning center site and to the person finder site), Bing used it to serve results from their
       own online properties (e.g. MSN.com and other Microsoft properties).

    •	 No ads displayed on the top of either search engine.

    •	 Both search engines pushed natural-organic results down the SERP and served placed
       results first (Videos, news, results, images). Depending on the keyword, both search 	
       engines generally served news results above organic results.



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            •	 As for natural-organic results, Google was faster to adjust natural-organic results to reflect
               the current news while Bing seemed slower to modify their natural-organic results. Bing
               served natural-organic results about the earthquake that happened 3 days prior (on
               March 8th) while Google served natural-organic results from the same day. Overall, it
               seemed that Bing was more stable while Google was faster but also more experimental
               with their results. It was also obvious that Google put high emphasis on authority, both in
               natural-organic and news results.

                                                                                                                                                          Japan Tsunami
                                                                                                                                                 	      A worldwide news event
    Bing and Google used the top area for their unique content. While Google served
    generic information (e.g. earthquake statistics and important links such as a link   Google put videos at the top of the page while Bing 	
    to the Tsunami warning center site and to the person finder site), Bing used it to   surfaced images as a standalone results section, 	
    serve results from their own online properties (e.g. MSN.com and other Microsoft     sometimes above the videos.
    properties).


                                                                                                                                                              No ads displayed on the 		
                                                                                                                                                              top of 	either search engine.




                                                                                                                                 GOOGLE
Both search engines
pushed natural-organic
results down the SERP and
served placed results first
(Videos, news, results,
images). Depending on
                                 BING




the keyword, both search
engines generally served
news results above organic
results.




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•	 For news results, Google favored authoritative sites and surfaced big publishing sites over
   small, local news organizations. Bing on the other hand, seemed to favor recency in their
   news results and surfaced results that were minutes and even a few seconds old with
   less emphasis on their authority.

•	 In its natural-organic results Google surfaced a website (currenttrendsonline.com) that
   had no authority (Page Rank (PR) 1) and almost no relevancy to the story as the top
   organic result for over 3 hours. We investigated and likely the reason was due to a cell
                                                                                                          Japan Tsunami
   phone video of the tsunami, uploaded to YouTube and embedded on their blog. The               	      A worldwide news event
   video had over 150 comments. Even more interesting was that the video was only em-
   bedded on the site and was not its own property. Google surfaced that site instead of
   YouTube.

•	 Both search engines surfaced videos as a standalone results section on the first page
   even though the search terms did not include the word “video.” Google put videos at 	
   the top of the page for some keywords while Bing usually put it below the top 	
   natural-organic results section (below the top three). We also noticed that Bing 		
   surfaced images as a standalone results section, sometimes above the videos, but 		
   always below the top natural-organic results. Google, on the other hand, incorporated 	
   an image (alternating image with a link to the source) in the news section, but didn’t 	
   surface images as a standalone result.




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Steve Job’s Resignation – A business breaking news event
On August 24, 2011, at 7pm (EDT) Steve Jobs, Apple’s legendary CEO, announced his 		
resignation in a brief letter. The announcement was quickly covered by all mainstream media 	
outlets and made its way to the search engines in less than an hour.

While this breaking news event was a business news event by nature, due to the popularity of
Job’s company, Apple, the news made headway in the mainstream and social media as well due          Steve Jobs Resigns
to Jobs’ iconic status.                                                                                A business news event


We used the following search terms in this event: Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs Resigns, Apple, Apple
CEO resigns, Steve Jobs Resigns from Apple, Jobs Resigns, Apple Resigns.

Observations

    •	 Bing was faster to modify the SERP on the term “Steve Jobs” and surfaced news results
       less than one hour after the announcement on most of the related terms. Google was
       slower to surface news results for more generic terms (i.e. Steve Jobs) but was as fast to
       show them on the specific terms (i.e. Steve Jobs resigns).

    •	 Both search engines served placed results above the natural-organic results, essentially
       pushing the natural-organic results below the fold.

    •	 Bing used the top position on the SERP to serve MSN.com’s news coverage 		
       results exclusively.

    •	 On both search engines, the natural-organic results on the generic terms (i.e. Apple,
       Steve Jobs) were not updated with more recent results, while the natural-organic results
       on specific terms (i.e. Steve Jobs Resigns, Apple CEO Resigns) were updated almost 	
       immediately and kept updating throughout the event.
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            •	 Google treated the natural-organic results similarly to the news results. It favored 	
               reputable sources and rewarded authority over recency. Interestingly, Yahoo! controlled
               Google’s top organic results with 3 out of the top 5 organic results. Only after four (4)
               hours into the event, Google started surfacing other sources that included the Wall Street
               Journal, Seattle Times and Apple’s press releases that pushed the Yahoo! results down.

            •	 Both search engines treated the natural-organic results similarly with the top 	
               natural-organic results staying fairly the same through the first four hours of the 		
               event, with some shuffling of the results amongst themselves. Only after four (4) 		                                                 Steve Jobs Resigns
                                                                                                                                                       A business news event
               hours into the event, other natural-organic results started showing up on the first SERP, 	
               pushing down the news-related results.

