SEO
Google SEO Tips For News Articles: Lastmod Tag, Separate Sitemaps

Google Search Advocate John Mueller and Analyst Gary Illyes share SEO tips for news publishers during a recent office-hours Q&A recording.
Taking turns answering questions, Mueller addresses the correct use of the lastmod tag, while Illyes discusses the benefits of separate sitemaps.
When To Use The Lastmod Tag?
In an XML sitemap file, lastmod is a tag that stores information about the last time a webpage was modified.
Its intended use is to help search engines track and index significant changes to webpages.
Google provides guidelines for using the lastmod tag, which could be used to alter search snippets.
The presence of the lastmod tag may prompt Googlebot to change the publication date in search results, making the content appear more recent and more attractive to click on.
As a result, there may be an inclination to use the lastmod tag even for minor changes to an article so that it appears as if it was recently published.
A news publisher asks whether they should use the lastmod tag to indicate the date of the latest article update or the date of the most recent comment.
Mueller says the date in the lastmod field should reflect the date when the page’s content has changed significantly enough to require re-crawling.
However, using the last comment date is acceptable if comments are a critical part of the page.
He also reminds the publisher to use structured data and ensure the page date is consistent with the lastmod tag.
“Since the site map file is all about finding the right moment to crawl a page based on its changes, the lastmod date should reflect the date when the content has significantly changed enough to merit being re-crawled.
If comments are a critical part of your page, then using that date is fine. Ultimately, this is a decision that you can make. For the date of the article itself, I’d recommend looking at our guidelines on using dates on a page.
In particular, make sure that you use the dates on a page consistently and that you structured data, including the time zone, within the markup.”
Separate Sitemap For News?
A publisher inquires about Google’s stance on having both a news sitemap and a general sitemap on the same website.
They also ask if it’s acceptable for both sitemaps to include duplicate URLs.
Illyes explained that it’s possible to have just one sitemap with the news extension added to the URLs that need it, but it’s simpler to have separate sitemaps for news and general content. URLs older than 30 days should be removed from the news sitemap.
Regarding sitemaps sharing the duplicate URLs, it’s not recommended, but it won’t cause any problems.
Illyes states:
“You can have just one site map, a traditional web sitemap as defined by sitemaps.org, and then add the news extension to the URLs that need it. Just keep in mind that, you’ll need to remove the news extension from URLs that are older than 30 days. For this reason it’s usually simpler to have separate site map for news and for web.
Just remove the URLs altogether from the news site map when they become too old for news. Including the URLs in both site maps, while not very nice, but it will not cause any issues for you.”
These tips from Mueller and Illyes can help news publishers optimize their websites for search engines and improve the visibility and engagement of their articles.
Quelle: Google Search Central
Featured Image: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock
SEO
How To Boost Key Product Page Rankings With Link Building

When shaping your SEO strategy, your success metrics come down to bottom-line results – what’s going to move the needle for your company and make a real impact?
Which SEO strategies can you employ to hit your KPIs?
In order to succeed in competitive markets, you must go beyond on-page optimization and sound technical SEO – you need a full-funnel approach.
With the right mix of link building and content creation, you can directly affect the rankings of key product pages while boosting overall performance.
6-Step Process For Boosting Product Page Ranks
To consistently boost your product page rankings, try adding these 6 steps to your SEO strategy:
- Review the product page(s) for link opportunities.
- Audit existing content and ensure topical relevance to the product page with strategic internal links.
- Identify high-intent keywords, a.k.a. your new content opportunity, for the product page.
- Discover linkable topics with a tie-in to the product page, but make sure they are broad and useful enough to not be advertorial.
- Create content based on findings, and build external links to the broader topic, with strategic internal links to the high-intent keyword content and product pages.
- Measure the impact on the primary product page against the keyword ranking KPIs initially identified. Monitor rankings, traffic, and links across the entire funnel as additional KPIs.
Don’t worry, we wouldn’t leave you hanging without more information.
Join our upcoming webinar to learn exactly how to do these steps.
Join Cory Collins, Business Development Manager at Page One Power, and Nick Katseanes, Sales Director at Page One Power, as they show you how a funnel of links and content can result in stronger SEO campaigns.
Learn how you, too, can combine link building and content creation to drive product page rankings in addition to secondary KPIs.
Key Takeaways:
- Learn how to grow product page rankings after technical SEO and on-page optimization are completed.
- Understand how content marketing and link building strategically tie back into product-level SEO KPIs.
- Gain insight into the difference between high-intent keyword content and linkable content, and how to use the two together.
Can’t make the live webinar? Sign up and we’ll send you the recording and all the resources after the event.
SEO
Inside The Decentralized Social Media Platform

