Search Engine Land
  • SEO
    • > All SEO
    • > What Is SEO?
    • > SEO Periodic Table
    • > Google: SEO
    • > Bing SEO
    • > Google Algorithm Updates
  • PPC
    • > All PPC
    • > What is PPC?
    • > Google Ads
    • > Microsoft Ads
    • > The Periodic Tables of PPC
  • Focuses
    • > Local
    • > Commerce
    • > Shopify SEO Guide
    • > Content
    • > Email Marketing Periodic Table
    • > Social Media Marketing
    • > Analytics
    • > Search Engine Land Awards
    • > All Focuses
  • SMX
  • Webinars
  • Intelligence Reports
  • White Papers
  • About
    • > About Search Engine Land
    • > Newsletter
    • > Third Door Media
    • > Advertise

Processing...Please wait.

Search Engine Land » Channel » Content » Hard News Pays Publishers More Than Chasing Search Trends, Report Says

Hard News Pays Publishers More Than Chasing Search Trends, Report Says

While many news organizations chase traffic by matching their news coverage to what’s listed as “hot” on Google Trends, Twitter, and elsewhere, a new report says hard news coverage actually makes the most money for major news publishers. Perfect Market, a company that works with publishers to help them make more money from search engine […]

Matt McGee on October 18, 2010 at 12:00 am

While many news organizations chase traffic by matching their news coverage to what’s listed as “hot” on Google Trends, Twitter, and elsewhere, a new report says hard news coverage actually makes the most money for major news publishers.

Perfect Market, a company that works with publishers to help them make more money from search engine visitors, has just released its Vault Index, a list of the most valuable online news topics. The bottom line? Hot topics (like Tiger Woods’ troubles and other celebrity news) may bring in search traffic, but hard news brings in the most money.

Below is a look at Perfect Market’s Summer 2010 Vault Index. The “Vault Index Score” in column two is a marriage of the traffic and revenue (per thousand page views) that you see in columns three and four. (That’s why “Mortgage Rates” ranks fifth; the lower traffic score was offset by the high revenue score.)

pm-vault

For the sake of comparison, Perfect Market says articles on the Lindsay Lohan sentencing averaged RPMs of about $2.50, a quarter of what articles about Proposition 8 made.

“Without this kind of data, publishers end up chasing trends to increase raw page views,” says Perfect Market’s Chief Revenue Officer, Tim Ruder. “But that is not necessarily the best revenue strategy.”

Perfect Market says it tracked more than 15 million news articles from 21 U.S. news sites between June 22 and September 21, 2010. Tracked sites included The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle and The Chicago Tribune. The company does say that publishers in different markets are unique, and there may be some stories of local interest that would appear on a Vault Index specific to their publication.

Danny Sullivan profiled the company earlier this summer in our article, Search Engines + Newspapers: Perfect Market’s Delivery System Aims To Please Both.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


New on Search Engine Land

    SEO pioneer and expert Bill Slawski passes away

    New Yelp feature: Request a Call

    Google Ads issue with access to video pages frontend

    Everything you should know about evaluating your competitor’s backlink profile

    Surprise: ‘Near me’ brand names don’t rank higher for ‘near me’ searches

About The Author

Matt McGee
Matt McGee joined Third Door Media as a writer/reporter/editor in September 2008. He served as Editor-In-Chief from January 2013 until his departure in July 2017. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee.

Related Topics

ContentPPCSEO

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

Learn actionable search marketing tactics that can help you drive more traffic, leads, and revenue.

March 8-9, 2022: Master Classes (virtual)

June 14-15, 2022: SMX Advanced (virtual)

November 15-16, 2022: SMX Next (virtual)

Learn More About Our SMX Events

Discover time-saving technologies and actionable tactics that can help you overcome crucial marketing challenges.

Start Discovering Now: Spring (virtual)

September 28-29, 2022: Fall (virtual)

Learn More About Our MarTech Events

Webinars

Data-Driven Answers to Achieve Omnichannel Success

Is Your Marketing Stack Ready for Omnichannel CX?

Outrank in Organic Search with These 5 Core Tactics

See More Webinars

Intelligence Reports

Enterprise SEO Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Identity Resolution Platforms

Email Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Sales Enablement Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Digital Experience Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Call Analytics Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

See More Intelligence Reports

White Papers

Reputation Management For Healthcare Organizations

Unlock the App Marketing Potential of QR Codes

Realising the power of virtual events for demand generation

The Progressive Marketer’s Ultimate Events Strategy 2022 Worksheet

CMO Guide: How to Plan Smart and Pivot Fast

See More Whitepapers

Receive daily search news and analysis.

Processing...Please wait.

Topics

  • SEO
  • PPC

Our Events

  • Search Marketing Expo - SMX
  • MarTech

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS
  • Youtube

© 2022 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.