Top Stories SEO: Why You Always Need A Fresh URL To Rank

Transcription: 

Hi, everyone, I’m Chris Long with Go Fish Digital and welcome to another episode of “60-Second SEO”.

Today I’m going to talk about one of the fundamental principles of ranking in Google’s Top Stories results, something that a lot of the top publishers have figured out.

So here I’m taking a look at coverage of the “Russia-Ukraine war”, a very trending topic still. And here I’m taking a look at some of the top ranking articles from CNN, the New York Times, and CNBC on this particular topic.

What they’ve all found is that in order to rank here, you need, the number one rule is you need a completely brand new URL that was preferably published on that day. So here you can see the CNN result. Today’s January 13th, you can see it’s 1-13-23. Same thing with the New York Times. When I go up here January 13, I go up into CNBC, the exact same thing.

CNN actually keeps rolling coverage of this. So if you go back a previous day, you’ll see their article there. You go back another day, you’ll see their article. They’re actually publishing daily articles on this particular topic in order to always have a new URL that Google can feed into Top Stories.

So if you’re looking to rank in Top Stories, it’s the number one rule. You need a fresh, completely brand new URL that Google hasn’t seen before. It’s been published on the very same day that you’re providing coverage on that topic.

About Chris Long

Chris Long is the VP of Marketing at Go Fish Digital. With 10+ years of SEO experience, Chris works unique problems and advanced search situations to help clients improve organic traffic through a deep understanding of Google's algorithm and web technology. Chris has advised on the search strategies for clients such as GEICO, Adobe & The New York Times. He is a contributor for Moz, Search Engine Land, and Search Engine Journal. He is also a speaker at industry conferences such as MozCon, SMX East, BrightonSEO and more.