Quality vs. SEO
by David Brandt
This is not a blog about Tim Tebow. But if you came across this article by way of a Google search, then your thanks can be sent to Jen Floyd Engel.
Engel, a writer for FOXSports.com, wrote a roundup piece on the BCS Championship Game which posted on the Web Jan. 10.
As a sports fan, my opinion about this game was that it was an abysmal one – two consistently top-ranked NCAA football teams playing fairly sloppy for much of the game, particular the previously undefeated LSU. College football seasons often feel longer than their typical five months, but the bowl games typically make it worthwhile. And that held true this season – except for the big one.
In her review of the championship game, Engel opens with subtle criticism of the BCS ranking methodology, and then proceeds to discuss the strong game play of Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron.
In her sixth paragraph, she writes this:
“(McCarron) went all Tim Tebow on this championship game. He did what nobody expected and few thought him capable of, and was the key element in yet another Crimson Tide national championship.”
I found the reference odd. First of all, in what way was McCarron performing like Tim Tebow? Was it based on the fact that he had a good game, shutting out the undefeated Tigers to win Alabama yet another BCS championship? Other quarterbacks have performed successfully with greater, equal, or lesser skill. Why him?
It just so happens that the big sports news of the weekend preceding the BCS championship was the former Florida star’s first NFL playoff win with the Denver Broncos. Among the elements of that particular story was his total passing yardage in the win over the Pittsburgh Steelers: 316, a coincidental nod to his collegiate habit of referencing biblical verses – John 3:16, in particular – on his face paint.
Another stat that popped up after that NFL game was a peak in Tebow-related activity on Twitter, which at one point on Jan. 7 reached 9,420 tweets per second. There’s no question, Tebow is popular on and off the field, on and off the Web.
Search engine optimization was under Tebow’s thumb that weekend, and it didn’t slow down by much beyond then (at least until they lost to the New England Patriots a week later). So, if you’re writing a sports story – or any other beat article – that you need to garner some Web attention, is it a good idea to find a reason to sneak a name or term that’s trending or has a high SEO return rate for the sake of obtaining readership in the face of online content competition?
So, Engel’s decision to make the reference was dubious, at best. And if you think I’m wrong to suspect her favoritism toward SEO, a sidebar menu on the same story lists a headline that reads “Alabama saved by McTebow …” and links to Engel’s exact same story.
Regardless of your feelings about Tim Tebow as an athlete or public figure, I think it’s valid to question Engel’s analogy. Frankly, I think it was an erroneous analogy that should’ve been removed. I read post-game stories to get a quality analysis of what it took for one team to win and why the other team couldn’t hold up its end of the fight.
Never let a drive for upping SEO replace your need to deliver quality reporting to your readers.
Trending stories are often short-lived. You never know which trial Nancy Grace is going to distract the unassuming public with tomorrow.
David Brandt is the Web managing editor for the Institute of Industrial Engineers, where he writes and edits Web content, produces new media projects, and writes for a monthly magazine. You can follow him on Twitter @iamdavidbrandt.
Tags: advice, broadcast news, Gen Jers, generation j, Google optimization, journalism, journalism ethics, journalist, journalists, new media, print media, reputation, search engine optimization, SEO, Society of Professional Journalists, spj, storytelling, twitter