The nice thing about writing this blog is that people share things with you. I was on Twitter the other day ( www.twitter.com/OpenEyeComms ) and saw an item that a guy I collaborate with on some interesting youth engagement projects, Shane McCraken of Gallomanor, had highlighted.

Shane was signposting an article in the British Journalism Review entitled ‘How SEO is changing journalism’ by a guy called Shane Richmond. SEO stands for search engine optimisation and it’s something that you should certainly be talking to your BCU press and marketing colleagues about.

News, even local news, is increasingly consumed on the internet. You will have your own favourite search engine and news gatherer (aggregator). You may use Google News, or Yahoo or Newsnow.co.uk or your local online paper, but whichever one it is, the way that you write the story, the keywords that you use in the copy and where you place them in the narrative, all affect how your copy will be found and the prominence that it will achieve in searches.

The issue, in short, is relevance. You’re competing for attention. Period. Yes, police stories are interesting, but not all of them, and if you want to get your latest initiative or spiffing wheeze some attention, best you get it written in a way that is going to push it up the search rankings.

The article is an easy read, but makes it’s point directly, ‘It should be clear by now that there’s nothing to debate when it comes to SEO. If you want your story to be found, you have to adopt these techniques. There’s no room for argument’

I agree. Read the article and go and chat to your communicators. Get your issue noticed. Get your story read.

Related posts:

1. Get it on with Google
2. Miliband two. The voice of Ed.
3. Community Kitties and the police
4. Lead, follow, or get out of the way
5. ‘The police have already become political players’