Are you interested in the new social media platform aiming to compete with Twitter?
Bluesky is a decentralized social network led by CEO Jay Graber, with Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey on its board of directors.
What Is Bluesky?
In December 2019, Dorsey announced through a series of tweets that Twitter would fund a small independent team of up to five people to develop an open and decentralized standard for social media.
The aim was for Twitter to become a client of this standard one day.
Dorsey highlighted several factors prompting this move:
- The challenges posed by centralized control include difficulties in global policy enforcement to address abuse and misinformation.
- The shifting value of social media from content hosting and removal to recommendation algorithms. These algorithms, which currently are typically proprietary, direct users’ attention. Dorsey hopes Bluesky would allow for alternatives to be built.
- Existing incentives in social media often draw attention to controversial and outrageous content instead of promoting informative and healthy conversations.
- Recent technological advances, like blockchain, have made decentralized solutions more viable. These solutions could lead to open and durable hosting, governance, and monetization.
We’re calling this team @bluesky. Our CTO @ParagA will be running point to find a lead, who will then hire and direct the rest of the team. Please follow or DM @bluesky if you’re interested in learning more or joining! 🌐💬💙
— jack (@jack) December 11, 2019
Bluesky strives to make social networks function similarly to email, blogs, or phone numbers as open systems that facilitate online interactions.
Bluesky developers created the AT Protocol, which is nearing completion. The AT Protocol aims to make modern social media and online public conversations more akin to the early Internet era when anyone could create a blog or use RSS to follow multiple blogs.
The Bluesky app demonstrates the features of this protocol.
Bluesky hopes this will lead to new advancements in social media, enabling researchers and communities to solve issues currently faced by social networks, as tweeted by Dorsey.
Social Media Problems Bluesky Hopes To Solve
Most traditional social networks are closed platforms controlled by a central authority that dictates user and developer permissions.
If a user decides to leave a traditional social network, they must begin anew, losing their connections and content. For developers, creating a new app requires overcoming network effects and rebuilding the social graph from the beginning.
Additionally, they risk being shut down abruptly if they try to build using these companies’ APIs.
Similarly, content creators may lose their audience if the platform changes its rules.
The AT Protocol is designed to change this scenario, offering a more open, democratic, and innovative environment for users, developers, and content creators.
How To Get A Bluesky Invite Code
There are several ways to get an invitation to Bluesky.
You can sign up for the waitlist and wait for an invitation to join from Bluesky.
You can ask your friends on other social networks if they have an invite.
You can search Bluesky invite code on Twitter. Check the latest results and reply quickly to get an invite. (This is the method that worked for me.)




You can even buy an invite code for Bluesky on eBay.




How To Create Your Bluesky Account
Once you have your invitation code, you can create your account on the website or the Bluesky app from the Appstore oder Google Play.




You can choose the default Bluesky server ([email protected]) or follow these directions to use your own domain ([email protected]). You can change to your own domain later in your account settings.




Next, enter your invite code, email, password, and birthdate.




Finally, choose a user handle. You can change this later in your account settings.




How To Edit Your Bluesky Profile
Once you’ve completed your account setup, you will want to visit your profile and edit it before connecting with others.
You can add a cover photo, profile photo, display name, and 256-character description.




While there is no specific field for links to your website or other social profiles, you can place a link in the description.
How To Post An Update On Bluesky
Bluesky allows you to post 300-character updates with text, up to four images, and links.




Note that all profiles and posts are public, and the user content you share is subject to Bluesky’s Terms of Service.
Within the Terms of Service, Bluesky notes that when you share any content (such as text, images, or videos) on a platform or service provided by Bluesky, you give Bluesky and its related companies the right to use and share that content.
With these terms, Bluesky can use, copy, modify, distribute, and display your content in various ways, including promoting Bluesky and its services through social media channels.
I’m going to try to clarify here. First of all, Jack is 1 of 3 board members of Bluesky, and does not have any personal license to any content.
The “rights to user-generated content” term lets us do stuff like this — use screenshots of user-generated content in the app store. pic.twitter.com/yp4SOgJfBS
— Jay Graber (@arcalinea) April 28, 2023
They can do this without paying you. On the upside, they won’t use your content in any sponsored content without your permission.
How To Build Your Bluesky Network
To find people to connect with, use the search to find posts and users with specific keywords.




You can reply to, repost, and like posts by other users. The three dots offer additional options, including translating and sharing with other networks.




Switch to the Users tab to find related accounts to follow.




When you visit another user’s profile, you can follow them or use the three dots to find more options, including one to add the user to a list.




Bluesky Lists Vs. Twitter Lists
It’s essential to note Bluesky lists are not like Twitter lists.




On Twitter, you add users to lists when you want to follow them more closely.
On Bluesky, you add users to lists to mute their activity.




When you create a Bluesky mute list, it will be visible on your profile. You can, however, follow other users’ mute lists to ignore the same group of users privately.
In addition to public mute lists, you can access more ways to moderate the content you see on Bluesky in the Moderation section.




Here, you can update your content filtering settings, mute an account, or block an account.




My Feeds
My Feeds allows users to create custom algorithms for displaying content.




This feed, created by the Bluesky team, shows updates from those you follow and the people they like.




How To Change Your Bluesky User Handle Or Domain
As mentioned, you can visit your account settings to change your user handle.




