Good news for newspapers

It seems it has been quite awhile since newspaper companies have heard any good news about themselves or their future.
All is not lost though.
Newspaper companies should be buoyed by Google's revamped way of ranking websites in its organic search. Newspapers companies with robust websites that is.
As detailed in this recent Wall Street Journal article the internet search giant is tired of sites trying to cheat their way up the rankings by using frowned upon Search Engine Optimization tactics. The result of these tactics has led consumers to complain about bad rankings that direct users to irrelevant sites.
So how is this good news for newspaper companies?
Google has ever changing algorithms that determine site rankings. What it plans to do, though, is to place more emphasis on sites that offer relevant content and information and greater value to sites that update that content more often.
This is exactly what local newspaper websites do.
I'm not talking just about the big national news sites. I'm talking about the small daily and weekly community newspapers in towns and locales all over the country.
Even companies with weekly newspapers have figured out that they need to have a daily digital product. The smallest publications in the country can be updating their websites several times per day.
This means that established news organizations with staffs capable of updating news site, often with fresh and original content, will have a decided advantage in search rankings - especially when geographic keywords are plugged into the search.
That, in turn, means that newspaper companies with strong websites will definitely be more relevant than a site that is just a space holder with a quality URL and optimized with keywords. If these sites aren't providing quality and fresh content, it will not be ranked as high as the newspaper site.
Of course, that means that the newspaper sites will offer more valuable advertising space than other local sites that don't provide readers with valuable content. And this is the crux of what digital marketers are looking for.
Savvy digital marketers are looking for the best spots to advertiser their own business or their clients. Newspaper websites provide that and will continue to provide that.
Google may change its algorithms continuously, but one thing is for certain - it will always value quality content  over lousy or no content.
In a time when the news just keeps sounding worse for newspapers, this is more than just a ray of hope. This is how newspapers will get stronger.

Marty Valania  has an MBA and has been involved with digital marketing for over 10 years. Email ideas, questions or suggestions to martyvalania@gmail.com.