       Bing was faster to modify the SERP on the term “Steve Jobs” and surfaced news
                                                                                            Google put videos at the top of the page while Bing 	
       results less than one hour after the announcement on most of the related terms.
                                                                                            surfaced images as a standalone results section, 	
       Google was slower to surface news results for more generic terms (i.e. Steve Jobs)
                                                                                            sometimes above the videos.
       but was as fast to show them on the specific terms (i.e. Steve Jobs resigns).


   Bing used the top position
   on the SERP to serve 	                                                                                                                                       Both search engines served placed 	
   MSN.com’s news coverage                                                                                                                                      results above the natural-organic 	
   results exclusively.                                                                                                                                         results, essentially pushing the 	
                                                                                                                                                                natural-organic results below the fold.




                                                                                                                                    GOOGLE
                                                                                                                                                                Google treated the natural-organic
On Both search engines 	                                                                                                                                        results similarly to the news results.
treated the natural-organic                                                                                                                                     It favored reputable sources and
results similarly with the 		
                                    BING




                                                                                                                                                                rewarded authority over recency. 	
top natural-organic results                                                                                                                                     Interestingly, Yahoo! controlled
staying fairly the same through                                                                                                                                 Google’s top organic results with 3
the first four (4) hours of the 	                                                                                                                               out of the top 5 organic results. Only
event, with some shuffling of                                                                                                                                   after four hours into the event, Google
the results amongst themselves.                                                                                                                                 started surfacing other sources that
Only after four (4) hours into                                                                                                                                  included the Wall Street Journal,
the event, other natural-organic                                                                                                                                Seattle Times and Apple’s press 	
results started showing up on                                                                                                                                   releases that pushed the Yahoo!
the first SERP, pushing down the
news-related results.


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Amanda Knox Returns to Seattle – A local breaking news event
On October 4, 2011, Amanda Knox, an American college student who was convicted of murder
in Perugia, Italy, returned to her hometown, Seattle, Washington. Amanda served 4 years of a 	
26-year sentence before the conviction was overturned on October 3, 2011.

While the news of Amanda Knox’s acquittal was breaking news on a national level, the news of
her return to Seattle can be classified as local breaking news.
                                                                                                          Amanda Knox Returns
                                                                                                                 A local news event
We used the following search terms in this event: Amanda Knox, Amanda Knox Returns, Aman-
da Knox Returns to Seattle, Amanda Knox Seattle.

Observations
    	 •	       Both search engines served placed results at the top of the SERP, pushing down 	
    		         the natural-organic results below the fold.

    	 •	       On average, 70% of the SERP real estate above the fold was dedicated to 	 	
    	 	        placed 	results and only 30% of the SERP real estate above the fold served 		
    		         natural-organic results (two natural-organic results above the fold).

    	 •	       Google was faster to update its news results and served the most up-to-date 	
    		         coverage of Knox’s return to Seattle, while Bing was slower to update its 		
    		         MSN.com news results, which were the top results. Bing served old news 		
    		         coverage for the first hour of the event but then served more recent news 		
    		         results 	following the area occupied by MSN.com.

    	 •	       As far as the news results go, Bing favored recency over authority serving results 	
    		         only minutes old while Google favored reputation over recency.

    	 •	       Both search engines did not update their natural-organic results immediately and 	
    		         kept old natural-organic results about Knox’s acquittal static for the first few hours 	
    		         of the event.
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                                                                                                 Amanda Knox Returns
                                                                                                        A local news event


      As far as the news results go, Bing favored recency over authority serving results 	
      		                only minutes old while Google favored reputation over recency.                     Both search engines served non-organic
                                                                                                           results at the top of the SERP, pushing
                                                                                                           down the organic results below the fold.




                                                                                                        On average, 70% of the SERP real 	




                                                                                             GOOGLE
                                                                                                        estate above the fold was dedicated 	
                                                                                                        to placed results and only 30% of 	
                                                                                                        the SERP real estate above the fold
                                                                                                        served natural-organic results (two
                                                                                                        natural-organic results above the fold).
Both search engines did not
update their natural-organic
results	immediately and kept old
                                   BING




natural-organic results about                                                                            Google was faster to update its news
Knox’s acquittal static for the                                                                          results and served the most up-to-date
first few hours of the event.                                                                            coverage of Knox’s return to Seattle,
                                                                                                         while Bing was slower to update its MSN.
                                                                                                         com news results, which were the top
                                                                                                         results. Bing served old news coverage
                                                                                                         for the first hour of the event but then
                                                                                                         served more recent news results 	
                                                                                                         following the area occupied by MSN.com.




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10 Tips for Driving Organic Traffic to Your
Site During Breaking News Event
Think like a publisher. Breaking news events happen all the time and are unpredictable. 	
Since you can’t bank on what will happen and try to rank organically for those terms, you 	
need to prepare ahead of time. In order to rank higher on SERPs during a breaking news
event, you will need authority, social reach and freshness to make search engines index your
site more often. Online publishers are known for these same characteristics. Follow the tips 	
below to start thinking like an online publisher and build the groundwork that will make it
easier for you to rank higher during a breaking news event

         1. 	       Format: Search engines try to surface multi-format results higher. Video was 	
         	          the top format since it’s easy to consume and share but also harder to come 	
         	          by. If you can capture the event with a short video, syndicate it on YouTube 	
         	          and embed it on your site, use keywords to describe it and allow others to 		
         	          comment on the video. Images also help to get recognition SERPs and 		
         	          probably drive residual traffic.