You can also update your user handle to use your domain instead of @bsky.social.




The Next Step In Decentralized Social Media
Bluesky may present an approach to decentralized social media that could mitigate many issues plaguing traditional social platforms today.
Bluesky appears dedicated to ushering in a new digital communication era with the AT Protocol’s continued development.
With the issues it aims to solve and the open standard it seeks to establish, Bluesky could be the blueprint for the future of social media. It remains to be seen how well Bluesky will perform once it comes out of beta.
Featured image: Tada Images/Shutterstock
SEO
3 Steps To Building A Winning Holistic Search Strategy


A multi-channel, holistic approach to search marketing is a must in today’s digital marketing space.
You can maximize digital shelf space by removing silos between teams and finding synergies on how paid and organic search can work together.
On May 10, I moderated a webinar with Wayne Cichanski, Vice President of Search and Site Experience at iQuanti, and Erin Wilson, VP of Marketing at HomeEquity Bank.
Cichanski and Wilson demonstrated how to combine insights and data from paid and organic channels to create a cohesive search strategy that enhances online visibility.
Hier ist eine Zusammenfassung des Webinars. Um auf die gesamte Präsentation zuzugreifen, Füllen sie das Formular aus.
Step 1: Learn The Power Of Integrating Your Paid & Organic Search Strategy
SEO & SEM each have different roles, places, and advantages.
But these differences help provide insights into gaps that the other marketing school of thought has.
As such, these two channels can work very well together given a cohesive strategy that integrates both of their beneficial aspects.
So, how do you go about understanding the data that each process brings to the table?
How do you tap into the power of these two channels without needing to increase bandwidth?
One way is to start maximizing your digital shelf space.
[What is digital shelf space?] Find out – Instantly access the on-demand webinar →
Start By Maximizing Your Digital Shelf Space
Between paid results, organic results, People Also Ask (PAA), stories, local map packs, the AnswerBox, video carousels, and more, there are many areas in which you can own a higher market share of a SERP.


So when you think about a cohesive strategy, you’ll need to consider these are these steps:
- Review total digital shelf space.
- Know what keywords trigger what.
- Build assets to acquire.
[Discover how to do each step] Instantly access the on-demand webinar →
After going through these steps, you can now start merging strategies.
Bring Different Tactics Together
Next, focus on synchronizing your research and common messaging across organic site pages, paid search ads, social, display, email, and thought leadership.
You can do this by:
- Carrying the messaging across the entire funnel.
- Using dual rankings to elevate impression share.
- Increasing the halo effect by driving paid to organic.
- Modifying bidding strategies for branded, non-branded mid-funnel vs. lower.
- Discovering and building a common foundation between paid and organic.
[Dive deeper] Instantly accesses the on-demand webinar →
Step 2: Understand The Roles Of Your Marketing Channels
Understanding the roles and expectations for each channel sets them up for maximum contribution.
But before you start, understand that customer centricity is vital. Always consider your customer’s needs, preferences, and behaviors.
Then, leverage each channel for different stages and behavioral needs of the user.




Knowing each channel’s defined role means you’ll know what to expect and measure in each corresponding stage.
[Learn how HomeEquity Bank leverages each channel] Instantly access the on-demand webinar →
Step 3: Deliver A Connected Search Program
To understand the roles and expectations for maximum contribution, start attacking the SERP positions and journey milestones collectively by:
- Measuring them together.
- Identifying key themes along the journey.
- Developing bid strategies.
[Learn what each step entails] Instantly access the on-demand webinar →
Increase Conversions With Paid Branded & Non-Branded Search
Hinsichtlich Branded Search, focus on maximizing conversion & reducing leakage by occupying a secondary position from a neutral test bed site to push down competitors.
In other words, you can push the competitors down from the top by having a high-visibility listing.
In a Non-Brand Search, a good approach is to segment intents by conversion potential. This quadrant better explains this:
[Slides] 3 Steps To Building A Winning Holistic Search Strategy
Hier ist die Präsentation:
Bildnachweis:
Beitragsbild: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal
-
SEOVor 2 Tagen
Event-Linkbuilding: Ein Leitfaden für Einsteiger
-
SUCHMASCHINENVor 3 Tagen
Volatilität des Google-Suchalgorithmus-Rankings 22. und 23. Mai
-
SUCHMASCHINENVor 2 Tagen
Google-Suchvorschläge für Ihre Suche
-
SEOVor 2 Tagen
So verwenden Sie den Massendatenexport der Search Console
-
SEOVor 3 Tagen
Optimierung von Nachrichtenseiten mithilfe von Google Search Console-Berichten
-
SUCHMASCHINENVor 3 Tagen
Fehler bei der Google-Jobsuche
-
MARKETINGVor 7 Tagen
Haben Sie eine Feedback-Strategie? Sie sind besser, weil Ihr Publikum zuschaut
-
SOZIALVor 6 Tagen
55 Social-Media-Post-Vorlagen zur Inspiration Ihrer Online-Marketing-Strategie [Infografik]