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for Google News, Top
Stories & Discover
NewsSEO.io
Lily Ray
Sr. Director, SEO & Head of Organic
Research at Amsive Digital

Sr. Director, SEO &
Head of Organic Research
Lily Ray

@lilyray
I talk about
a ��ǳ�…

@lilyray
is the
criteria Google’s
Quality Raters use
to evaluate content,
authors, & websites.

@lilyray
But Google talks about a lot too.

@lilyray
And it doesn’t ��ٴǱ�.�ċ

@lilyray
is especially
important for Google
News and Discover.

Google Maps Organic Search +
The Knowledge Graph
Google Play Store
Images
YouTube
Google News
Google Discover
Featured Snippets
Interesting Finds
Ecosystem

Google has only ever confirmed
two direct ranking factors for
: PageRank and links.

@lilyray
Speculation
Us SEOs are left to work with…
Data Patents

@lilyray
Google Patents that Hint at
Agent Rank (2007)
Identify Authors
Rank content according to author reputation
Website Representation Vectors (2018)
Classify websites into categories of
expertise/authoritativeness
Generating Author Vectors (2020)
Uses neural networks to identify an author by their writing style
Speaker Identification (2020)
Identify authors by their voice
Linked Open Data Cloud - lod-cloud.net
Since 2018, Google working with U.S. Census, the World Bank,
& more in an open database called ‘Data Commons’
Google will include this data as a “new layer of the Knowledge
Graph”

@lilyray
Have you watched it?
GNI: How Google Search & Rankings Work

@lilyray
Google specifically states that your articles should include
bylines and not all be written “by staff”

@lilyray
If you’ve established yourself as an authority on a certain topic, that
builds up Google’s understanding of authority for your site

@lilyray
Google doesn’t understand brands.
It tries to understand

@lilyray
Top “News” Keywords & Domain Holding #1 Position
Past Year
TRUMP AFGHANISTAN CHINA BIDEN COVID
NBA DOGECOIN BITCOIN ISRAEL DOGECOIN PRICE
DELTA VARIANT SIMONE BILES INDIA AMC STOCK MATT GAETZ

@lilyray
Exposés of Good by Category

@lilyray
Methodology
Sistrix Visibility Index for SEO Visibility
(10 blue links – No Top Stories)
past year
NewzDash for Google News visibility
past 30 days

@lilyray
Google News Score by Domain & Category (Sept 2021)
Category
Boxing
F1
NASCAR
NFL
Sports
Tennis
UFC
WWE
The big players (ESPN, Yahoo) demonstrate E-A-T
across various sports
Some niche sports publishers seem to benefit from
“staying in their lane” and focusing in one area

@lilyray
Category
Air Travel
Cruises
Travel
Google News Score by Domain & Category
Cruise Hive, Simple Flying, Cruise Industry News laser-
focus on one category (cruising, air travel) and see
significant G News traffic
Generalist sites (Marketwatch, Yahoo News, WSJ) are
able to drive performance in both air travel & cruising

@lilyray
How does Google News
compare to that of organic search?

@lilyray
Total SEO Visibility:
Organic blue links,
not Top Stories
(Past Year)
Google News Visibility (Past Month)
Bubble size/color: number
of Google News stories in
position #1 – past 30 days
How to Read These Charts:

@lilyray
SEO Visibility x Google News Visibility
Sept 2021
All Categories

@lilyray
Takeaways
strike a great balance between organic visibility & G News visibility
&
over-index on organic visibility, not as much in Google News
&
do much better in Google News than regular organic search
&
1
2
3

@lilyray
Sept 2021
Arts
& Entertainment

@lilyray
Takeaways & Examples
does extremely well across both Google News & organic search.
Its “People” (tag) pages drive evergreen visibility
also do well across News & SEO
1
2 & &

@lilyray
Tag Pages
People drives evergreen traffic through its
use of celebrity tag pages.
But it appears that People demonstrates better E-A-T
in some areas than others.

@lilyray
Sept 2021
Computers,
Electronics &
Technology

@lilyray
Different Headlines
for Different Purposes
With recent title changes, it appears that Google will continue
to use <titles> and <h1> for different purposes as Google
sees fit, across different News surfaces, without any
guarantee about where and how titles will be displayed.
H1:

@lilyray
Extensive Author Biographies

@lilyray
Sept 2021
National News

@lilyray
The elephant in the room:
content syndication seems to work really well…
(for whoever Google chooses as the canonical).

@lilyray
@lilyraynyc
Google Discover

@lilyray
Why Do I Care So Much About Discover?
Distribution of traffic for 4 clients in past 12 months:

@lilyray
As of 10-25, there is
now a Discover and
Google News API!
@lilyraynyc

@lilyray
Discover Manual Actions
• These are not fun to deal with.
• Google doesn’t even tell you which URLs are affected.