         2. 	       Social sharing: One of the ways we assume Google is rendering real time results 	
         	          is by looking at the sharing volume of the content. Using your social network 	
         	          and making it easy for people to interact with your content will increase your 	
         	          chances of ranking higher on SERPs. It will also drive more traffic to your site 	
         	          regardless of traffic from search engines.


             3. 	   Google+: The recent release of Google Search Plus Your World makes Google+ 	
         	          an important part of your social sharing efforts. We predict that Google will give 	
         	          more weight to content with a lot of +1’s, so it is important that you implement it 	
         	          on your site.
                                                                                                                          19
Breaking News Study
     ®




4. 	       Freshness, uniqueness and recency: In the case of news event, freshness and 	
	          recency are a must. People look for “news” not “olds” and search engines do 	
	          the same. While Bing might be extreme in the weight it gives recency in the news 	
	          section, both search engines will prefer recent news to old news, and in events 	
	          of larger magnitude freshness is measured by the minute. Be unique and keep 	
	          updating your stories and find new angles and perspectives. This isn’t just an 	
	          SEO tip; it’s Journalism 101.


    5. 	   News category and News XML: Is your site listed as a news site on Google and 	
	          Bing? If it’s not, you will not be surfaced in the news section and will not be 		
	          crawled in the same frequency. You should also submit a news site map 		
	          to Google so it can discover your content faster and ensure that you get full 		
	          coverage of your content.


6. 	       Optimize, optimize, optimize: Without optimizing your content using the durable 	
	          elements of SEO, chances are that you will not rank very high.


    7. 	   Keyword strategy: While you can’t prepare a keyword strategy for news events 	
	          that haven’t happened yet, you can train your team to react quickly and be SEO 	
	          savvy when they do. There are also larger news categories that are more stable 	
	          and have somewhat predictable breaking news events (e.g., Sports, Politics, 	
	          Health). Develop a keyword strategy by learning how users search for these 	
	          events. Provide clear guidelines on what keywords you’d like to rank for in case 	
	          of a news event and make sure content is optimized for those terms. Share real 	
	          time results and trends with your team to make the point and analyze your 		
	          performance in real time. You might need to redirect your focus to new terms 	
	          that emerge during the event, but if your team is already versed in SEO, that 	
	          shouldn’t be a problem.


                                                                                                              20
Breaking News Study
     ®




8. 	       Research keywords: Use Twitter trends to see what keywords and hashtags are 	
	          trending and to uncover keywords you would use in your content. Use real-time 	
	          monitoring tools to learn what resonates and how. In addition, people in 		
	          different segments may use a very specific language when they search, often 	
	          different from “marketing lingo,” so make sure you develop your keyword list to 	
	          target the search personas you developed.


    9. 	   Use Social Media to drive traffic: The use of social media during breaking news 	
	          event is becoming essential for marketers and publishers. The popularity of 	
	          social media networks, specifically Twitter and Facebook, in conjunction with 	
	          mobile usage on these networks, makes social media a do-or-die marketing 	
	          activity. In addition, it’s clear from this study that search engines are not the 	
	          place to go for finding out about breaking news, and even though they still drive 	
	          the majority of organic traffic, we predict that in the next few years, social media 	
	          will take over in the case of breaking news.


10. 	 Think like a publisher, act like a marketer: Don’t forget that you are a marketer 	
	 and ignore online marketing best practices. There are a few simple rules of on	
	 line marketing that you will need to remember, including: SEO best practices 	
	and real-time web writing practices.




                                                                                                                  21
Breaking News Study
          ®
                                                                                 buyers into your funnel.




About Optify
Optify delivers an integrated top-of-the-funnel solution for marketers responsible for
fueling their company’s growth. Optify helps B2B marketers reach more buyers and
generate more demand for their products or services month-after-month. The Optify
                                                                                                               1
                                                                                                               INBOUND DEMAND
Inbound Marketing Software Suite brings together the enterprise-class SEO and social
                                                                                                                  Enterprise-class SEO
marketing tools that marketers need to increase awareness of their business, influence                           and social marketing to
                                                                                                                 reach more buyers and
buyers across social networks, and engage with prospects at the earliest point of their                           generate more leads.

buyer’s journey.
                                                                                                                                            2
                                                                                                                                            SALES ENABLEMENT

OPTIFY’S SOLUTION INCLUDES:                                                                                                                     Visitor intelligence

                                                                                                    3                                           and prospect alerts
                                                                                                                                                 help sales reach
      Inbound Demand: create a sustainable flow of inbound 	                                        TRACKING & ANALYTICS                          prospects while
                                                                                                                                                    they’re hot.
      leads into your marketing funnel with enterprise-class 		                                                 Insight into what
      SEO and social marketing.                                                                             influences your buyers
                                                                                                             so you can get more
                                                                                                            buyers into your funnel.

      Sales Enablement: help sales reach prospects and 		
      engage with them early in the sales process with 		
      visitor intelligence and prospect alerts.
      Tracking & Analytics: get more of the prospects you want with 	
      full insight into what influences your buyers and the path they 	
      take to find and evaluate you during their research process.

