Ask the LA Times Newspaper if Search Engine Optimization Works

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

Newspapers, yes they do still exist, generally report on news. It is rare for them to make the news, unless you are a cynic of course. The La Times newspaper has made its own news with a record 127 million page views in July, and most of it can be laid at the feet of its search engine optimization program.

If anyone ever needs proof of a successful SEO campaign then the LaTimes.com website is probably a good example. An increase in 7 million page views from the previous month, more importantly, July’s figures were an increase of 66% on the previous year’s numbers.

Page views are one set of numbers, unique visitors are another and the La Times have recorded 19 million visitors for July – that is unique visitors – most web owners would be happy with 1% of that number. The La Times Blog attributed the increased visitor numbers to:

Latimes.com keeps getting better at SEO (search engine optimization), which means our stories are ranking higher in Google and other search engines. We are also performing better on sites like Digg.com. All that adds up to more exposure and more readership than ever before.

Obviously other events also helped (like the odd earthquake), however more and more larger, non-traditional online businesses are now accepting that great, white hat SEO programs can increase visitor levels to their websites. Not only is traffic increasing, leads and sales are also increasing.

An interesting note to the La Times Blog quote is the references to social media site such as Digg. With more exposure from visitors, you are more likely to get bookmarked which in turn leads to more traffic. Search engine optimization and social media marketing working together! What a novel idea!