@lilyray
• Discover policy violation: Adult-themed content
• News and Discover policy violation: Dangerous content
• News and Discover policy violation: Harassing content
• News and Discover policy violation: Hateful content
• News and Discover policy violation: Manipulated media
• News and Discover policy violation: Medicalcontent
• Discover policy violation: Misleading content
• News and Discover policy violation: Sexually explicit content
• News and Discover policy violation: Terrorist content
• News policy violation: Transparency
• News and Discover policy violation: Violence and gore content
• News and Discover policy violation: Vulgar language and profanity
List of Manual Actions for News & Discover

@lilyray
For Discover articles with over 500,000 clicks in the past 16 months:
For articles with over 25% CTR in the past 16 months:
Headline Length & Word Count (12k+ analyzed URLs)
17 WORDS
Average Headline Word Count
740 WORDS
Average Article Word Count
12 WORDS
Average Headline Word Count
816 WORDS
Average Article Word Count

@lilyray
Articles with >25% CTR in Discover
Topics discussed in Discover content with the highest
CTR (redacted for client confidentiality):
• Church pastor cheating scandal
• X-rated symbols in children’s movies
• Celebrities filing for divorce
• Celebrities having angry meltdowns
• Deaths of political figures
• Celebrities firing people
• Observations about celebrities’ bodies
• Scandalous celebrity photos
• Drug use statistics
• Relatable relationship advice

@lilyray
Clickbaity Word Structure of Top-Performing
Discover Headlines
Examples of word structures used in Discover content with highest CTR:
• This heartbreaking moment
• $30 million, $300 million, $228 million
• Call out the hypocrisy
• 45 pills a day
• Summed up in this 1 word
• Called out this rapper
• Threw up on the streets
• Under this 1 condition
Confirms the rumor
Reveals her real hair color
The moment he realized
Demanded this 1 major change
Why you need to sell ____ immediately
Sends a terrifying message
This 1 massive problem

What works best in Discover might not work at
all in regular search (and vice versa)
45

@lilyray
Examples of Top Performing Discover Content
with Limited/No SEO Visibility
Prince Harry / Meghan Markle drama
Shaq’s child with high school girlfriend
Tiffany Hadish unfollows Common’s IG
The end of Daylight Savings Time
Celebrity couples getting divorced
Little House on the Prairie star meeting her birth father
Mayim Bialik resigning from Jeopardy!
North West’s faces
Supplements for lowering blood sugar
Foods and beverages that can improve sleep

@lilyray
• Drug use in high school
• Increased appetite in senior pets
• My dog is scared of me
• How to read a pay stub
• How to print iPhone photos
• Federal vs. state taxes
• How to know if someone is on MDMA
• What to Know about IRAs
• Best apps to help with your move
• What is the inverted yield curve
Examples of Top Performing SEO Content with
Limited/No Discover Visibility
Unlike Discover content, top-performing SEO content requires that the user knows what they are searching for:

@lilyray
• Dangers of wearing a mask for
COVID-19
• George Floyd tested positive for
COVID
• Vegetarians safe from COVID
• IRS stimulus checks
• COVID-19 protocols on cruises
• Acne breakouts & diets
• Dietitian-approved snacks for
weight management
• Diabetes and tattoos
• Omega 3s and life expectancy
• Exercise & heart health
• Coping with anxiety
• Essential oils
• CBD and heart health
Forbidden Topics Performing in Discover, not SEO
Some clients see much stronger performance on topics that are often
“off limits” for SEO (YMYL – Your Money, Your Life)

@lilyray
Pet Example: SEO vs. Discover Content
• Pet health and medicine
• Pet insurance
• Pet food • Obscure pet illnesses
• Dogs with disabilities
• Do dogs feel love?
• Animals overcoming disease

@lilyray
Posing Questions as Headlines:
Many articles that pose questions as headlines tend to drive significant
Discover traffic & strong CTRs:
• Does ____ help with anxiety?
• Did ____ movie contain x-rated content?
• Did Trump say _____?
• Is this a photo of _____ and _____?
• Is it over already?
• How do you tighten skin ____?
• Did ____ get a pay raise?

@lilyray
• Does ____ help with anxiety?
• Did ____ movie contain x-rated content?
• Did Trump say _____?
• Is this a photo of _____ and _____?
• Is it over already?
• How do you tighten skin ____?
• Did ____ get a pay raise?
Posing Questions as Headlines:
Many articles that pose questions as headlines tend to drive significant
Discover traffic & strong CTRs:

@lilyray
Think of Discover as a Separate,
Additional Organic Traffic Source
@lilyraynyc

@lilyray
Discover drives unpaid, organic traffic but it
behaves a bit more like Facebook than Google
Search.
@lilyraynyc

@lilyray
Your Content/News Strategy Can (and should?)
Target Both SEO & Discover Separately
@lilyraynyc

@lilyray
Improving & evaluating
your

@lilyray
Custom Extraction is Your Friend
Identify&extract
anyofyouron-
pagesignalsthat
maycorrelatewith

@lilyray
COMBINE:
Crawldata+
customextract+
Backlinks+
Readability+
GSCperformance+
GAperformance+

�ݺ�ߣ

NESS 2021 - E-A-T for Google News, Top Stories & Discover, from Lily Ray

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NESS 2021 - E-A-T for Google News, Top Stories & Discover, from Lily Ray