Optify offers a fully-featured free trial; learn more at www.optify.net



                                                                                                                                 Check out our fully 			
                                                                                                                                 functional free trial 22
      OPTIFY, INC. 710 2ND AVE, SUITE 840 SEATTLE, WA 98104 WWW.OPTIFY.NET 1-877-2-OPTIFY	
      													                                                                                                                    Free! Try it Now

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Breaking News Study

  • 1. BREAKING NEWS STUDY HOW B2B MARKETERS AND ONLINE PUBLISHERS CAN DRIVE MORE TRAFFIC TO THEIR WEBSITES DURING BREAKING NEWS EVENTS Inbound Marketing Software www.optify.net
  • 2. Breaking News Study ® Table of Contents 3 INTRODUCTION  4 MAIN STUDY QUESTIONS  How do search engines treat breaking news? How do Google and Bing treat breaking news event searches differently than the other? What are the common patterns for how search engines operate during breaking news events? How can B2B marketers use this information to drive more traffic?   10 MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS 12 ANALYSIS OF THREE MAJOR BREAKING NEWS EVENTS Japan tsunami - A worldwide breaking news event Steve Job’s resignation - A business breaking news event Amanda Knox returns to Seattle - A local breaking news event 19 TEN TIPS FOR DRIVING ORGANIC TRAFFIC TO YOUR SITE DURING A BREAKING NEWS EVENT 2
  • 3. Breaking News Study ® Introduction The topic of “breaking news” has fascinated us since we began providing services to online publishers. Breaking news presents a unique Inbound Marketing opportunity for B2B Marketers as well as online publishers to increase visibility and drive incremental traffic during the course of these events. Traditionally, breaking news has been ignored by B2B marketers due to the misconception that, by their nature, breaking news are unpredictable and therefore you cannot prepare for them. But since breaking news events can occur at any time, the promise of this Breaking News Event A breaking news event can occur at huge, untapped potential makes that specific type of search results lucrative. anytime. Are you prepared? As B2B marketers, we wanted to offer a unique approach to our colleagues to consider other sources of traffic they might have previously ignored. We took the expertise of online publishers and applied it to B2B marketing. Since B2B marketers operate in a relatively well-defined market, they have the ability to prepare for breaking news events like product announcements and press releases, and take advantage of the ways the media covers these events and how the search engines treat them. Search results are based on many variables and, while the durable elements of SEO hold true Users Search for Information regardless of evolving search ranking algorithms, it’s virtually impossible to prescribe a clear Users search for information at alarming rates during a breaking news event. recipe to rank at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs). SERPs have also become very personalized and it’s harder to predict what will render on the SERP for any specific user as search engines are beginning to incorporate the user’s history, online behavior, location and profile information. With that said, we decided to create a study to help understand the search engine treatment of keyword searches during breaking news events. We believed that search engines like Bing and Google, for example, treat search queries on breaking news differently than they do normal search queries and that treatments differ between the two search engines. Drive More Traffic Drive more traffic to your site during a breaking news event. The key takeaways of this study will help B2B marketers and online publishers to understand the different treatments of breaking news on SERPs and to leverage this knowledge to rank 3 higher during a breaking news event and drive more traffic to their website.
  • 4. Part 2 - Section 1: Code and Forms Breaking News Study ® GLOSSARY OF TERMS Main Study Questions 1. BREAKING NEWS EVENT PLACED RESULTS 5. An event, either planned or unplanned, that emerges and is reported as “hot Placed results are listings on the search engine results pages that appear as a re- news” or an “emerging” story. sult of the Universal Search. Those would We began this study with a few basic questions in mind: include videos, images, news, social 2. SERP media, books and blogs. Unlike natural A search engine results page (SERP), results, the appearance of placed results »» How do search engines treat is the listing of web pages returned by a search engine in response to a on the SERPs is inconsistent and is de- termined by a different ranking algorithm breaking news? keyword query. The results normally include a list of web pages with titles, and subject to experimentation based on a number of ranking factors which seem a link to the page, and a short descrip- to change and are at this time, are non- tion showing where the keywords have deterministic and/or indeterminable. »» How do Google and Bing treat matched content within the page. A SERP may refer to a single page of links 6. SEARCH TERMS/KEYWORDS returned, or to the set of all links Also known as index term, subject term, breaking news event searches returned for a search query. subject heading, or descriptor, it is a word that captures the essence of the differently than the other? 3. NATURAL RESULTS Natural search results are listings topic of a document. Search terms are used as keywords to retrieve documents on search engine results pages (SERPs) in an information system, for instance, that appear because of their relevance a catalog or a search engine. Search »» What are the common patterns to the search terms and determined by a ranking algorithm that includes terms can consist of a word, phrase, or alphanumerical term. for how search engines operate site authority, and common SEO signals. Natural Results, in opposition to 7. PERSONALIZED SEARCH during breaking news events? sponsored search results that include pay-per-click (paid) advertising, include Personalized search refers to search ex- periences that are tailored specifically to ranked ‘organic’ results and placed an individual’s interests by incorporating results that include videos, images and information about the individual beyond »» How can B2B marketers use this other non-web page formats. the specific query provided. Google, for example, calibrates search results for 4. UNIVERSAL SEARCH information to drive more traffic Universal search (also known as users signed into their account based on prior search history. “blended search”) is the term given to their site? to the method Google started using in May 2007 to deliver search results that 8. ABOVE/BELOW THE FOLD Traditionally, “above the fold” is a include other content like images, maps, graphic design concept that refers to the videos, music, news, social snippets, location of an important news story or From the data and insights gathered in this study we were able to books, blogs and more. a visually appealing photograph on the upper half of the front page of a news- answer these questions and create a plan for B2B marketers and paper. In the case of web pages, the part online publishers to better position themselves on SERPs when of a page that’s visible without scrolling media data (Facebook “Likes,” Twitter reacting to breaking news events. shares and Google+ shares.) To calculate data, the tool assumes a standard-size monitor resolution (800 X 640). 4
