Keywords Not THAT Newsworthy?
The New York Times recently noted that SEO practices are starting to change the way news is written. In an effort to gain more visibility (and hence traffic) from search engines, titles and articles are becoming more keyword-rich.
Many reporters and online editors are becoming more keyword-savvy: learning to identify the most attractive keywords and use them within titles and text. This new practice is seen by some as a form of “search engine political correctness”, removing some of the creativity and character from writing. Titles that utilize techniques like irony, rhyme, or cultural allusion may work well for humans, but the purely literal interpretations of machines as well as the relative banality of common search phrases makes such creativity counter-productive in terms of getting more traffic from search engines. Others see the use of keywords less as a serious threat to journalistic license than as yet another constraint that must be satisfied.
The fact that SEO is creeping into the fourth estate is not really much of a surprise. News is, after all, a business, and businesses need customers. A larger audience of readers means more ads, more ad revenue, and potentially more subscribers. Good search engine rankings can help online news sources attract a larger audience.
Welcome, Gray Lady, to the age of search.
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