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News SEO Playbook

4 Weeks

·

Cohort-based Course

Learn tried and tested technical and content SEO strategies to maximize traffic to your news publication.

Hosted by

Vahe Arabian

15+ years SEO veteran, speaker, trainer, consultant

Course overview

Increase your organic traffic by 50-500%

Every strategy taught in the course has been developed based on the specific needs of news media publishers. The tactics that you will learn have been implemented on dozens of publisher sites, resulting in short-term wins and long-term success.

Who is this course for

01

SEO specialists of publishers of all sizes

02

Editorial operations leads at medium and large news publishers

03

Digital and audience development leaders at medium and large news publishers

Outcomes and resources

Instant implementation of learnings

Following each session, you will be equipped with practical insights and best practices that you can implement as you go.

Ready-to-use templates

No need to develop internal templates and processes. Access the many templates shared in the course, make a copy, plug in your own data and you are set to go!

One-on-one support

Following the completion of the course, you will be able to schedule up to three one-on-one sessions with the instructor to review your implementation progress and identify the next step(s).

Short-term wins and long-term growth

The learnings in this course will enable you to achieve a number of quick wins and see almost immediate improvements in organic traffic while also setting up a scalable long-term strategy that will continuously deliver results.

Meet your instructor

Vahe Arabian

Vahe Arabian

I’m Vahe, the founder of State of Digital Publishing. Like other publishers I work in the trenches to build and grow content and media properties. I also create insigts, resources and a community that fosters knowledge sharing and industry collaboration.


I’m a 15 year veteran SEO and content strategist for publishers and explorer of digital media and technology trends.


In my vast experience of working with digital publishing companies, I have helped publishers of all sizes exponentially increase their reach through concise SEO strategies and effective content workflows that reflects their business & monetization model.

What people are saying

        The course is the best holistic product I’ve ever seen for SEOs that work with publishers: it covers deeply all aspects from strategy to tactics, going through key technical drivers. Vahe’s ability to explain complex things in a way that anyone can learn about SEO for publishers is an aggregated value
Nicolás Billia

Nicolás Billia

News Head of SEO Strategy, nomadic
        You don’t know what you don’t know, but SODP do! Vahe and the team live and breathe SEO and from day one they’ve been passionate about helping our content reach the audience it deserved. They understand the realities of publishing and work to help you create high-performing content that doesn’t compromise on quality.
Tim Ashelford

Tim Ashelford

Publisher, We Are Explorers
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Course syllabus

01

Week 1: Technical SEO

You will learn about essential technical requirements for content publishing


  • Design layout
  • Site architecture
  • Page experience
  • News sitemap
  • Schema
  • Crawl speed and frequency
  • Ads and popups


02

Week 2: Content SEO

You will learn about essential elements of news content that help drive traffic and authority. 


  • News content clustering 
  • E-E-A-T (updates and a brief recap of what it is)
  • Title and headlines
  • Dates
  • Original reporting techniques
  • Video content in Google News
  • Image optimization
  • Internal linking


03

Week 3: Tactics

You will learn how to expand the reach of your content


  • Content velocity
  • Top Stories
  • Google Trends
  • Search Generative Experience (SGE)
  • Live blogs
  • Web Stories
  • Google Discover


04

Week 4: Metrics and Wrap-up

You will also learn how to evaluate the performance of your content 


  • News Content Insights (NCI)
  • Competitor Analysis and tracking
  • Reporting – GSC & GA power usage tips

05

Week 5 (Optional): Editorial Workflow Workshop

Advanced users who are ready to start implementing the changes based on the learnings of Weeks 1-4 will have the option to book in their 1-on-1 call to discuss tools and workflow optimization strategies for their publication.

Free resource

Running editorial teams and workflows - learn from The NYT's The Athletic and They Got Acquired

Watch a video discussion between

  • Alexis Grant, Founder and CEO of They Got Acquired
  • Claudio Cabrera, VP - Newsroom Strategy and Audience of The Athletic
  • Andrew Kemp, Managing Editor of State of Digital Publishing


Follow along as they share the fundamentals of effective editorial strategies and workflow management.

Access this free resource

Learning is better with cohorts

Learning is better with cohorts

Active hands-on learning

This course builds on live workshops and hands-on projects

Interactive and project-based

You’ll be interacting with other learners through breakout rooms and project teams

Learn with a cohort of peers

Join a community of like-minded people who want to learn and grow alongside you

Q&A sessions

Share experiences, challenges, and brainstorm solutions with a group of peers

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the expected time commitment?
Will you provide ongoing support?
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News SEO Playbook

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