The importance of SEO at BBC Sport

HeadlinesGetting to the top of Google

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1,000

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Search referral traffic to BBC Sport website

"Bolton wanderers"

1/28/2012

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Search referral traffic to BBC Sport website

"Bolton wanderers" "Fabrice Muamba" Muamba + keywords

1/28/2012 2/4/2012 2/11/20122/18/20122/25/2012 3/3/2012 3/10/20123/17/20123/24/20123/31/2012 4/7/2012 4/14/20120.0%

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1.0%

Search referral traffic to all Sport webites

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Google search result 19 April 2012

SEO kickers

• Wimbledon 2012:• Euro 2012:• World Snooker Championship 2012:• Grand National 2012:• Boat Race 2012:

SEO kickers - exceptions

• Always think about the individual• What would you search on search engine?

Examples

SEO – what’s the headline?

So what’s the headline?

Google search: Where BBC ranked1st: Man City2nd Roberto Mancini1st Barcelona1st Real Madrid

So what’s the headline?

So what’s the headline?

Google search1st Djokovic1st Nadal2nd Australian Open

Bear in mind

• Story summary• How you name your picture• Captions and alt tags• Inline links to own content• Inline links to external content• Intros to stories• How you update stories• Features, Video and Audio• Planning for big events

The figures

Percentage of referrals from search engines

• 2011 – 9%• 2012 – 12%• 2013 – 15%• Transfer deadline day – 18.5% (1.7m)