  • 5. Part 2 - Section 1: Code and Forms Breaking News Study ® In conducting this study, we chose three types of breaking news events to analyze: A WORLDWIDE NEWS EVENT 1 A BUSINESS NEWS EVENT 2 A LOCAL NEWS EVENT 3 The devastating earthquake and tsunami The resignation of the late The return of Amanda Knox that hit Japan on March 11, 2011 Steve Jobs on August 24, 2011 to Seattle on October 4, 2011 5
  • 6. Part 2 - Section 1: Code and Forms Breaking News Study ® We chose these three events because they represent three unique types of breaking news: an environmental event with worldwide humanitarian impact (the tsunami); a business news event (Steve Jobs’ resignation); and a local news event with worldwide attention (Amanda Knox returns to Seattle): A worldwide news event (The devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011). An Worldwide News Event Japan Tsunami A business news event (The resignation of the late Steve Jobs’ on August 24, 2011). A local news event (The return of Amanda Knox to Seattle on October 4, 2011). A Business News Event Steve Jobs Resigns For each of these breaking news events, we identified keywords that we thought would drive the highest search volume during the event. For example, appropriate terms relating to Steve Jobs’ resignation might include “Steve Jobs,” “Apple” or “Steve Jobs Resigns from Apple.” For each of those phrases, we captured screenshots of the keyword searches and compared the manner in which the two search engines treated the news differently. We looked at the evolution of each SERP over time for the same keyword search, and then compared our findings about the evolution of each search-engine SERP. A Local News Event Amanda Knox Returns to Seattle 6
  • 7. Part 2 - Section 1: Code and Forms Breaking News Study ® We searched without logging into Google and a cleared search history to keep the SERP clean of personalized results. We also measured the SERP “real estate” for the keywords we searched using a software tool we created for this task. This tool assumes a standard-size monitor resolution to show the percentage of the real estate the natural organic results occupied above the fold. The tool also provided us with data on the natural-organic results such as page rank, inbound links and social media data (Facebook “Likes,” Twitter shares and Google+ shares). 7
  • 8. Part 2 - Section 1: Code and Forms Breaking News Study ® Study Constraints By its nature, this study is based on observation and its results are mostly anecdotal. To support our observations with more quantitative data we used Optify’s software to analyze how the “real estate” of the SERP is being allocated. The analysis was done for the results above the fold, the area visible in most standard monitors without scrolling down, and for the results on the first SERP only. These observations and findings are included in the study. Key Findings • Both search engines changed the format of the SERP and the way they render the results during the breaking news events by introducing additional results to the typical natural-organic results. These additional results changed the way both search engines rendered the SERP and consequently the position of the natural-organic results on the SERP. • Both search engines used the top of the SERP, the most prestigious SERP real-estate, to 70% serve “useful,” placed results. On average, about 70% of the SERP real estate above the On Average 70% of the SERP real estate above the fold was used for placed results fold was used for placed results rather than natural-organic results. While Google used that area to provide information and helpful links such as additional information and related searches, Bing used the area to serve results from its own news properties (MSN.com). • Both search engines reacted quickly to events by surfacing placed results such as news, videos, images and real time updates above the natural results section of the SERP. This offers an opportunity for B2B marketers to “rank” their content on the first page during real time events. 8
  • 9. Part 2 - Section 1: Code and Forms Breaking News Study ® • The extent and pace of changes to the natural-organic results seemed to be a function of the magnitude of the event; the bigger the event was (i.e. the Japan Tsunami case) the higher the rate and extent of changes to the organic results. For the local breaking news event (i.e. Amanda Knox’s return to Seattle) there was still a clear change to the way the search engines rendered the SERP, but the pace and extent of updates to the natural-organic results were slower and smaller. • In the news section of the SERP, Bing favored recency by serving results just a few seconds old, while Google favored authority and reach, serving results from big publications with high volumes of social media shares. Google kept updates longer on the news section and favored authoritative sites. Bing on the other hand, surfaced news results that were only a few minutes old, and updated them frequently. Why Ranking • The remainder of the SERP featured the natural-organic results related to the search terms. Bing was more “stable” than Google as it was slower to update the Matters natural-organic results to reflect news and real time updates and rewarded sites that made it to the top of the results by keeping them longer. Google, on the other hand, Read 15 Takeaways moved its natural-organic results ranking to a different ranking algorithm during real from another study time events. It reacted faster to breaking news events as evidenced by rapid changes conducted by Optify to the natural-organic results. This was consistent with claims from Google that it gives the most relevant results to its users. Research which shows how top search rankings matter. Click to Read The Tips 9
