Critiquing the Capital: An SEO Analysis of Tallahassee’s Newspaper
The Tallahassee Democrat has been a mainstay in the city of Tallahassee for more than 100 years. They are owned by Gannett and proudly “reach approximately 8 out of 10 readers in Tallahassee and surrounding areas.” The Democrat focuses on news within the city and state. While the paper often features mom and pop businesses or small town issues, they also maintain a strong focus on politics and sports as the capital city of Florida and home to two prominent universities with strong athletic programs. They don’t face stiff competition for local news, but certainly state readers can find news from a number of other publications. The Internet’s affect on traditional newspapers is well documented, and the Democrat’s website Tallahassee.com has adapted accordingly. In my analysis of the paper’s website and news stories I came away impressed. The most significant elements of SEO optimization such as headline, deck, and lede keywords were web friendly and are likely to gain significant web traffic within their news-worthiness constraints. One noticeable critique that would be an easy fix is photo captions. Most of the pictures I found within the stories I looked at were missing captions of any sort, and the ones that did include them were weak from an SEO perspective. Overall, I think Tallahassee.com does a nice job of optimizing shorter news stories, but seem to narrow their audience when writing longer features. Below are highlights from three specific articles, noting both the “good” and “not great” in terms of SEO technique.
Article Headline: Hackney owner eager to be local medical marijuana dispensary
Proposed New Headline: The First Legal Weed Dealers in Florida: Hackney Nursery excited to be certified to dispense medical marijuana approved by the state
This feature on a nursery in Quincy, Florida that was recently licensed by the state to serve as one of five certified dispensaries of medicinal marijuana is definitely targeted for the local audience so my proposed headline might be a bit over the top. Still, I think it could work. While it runs long, it’s loaded with key search terms and given the explanation I don’t think it’s misleading. The story does a good job of detailing which regions of Florida will be assigned to the five nurseries, but they’ve made it so hard for non-Democrat readers to find the story.
There are two related links within the story and a photograph at the top of the page, which meets two SEO checklist items. Again, the caption simply attributes the photographer and should have more SEO keywords in order to cultivate more traffic. Perhaps the nugget about George Hackney’s managing of the famed hedges in the University of Georgia’s Sanford Stadium could be included in that caption so as to rope in an even bigger audience. That’s just one creative idea, but there should be more intention below the picture.
SEO Grade: B-
Article Headline: Vendor getting most state-worker charity cash
Proposed New Headline: Florida Charity Program Profiting from State-Employee Money
Since this feature is largely aimed at the local audience the proposed new headline could be included in the lede instead, but this seems like the kind of article that could get lots of traffic, especially in the state. It’s not the kind of news that will garner national focus, but I would imagine most Floridians have some, at least mild interest in how their state-employee charity money is being dispersed. The headline will probably hook the people who pick up the Democrat every morning, or check the website every day, but “Vendors” isn’t a great SEO word. Also, money works better than cash.
The deck and the first sentence are almost identical. One or the other could include more key search terms while the other could provide more explanation — the deck would be a better place for keywords while the nut graf and lede allow more leeway for explanation. The article mentions that the program is “on tap to have its worst showing in at least five years,” so I wonder if they couldn’t have included “decline” in the deck or possibly even the headline because it seems to be relevant information.
The story needs more pictures, or at least one besides the background shot in the title. Finding a single photograph that would encapsulate the article’s key message would prove challenging, but since it’s a state issue stills of Governor Rick Scott or even the capitol building could provide more traffic while not misleading readers. Charts and grafs included are great content and helpful for readers, but pictures have greater value for search engines.
The charts and numbers are a real strength in the story. Perhaps links to other state charity rankings would allow a national perspective on the “generosity” of Florida state workers while also providing more traffic.
Grade: B
Article Headline: Jimbo Fisher: ‘I’m staying right here at Florida State.’
Proposed New Headline: Jimbo Fisher on Job Rumors: ‘I’m staying right here at Florida State.’
This brief story is focused on reporting Florida State Head Coach Jimbo Fisher’s latest comments regarding speculation that he could leave the school to take over another program. This article largely does a good job of maximizing SEO tools. The headline includes Jimbo Fisher’s full name and keywords “staying” and “Florida State,” all likely to be searched by potential readers. I would’ve added job rumors to help provide more traffic, as those are both words likely to appear in current searches about Jimbo Fisher.
The article included two relevant links to related stories, which is good, but their link to the radio interview from which they extracted the quotes is at the bottom of the page. This should be part of the original citation in the nut graf. There is a nice photo of Jimbo Fisher from Florida State’s most recent game against the Florida Gators, but the picture has no caption. This is a squandered opportunity to include more key search terms that could bring in more traffic. For example, the story isn’t about FSU’s victory over the Gators on Saturday, but including those keywords could result in more hits on a search engine and quite frankly makes more sense than “buy this photo.”
Grade: A-
