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David Amerland: Niche, SEO and the paywall debate

On Journalism.co.uk journalist and SEO expert David Amerland writes on the role of search engine optimisation (SEO) in the future of online publishing and paid-for news models.

“Newspapers and those who run them have not understood that online visitors to generalised news sites will pay not for the quality of the news, but for its convenience,” he writes. Part of this convenience is visibility: making your content available to readers when they need it and when they’re looking for it. If you’re a niche publisher, the content your produce is likely to resonate and have value with a specific audience – using SEO can give this material the visibility it deserves and connect it with the readers looking for it.

The judicious use of SEO in creating headlines which address specific potential visitor needs, and creating content summaries that do the same, has the ability to take a story which has niche value and make it a major global player just by leveraging the niche at a global level. It is this approach which provides opportunities which can bring in the profit required to keep things afloat.

Read David’s piece on SEO and journalism in full at this link.

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