  • 10. Part 2 - Section 1: Code and Forms Breaking News Study ® Main Recommendations • Create and use multi-format content. As a B2B marketer, you need to use all the tools the web is offering you to drive traffic. We found that during breaking news events, the top of the SERP is actually not the natural-organic results but placed results (news, videos and images), so make sure you produce multi-format content to take advantage of this behavior. • Control and plan for your own company’s breaking news. If this is your breaking news event, make sure you prepare for it and control it, because once it’s out there it’s out of your hands. Use PR embargoes to control release dates, brief media to control the message and make sure you’re using the keywords and terms you know people search for or the ones you want people to search for. Connect with industry influencers before you break the news and make sure you get their coverage and influence their message. The way your news will be covered is more important than your actual news! • Prepare for unexpected breaking news events within your industry. If this isn’t your event, you can still prepare for it. Know the business lingo for your industry so that keyword research and content optimized for these terms can be prepared in advance. Build a strong content team that can respond quickly to events in your industry based on the keyword strategy you’ve implemented. This can make the difference between appearing on the second SERP (no traffic) and appearing on the top of the first SERP (lots of traffic). • Build your authority in advance. A lot of what will determine your inclusion on the SERP is how well search engines recognize you. Are your pages indexed? Do you have a good page rank? Are you considered a news site? Some of the basic SEO practices will get you there but you need to start well before a breaking news event to build your reputation and authority with the search engines. 10
  • 11. Part 2 - Section 1: Code and Forms Breaking News Study ® • Build your social network and use it. It’s been proven and spoken about by search engines that social signals play a role in organic ranking. In the case of breaking news events their role seems even bigger. We believe that social signals such as shares, Likes, Tweets and +1’s determine what coverage will be surfaced at the top of the SERP during breaking news events. In addition, given the high level of personalization that search engines are now incorporating, social networks can impact how the SERP will be rendered for different users. In order to leverage this behavior you need to make sure you build your network in advance and use it on a regular basis to promote and share your content. This will have an impact on the SERPs but also on your overall traffic during breaking news events. • Stay fresh and unique. Since Bing favors recency and searchers favor compelling content, find an angle to the story that is uniquely yours. Release fresh content that is linked to your key page on a frequent basis The combination of both elements will increase the chances of your content being shared and surfaced on the SERP. 11
  • 12. Part 2 - Section 1: Code and Forms Breaking News Study ® Analysis of Three Major Breaking News Events Japan Tsunami – A worldwide breaking news event On March 11, 2011, a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. The magnitude-8.9 offshore quake struck at 2:46 pm local time and was the strongest earthquake to hit Japan on record. It ranked as the fifth-largest earthquake in the world since 1900 and was nearly 8,000 Japan Tsunami A worldwide news event times stronger than the one that devastated Christchurch, New Zealand, a month earlier. The news about the earthquake and the developing tsunami traveled quickly and made its way onto SERPs only a few hours after the actual event took place. We used the following search terms in this event: Japan, Tsunami, Japan Earthquake, Japan Tsunami. Observations • Bing and Google used the top area for their unique content. While Google served generic information (e.g. earthquake statistics and important links such as a link to the Tsunami warning center site and to the person finder site), Bing used it to serve results from their own online properties (e.g. MSN.com and other Microsoft properties). • No ads displayed on the top of either search engine. • Both search engines pushed natural-organic results down the SERP and served placed results first (Videos, news, results, images). Depending on the keyword, both search engines generally served news results above organic results. 12
  • 13. Part 2 - Section 1: Code and Forms Breaking News Study ® • As for natural-organic results, Google was faster to adjust natural-organic results to reflect the current news while Bing seemed slower to modify their natural-organic results. Bing served natural-organic results about the earthquake that happened 3 days prior (on March 8th) while Google served natural-organic results from the same day. Overall, it seemed that Bing was more stable while Google was faster but also more experimental with their results. It was also obvious that Google put high emphasis on authority, both in natural-organic and news results. Japan Tsunami A worldwide news event Bing and Google used the top area for their unique content. While Google served generic information (e.g. earthquake statistics and important links such as a link Google put videos at the top of the page while Bing to the Tsunami warning center site and to the person finder site), Bing used it to surfaced images as a standalone results section, serve results from their own online properties (e.g. MSN.com and other Microsoft sometimes above the videos. properties). No ads displayed on the top of either search engine. GOOGLE Both search engines pushed natural-organic results down the SERP and served placed results first (Videos, news, results, images). Depending on BING the keyword, both search engines generally served news results above organic results. 13
  • 14. Part 2 - Section 1: Code and Forms Breaking News Study ® • For news results, Google favored authoritative sites and surfaced big publishing sites over small, local news organizations. Bing on the other hand, seemed to favor recency in their news results and surfaced results that were minutes and even a few seconds old with less emphasis on their authority. • In its natural-organic results Google surfaced a website (currenttrendsonline.com) that had no authority (Page Rank (PR) 1) and almost no relevancy to the story as the top organic result for over 3 hours. We investigated and likely the reason was due to a cell Japan Tsunami phone video of the tsunami, uploaded to YouTube and embedded on their blog. The A worldwide news event video had over 150 comments. Even more interesting was that the video was only em- bedded on the site and was not its own property. Google surfaced that site instead of YouTube. • Both search engines surfaced videos as a standalone results section on the first page even though the search terms did not include the word “video.” Google put videos at the top of the page for some keywords while Bing usually put it below the top natural-organic results section (below the top three). We also noticed that Bing surfaced images as a standalone results section, sometimes above the videos, but always below the top natural-organic results. Google, on the other hand, incorporated an image (alternating image with a link to the source) in the news section, but didn’t surface images as a standalone result. 14
