subject: Seo Is More Important Than Traditional Stylebooks [print this page] When the newspaper industry started panicking about how it was going to generate revenue in the digital era, it slowly dawned on them that the internet was the future. But, a large number of journalists turned on the world of search engine optimisation. They claimed that SEO was watering down their writing and putting marketing ahead of news gathering.
It took months - and for some years - to come around to the fact that search engine marketing was an integral part of online content production.
Now, it seems that even the most staunch news providers are adopting search engine optimisation techniques to get their news noticed by as many internet users as possible.
The shift towards optimised online content - which has been driven by the vast number of people that rely solely on the internet for their daily intake of current affairs - was set in stone last week when the Associated Press abandoned its stylebook spelling of the word website (which, strangely, was 'web site').
Commenting on the widespread adoption of SEO techniques in practically all web content, Robert Niles, of the Online Journalism Review, claimed that newspapers were slow off the mark when it came to the adoption of SEO and as a result they have fallen way behind their new media counterparts.
"Today's online publishers, editors and reporters need a new style that most effectively allows their words to reach their intended audiences. Unfortunately for them, the print-inspired Associated Press style is not that," Niles said.
He added: "Today's (and tomorrow's) journalists need to learn search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques as much as, if not more than, their predecessors who worked in the print industry needed to learn the [Associated Press stylebook]."
Niles concluded that SEO is the perfect way to engage younger audiences who practically ignore traditional print.
News providers are still in a strong position because content remains king when it comes to successful SEO. But they will have a lot of catching up to do if they are to continue competing with the many internet-only media outlets that have already adopted the search engine marketing mantra of content and keywords.
