SEO is journalism’s best friend when it comes to breaking news like the Labour Party split – here’s why

Through studying search trends in real time, we gain greater understanding of the topics and stories readers nationwide and across the globe are most interested in

It has come as no surprise to me readers have written in bemused by the term SEO. As SEO editor, I go to dinner parties and after describing myself as a journalist, my specific job title brings only blank faces.

So here it is: SEO literally means search engine optimisation. For online news organisations, it is the art of getting your stories as one of the top results on Google when the most used key words or phrases are typed into the search bar.

The birth of The Independent Group was a fun test for us SEO wonks. We were prepping headlines for breaking news pieces without knowing the name of this splinter cell. Rumours it was going to be a new political party called “Go Forward” did not pan out. Turns out – despite only it only involving seven MPs – “Labour split” was the key term until people started searching for the rebel group’s nom de guerre.