  • 15. Part 2 - Section 1: Code and Forms Breaking News Study ® Steve Job’s Resignation – A business breaking news event On August 24, 2011, at 7pm (EDT) Steve Jobs, Apple’s legendary CEO, announced his resignation in a brief letter. The announcement was quickly covered by all mainstream media outlets and made its way to the search engines in less than an hour. While this breaking news event was a business news event by nature, due to the popularity of Job’s company, Apple, the news made headway in the mainstream and social media as well due Steve Jobs Resigns to Jobs’ iconic status. A business news event We used the following search terms in this event: Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs Resigns, Apple, Apple CEO resigns, Steve Jobs Resigns from Apple, Jobs Resigns, Apple Resigns. Observations • Bing was faster to modify the SERP on the term “Steve Jobs” and surfaced news results less than one hour after the announcement on most of the related terms. Google was slower to surface news results for more generic terms (i.e. Steve Jobs) but was as fast to show them on the specific terms (i.e. Steve Jobs resigns). • Both search engines served placed results above the natural-organic results, essentially pushing the natural-organic results below the fold. • Bing used the top position on the SERP to serve MSN.com’s news coverage results exclusively. • On both search engines, the natural-organic results on the generic terms (i.e. Apple, Steve Jobs) were not updated with more recent results, while the natural-organic results on specific terms (i.e. Steve Jobs Resigns, Apple CEO Resigns) were updated almost immediately and kept updating throughout the event. 15
  • 16. Part 2 - Section 1: Code and Forms Breaking News Study ® • Google treated the natural-organic results similarly to the news results. It favored reputable sources and rewarded authority over recency. Interestingly, Yahoo! controlled Google’s top organic results with 3 out of the top 5 organic results. Only after four (4) hours into the event, Google started surfacing other sources that included the Wall Street Journal, Seattle Times and Apple’s press releases that pushed the Yahoo! results down. • Both search engines treated the natural-organic results similarly with the top natural-organic results staying fairly the same through the first four hours of the event, with some shuffling of the results amongst themselves. Only after four (4) Steve Jobs Resigns A business news event hours into the event, other natural-organic results started showing up on the first SERP, pushing down the news-related results. Bing was faster to modify the SERP on the term “Steve Jobs” and surfaced news Google put videos at the top of the page while Bing results less than one hour after the announcement on most of the related terms. surfaced images as a standalone results section, Google was slower to surface news results for more generic terms (i.e. Steve Jobs) sometimes above the videos. but was as fast to show them on the specific terms (i.e. Steve Jobs resigns). Bing used the top position on the SERP to serve Both search engines served placed MSN.com’s news coverage results above the natural-organic results exclusively. results, essentially pushing the natural-organic results below the fold. GOOGLE Google treated the natural-organic On Both search engines results similarly to the news results. treated the natural-organic It favored reputable sources and results similarly with the BING rewarded authority over recency. top natural-organic results Interestingly, Yahoo! controlled staying fairly the same through Google’s top organic results with 3 the first four (4) hours of the out of the top 5 organic results. Only event, with some shuffling of after four hours into the event, Google the results amongst themselves. started surfacing other sources that Only after four (4) hours into included the Wall Street Journal, the event, other natural-organic Seattle Times and Apple’s press results started showing up on releases that pushed the Yahoo! the first SERP, pushing down the news-related results. 16
  • 17. Part 2 - Section 1: Code and Forms Breaking News Study ® Amanda Knox Returns to Seattle – A local breaking news event On October 4, 2011, Amanda Knox, an American college student who was convicted of murder in Perugia, Italy, returned to her hometown, Seattle, Washington. Amanda served 4 years of a 26-year sentence before the conviction was overturned on October 3, 2011. While the news of Amanda Knox’s acquittal was breaking news on a national level, the news of her return to Seattle can be classified as local breaking news. Amanda Knox Returns A local news event We used the following search terms in this event: Amanda Knox, Amanda Knox Returns, Aman- da Knox Returns to Seattle, Amanda Knox Seattle. Observations • Both search engines served placed results at the top of the SERP, pushing down the natural-organic results below the fold. • On average, 70% of the SERP real estate above the fold was dedicated to placed results and only 30% of the SERP real estate above the fold served natural-organic results (two natural-organic results above the fold). • Google was faster to update its news results and served the most up-to-date coverage of Knox’s return to Seattle, while Bing was slower to update its MSN.com news results, which were the top results. Bing served old news coverage for the first hour of the event but then served more recent news results following the area occupied by MSN.com. • As far as the news results go, Bing favored recency over authority serving results only minutes old while Google favored reputation over recency. • Both search engines did not update their natural-organic results immediately and kept old natural-organic results about Knox’s acquittal static for the first few hours of the event. 17
  • 18. Breaking News Study ® Amanda Knox Returns A local news event As far as the news results go, Bing favored recency over authority serving results only minutes old while Google favored reputation over recency. Both search engines served non-organic results at the top of the SERP, pushing down the organic results below the fold. On average, 70% of the SERP real GOOGLE estate above the fold was dedicated to placed results and only 30% of the SERP real estate above the fold served natural-organic results (two natural-organic results above the fold). Both search engines did not update their natural-organic results immediately and kept old BING natural-organic results about Google was faster to update its news Knox’s acquittal static for the results and served the most up-to-date first few hours of the event. coverage of Knox’s return to Seattle, while Bing was slower to update its MSN. com news results, which were the top results. Bing served old news coverage for the first hour of the event but then served more recent news results following the area occupied by MSN.com. 18
