SEO for Publishers: How to Maximize Content Visibility

What Is SEO for Publishers & Why Is It Important?

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

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

Here’s an illustration:

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

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

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

5 Publishing SEO Challenges and How to Overcome Them

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

1. Adapting to Google Algorithm Updates

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

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

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

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

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

Only aft that bash we spot immoderate results from publishers.

Overcome these algorithm-related hurdles by:

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

2. Getting Google to Map a Constantly Evolving Website

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

The fix?

Direct Google toward the pages you privation searchers to find (e.g., up-to-date contented with ads and affiliate links). And steer it distant from little important pages, similar older articles and privateness policies.

These tactics volition assistance Google representation your site:

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

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

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

3. Making Paywalled Content Discoverable by Google

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

To flooded this challenge, publishers tin usage Google’s flexible sampling guidelines oregon structured information to marque paywalled pages discoverable portion maintaining contented protection.

Here’s how.

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

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

This is an illustration of metering:

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

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

<body>

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

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

</body>

Then, adhd the NewsArticle structured information to archer Google that the leafage contented is down a paywall:

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

4. Keeping Page Speeds Fast When Using Tracking Pixels

Tracking pixels assistance advertisers and publishers recognize which ads lend to visits, sales, sign-ups, and different conversions by tracking users’ behavior.

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

Minimize the interaction of tracking pixels connected your leafage velocity by:

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

5. Dealing with Keyword Cannibalization

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

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

Keyword cannibalization tin beryllium hard to debar for manufacture and quality publishers that make aggregate pieces of contented connected akin topics. And astatine scale.

Here’s however to lick it:

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

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

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

• The fig of affected keywords: Keywords wherever you person much than 1 leafage ranking successful the apical 100
• The fig of cannibal pages: URLs that stock a top-100 keyword ranking with 1 oregon much different URLs

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

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

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

• Combining pages with akin contented into a single, broad page. And redirect the alternate pages to the main page.
• Editing your pages to absorption connected antithetic people keywords oregon chiseled aspects of a topic

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

9 SEO Tips for Publishers

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

1. Put Readers Before Algorithms

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

Creating genuinely reliable and engaging contented volition apt amended your hunt rankings and organic traffic implicit time.

Google emphasizes this point:

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

Do the pursuing to make prime contented that resonates with readers:

• Ensure your contented meets search intent (i.e., the information down a search). For example, if users are looking for places to sojourn successful Mexico, make an nonfiction that recommends Mexican tourer destinations alternatively of discussing the country’s history.
• Add archetypal insights and probe to your content. Interview experts to enrich your contented with insights gleaned implicit years of experience. Or behaviour surveys and contiguous information to backmost up your claims.
• Avoid keyword stuffing, which is utilizing keywords repeatedly and unnaturally. Both readers and hunt engines volition find the contented hard to follow—they mightiness adjacent spot it arsenic spammy.

2. Do Keyword Research

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

Your keyword probe strategy depends connected the benignant of work you have.

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

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

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

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

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

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

For instance, you whitethorn privation to people keywords with commercialized intent if you mean to people pieces with affiliate links. Since readers whitethorn click these links to bargain thing you’ve promoted successful your content.

You could besides spell for keywords with debased PKD %, arsenic these volition beryllium easier to fertile for.

3. Update Your Content for Freshness

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

Examples of queries that necessitate content freshness see the following:

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

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

Keep your contented caller by:

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

4. Optimize for Google News

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

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

• Your content’s relevance to a quality topic
• Your publication’s authoritativeness
• Your content’s freshness
• Your content’s determination and language

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

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

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

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

Image Source: Google Developers

5. Use Structured Data to Make Your Pages Stand Out

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

For example, structured information tin archer Google what a quality article’s header and main representation are. So Google tin prominently show those elements connected the SERP:

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

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

• Article
• NewsArticle
• Review
• Video
• Speakable

Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper makes it casual to make structured data.

First, take the due information benignant from the list.

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

The instrumentality volition load your leafage connected the near and a “Records” sheet connected the right:

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

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

The instrumentality volition instrumentality the author’s sanction and spot it adjacent to the “Author” tract connected the close side.

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

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

Continue adding markup items.

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

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

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

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

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

6. Optimize Your Images

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

To trim your images’ load speeds, compress them with a escaped instrumentality similar TinyPNG. 

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

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

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

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

If your tract runs connected WordPress, you tin instal a plugin similar LazyLoad to bash this.

Last but not least, adhd alternate substance (usually called alt text) to your images to assistance hunt engines recognize their content. Which tin summation your images’ chances of ranking well.

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

Alt substance besides appears erstwhile an representation can’t load. That way, adjacent users with dilatory net speeds tin inactive recognize the image’s contents.

Most contented absorption systems person representation alt substance settings, which means you don’t request to adhd alt substance to your image’s HTML directly. 

Here’s what this mounting looks similar successful WordPress:

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

Internal links are links that link pages wrong the aforesaid website, and they administer ranking authorization and assistance hunt engines recognize the relationships betwixt your content. 

Find authoritative pages and orphan pages (i.e., pages with nary interior links pointing to them) utilizing Semrush’s Site Audit.

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

The “Internal Linking” study volition amusement you which of your pages person the astir authorization and which ones person the slightest authority.

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

Add links from your authoritative pages to related low-ranking oregon orphaned pages.

8. Build Backlinks to Grow Readership

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

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

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

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

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

You tin besides people contented successful concern with different publication, influencer, oregon brand. Or promote them to nexus to what you’ve created.

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

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

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

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

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

Next, click the “Indexed Pages” tab.

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

Use these pages to animate the contented you create.

9. Use Canonical Tags to Rank the Right URLs

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

A canonical tag is HTML that looks similar this:

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

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

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

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

The work wants each the ranking authorization to spell to the authoritative URL, not the parameterized one. So, it tin adhd a canonical tag that points to the authoritative URL.

Your CMS should connection options for mounting up canonical URLs.

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

Boost Your Readership and Revenue with SEO for Publishers

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

Semrush provides implicit 50 of these tools successful a azygous platform. 

Sign up for a free account to effort them.