Secret Agent Marketing / PR, Marketing and creative content

What’s the best way to increase visitors to your website, according to an SEO expert?

At their February monthly update on all things SEO and the latest algorithmic dance at Google, Yoast gave an unexpected answer for an SEO tech company. Was it turn away from Google and concentrate on ChapGPT, Copilot or Gemini?

It’s an understandable assumption given the heady advances of AI in the last 12 months (12 weeks, 12 days, 12 minutes!). Is Google on its uppers? Not so. They still command 98 per cent or so of the search engine market and are unlikely to let that slide a digit without a fight, hence it’s still important to hang on their every update.

First step in increasing website visitors

So it was a mixture of surprise and ‘well, of course’ from me when Carolyn from Yoast gave her answer to this question:

“We’re a non-profit, just trying to get eyeballs on the info we’re putting out there.
What do you recommend?”

And her answer?

“Send out press releases to your local newspaper, to your local outlets, and announce things. That is the quickest way to get eyeballs and traffic into your website…Do the PR outreach and get the citations and get the links back into your site.”

I was surprised because I expected Carolyn from Yoast to say keywords, internal links and back links.

But also not surprised because newspapers (including their digital iterations) are still trusted sources. And Google is all about the trusted sources. If your organisation or business name is mentioned in a newspaper it still carries a lot of weight. Google doesn’t have to worry about integrity, fact-checking and legal compliance. Newspapers write authoritative, interesting, timely content. Local and regional newspapers write in an obvious geographical region which is another tick in the credibility box.

The websites of businesses and organisations which have byline editorial ( articles with the name of the journalist who wrote it) in the local media will score higher with those Google crawlbots, and move up the search engine results.

“If you’re local, you’re in a great position. So don’t just put up a blog post about it. You want to make an announcement in a press style. Write a news article, give it to the newspaper and let them put their byline on it and publish it. Those types of citations are going to help you become an entity. When you’re an entity and people ask questions about your area of expertise, you will then get recommended in the AI overviews.”

Local news is trusted by Google

13 years ago we rebranded Chamber News to Business Biscuit. With humble beginnings as a Marlborough Chamber of Commerce monthly e-newsletter, we developed it into a B2B publication for Swindon and Wiltshire. A few years ago, after a website rebuild and rebrand, we expanded into the regions of Bath and Bristol and Berkshire.

At its core is the excellent journalism and editorial decisions by Agent Pete, whose style is a short, snappy news bites of the latest innovations, regional economic news, and the staff member who’s run a marathon for their local hospice. He’s also in a happy place writing deep dives into long running stories like the Stonehenge tunnel saga. He’s had 30 years in the journalism business, starting as a print journalist and editor.

We can’t see the importance of credible news site changing. In fact, the need for quality content (or ‘news’ as we used to call it) will grow like Jack’s beanstalk. Despite TikTok and YouTube the thirst for the written word will remain because some people prefer reading to listening or watching – or sometimes the written word is the best way to consume news. And now, instead of the limited options of TV, radio or printed paper, people have many 24-hour options to read, listen and watch and can follow their preferences, so the people who read are the ones who prefer it that way.

Using toads as an example, what’s in a Google AI Overview?

Even AI will not change the importance of news sites. Google is using an AI Overview for some search results. It seems to work best for specific questions, like the one I asked yesterday when a bunch of toads appeared on our road. Not wanting any more victims of road kill, I’d collected them up in a bucket and wondered where to release them. “Where do toads go when they come out of hibernation?” I asked Google. The answer came via their AI Overview – deep ponds and lakes, apparently, to spawn in the same place they were born. And they were lady toads. The overview gave links to tens of sources – which created a new set of primary search results.

However if I searched for a specific business or specific website, such as Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, Google is more likely to return a web address.

Trusted news content from Business Biscuit

Despite the huge cuts in staff at local newspapers, and newspaper editors using AI to sift through press releases, and the ensuing challenges for businesses to secure homes for their stories, the appetite for local news is undiminished.

This is where a region site such as Business Biscuit comes in. It builds what we call a news ecosystem, where our promotional partners provide us with revenue and their news and we provide a platform filled with relevant content, trusted by Google and its AI Overview, a virtuous circle if you will. Interesting and timely stories from any business in our patch is essential to feed this circle, and business will receive the positive mention and customer boost, whether or not they arrive on our site.

Do subscribe to Business Biscuit’s weekly e-news, follow our socials, send us your news and ask about a promotional partnership with us. And read a story.