  • 19. Breaking News Study ® 10 Tips for Driving Organic Traffic to Your Site During Breaking News Event Think like a publisher. Breaking news events happen all the time and are unpredictable. Since you can’t bank on what will happen and try to rank organically for those terms, you need to prepare ahead of time. In order to rank higher on SERPs during a breaking news event, you will need authority, social reach and freshness to make search engines index your site more often. Online publishers are known for these same characteristics. Follow the tips below to start thinking like an online publisher and build the groundwork that will make it easier for you to rank higher during a breaking news event 1. Format: Search engines try to surface multi-format results higher. Video was the top format since it’s easy to consume and share but also harder to come by. If you can capture the event with a short video, syndicate it on YouTube and embed it on your site, use keywords to describe it and allow others to comment on the video. Images also help to get recognition SERPs and probably drive residual traffic. 2. Social sharing: One of the ways we assume Google is rendering real time results is by looking at the sharing volume of the content. Using your social network and making it easy for people to interact with your content will increase your chances of ranking higher on SERPs. It will also drive more traffic to your site regardless of traffic from search engines. 3. Google+: The recent release of Google Search Plus Your World makes Google+ an important part of your social sharing efforts. We predict that Google will give more weight to content with a lot of +1’s, so it is important that you implement it on your site. 19
  • 20. Breaking News Study ® 4. Freshness, uniqueness and recency: In the case of news event, freshness and recency are a must. People look for “news” not “olds” and search engines do the same. While Bing might be extreme in the weight it gives recency in the news section, both search engines will prefer recent news to old news, and in events of larger magnitude freshness is measured by the minute. Be unique and keep updating your stories and find new angles and perspectives. This isn’t just an SEO tip; it’s Journalism 101. 5. News category and News XML: Is your site listed as a news site on Google and Bing? If it’s not, you will not be surfaced in the news section and will not be crawled in the same frequency. You should also submit a news site map to Google so it can discover your content faster and ensure that you get full coverage of your content. 6. Optimize, optimize, optimize: Without optimizing your content using the durable elements of SEO, chances are that you will not rank very high. 7. Keyword strategy: While you can’t prepare a keyword strategy for news events that haven’t happened yet, you can train your team to react quickly and be SEO savvy when they do. There are also larger news categories that are more stable and have somewhat predictable breaking news events (e.g., Sports, Politics, Health). Develop a keyword strategy by learning how users search for these events. Provide clear guidelines on what keywords you’d like to rank for in case of a news event and make sure content is optimized for those terms. Share real time results and trends with your team to make the point and analyze your performance in real time. You might need to redirect your focus to new terms that emerge during the event, but if your team is already versed in SEO, that shouldn’t be a problem. 20
  • 21. Breaking News Study ® 8. Research keywords: Use Twitter trends to see what keywords and hashtags are trending and to uncover keywords you would use in your content. Use real-time monitoring tools to learn what resonates and how. In addition, people in different segments may use a very specific language when they search, often different from “marketing lingo,” so make sure you develop your keyword list to target the search personas you developed. 9. Use Social Media to drive traffic: The use of social media during breaking news event is becoming essential for marketers and publishers. The popularity of social media networks, specifically Twitter and Facebook, in conjunction with mobile usage on these networks, makes social media a do-or-die marketing activity. In addition, it’s clear from this study that search engines are not the place to go for finding out about breaking news, and even though they still drive the majority of organic traffic, we predict that in the next few years, social media will take over in the case of breaking news. 10. Think like a publisher, act like a marketer: Don’t forget that you are a marketer and ignore online marketing best practices. There are a few simple rules of on line marketing that you will need to remember, including: SEO best practices and real-time web writing practices. 21
  • 22. Breaking News Study ® buyers into your funnel. About Optify Optify delivers an integrated top-of-the-funnel solution for marketers responsible for fueling their company’s growth. Optify helps B2B marketers reach more buyers and generate more demand for their products or services month-after-month. The Optify 1 INBOUND DEMAND Inbound Marketing Software Suite brings together the enterprise-class SEO and social Enterprise-class SEO marketing tools that marketers need to increase awareness of their business, influence and social marketing to reach more buyers and buyers across social networks, and engage with prospects at the earliest point of their generate more leads. buyer’s journey. 2 SALES ENABLEMENT OPTIFY’S SOLUTION INCLUDES: Visitor intelligence 3 and prospect alerts help sales reach Inbound Demand: create a sustainable flow of inbound TRACKING & ANALYTICS prospects while they’re hot. leads into your marketing funnel with enterprise-class Insight into what SEO and social marketing. influences your buyers so you can get more buyers into your funnel. Sales Enablement: help sales reach prospects and engage with them early in the sales process with visitor intelligence and prospect alerts. Tracking & Analytics: get more of the prospects you want with full insight into what influences your buyers and the path they take to find and evaluate you during their research process. Optify offers a fully-featured free trial; learn more at www.optify.net Check out our fully functional free trial 22 OPTIFY, INC. 710 2ND AVE, SUITE 840 SEATTLE, WA 98104 WWW.OPTIFY.NET 1-877-2-OPTIFY Free! Try it Now