 Application of PRISMA methodology.
3 Literature Review
We conducted a literature review to address the main factors that affect the ranking of a website
as mentioned in former papers Yalçın et al (2010) [9], beyond the report of some factors that affect
SEO, illustrated the mechanics behind the operation of the search engines They concluded that SEO
is a dynamic process which must be monitored frequently, tracing positive or negative changes for
the improvement of a website Wilson et al (2006) [10] discussed particular SEO techniques that
should be implemented during the creation of a website that aim to make the website visible on
search engines In their opinion, keywords must be related to the content of the website so it can be
indexed higher in the search results for the targeted keywords Finally, it is stressed that SEO is a
5
Future Internet 2019, 11, 32
competitive sector and changes are made often Similar topics are analyzed by Zilincan (2015) [11] and
Cui et al (2011) [12] Rehman et al (2013) [13] evaluated the existing SEO techniques by analyzing
and comparing other researches while mentioning main points that could be optimized Using these
data, they recommend some theoretical methods for SEO This is also the main topic of the research of
Zhang et al (2011) [14] who conducted a comparative research on the SEO factors using 116 websites.
Killoran (2013) [15] studies the factors that affect the ranking of the SERPs and how web developers
and marketers can take advantage of them He mentions that SERPs are shaped by three categories
of participants: the search engine companies and programmers, the SEO experts, and the search
engine users It is claimed that not only the target group of the website but also the competition has
to be considered while choosing keywords Finally, he recommends that correct keyword placement
and link-building through interaction with other content creators are crucial for optimal results.
The same pattern has been followed by Thekral et al (2016) [16] who focused on the theoretical
documentation of the above aspects Kakkar et al (2015) [17] compared and explained various
algorithms of Google and focuses on SEO strategies and how they lead to better rankings, concluding
that SEO is a long term and dynamic procedure Gudivada et al (2015) [18] analyzed the mechanics
behind search engines and the techniques that are used to rank websites as well as how much it impacts
the traffic of a website They conducted a study which shows that 70% of users prefer the organic
results More specific, most of them (60%) select one of the first three organic results That proves the
impact of SEO on website promotion Krrabaj et al (2017) [19] researched the on-site as well as the
off-site SEO factors According to the results, quality content and inbound and outbound links affect
mostly the ranking of a website in the search results Accordingly, Evans (2007) [20] made a research
on the most popular SEO techniques that affect the ranking of websites in the SERPs The sample of
the research included 50 SEO optimized and 50 nonoptimized websites and the research revealed the
most effective SEO techniques as well as the importance of backlinks for a successful SEO campaign.
Chen et al (2011) [21] aim to combine the SEO knowledge with the tools that the world wide web
offers in order to show how to increase the traffic of a website and provide a better relationship with
the website visitor Patil Swati et al (2013) [22] studied the ranking algorithms of the search engines
and presented the main factors that affect the SEO of a website They categorized them in "white hat"
and "black hat" too, while pinpointing the differences between them Hui et al (2012) [23] referred
analytically to the mechanics behind the operation of search engines as well as the factors that
affect the ranking of websites and the method they used to select the search engine for their study.
Gregurec et al (2012) [24] briefly presented the SEO factors that have been mentioned in previous
papers and they analyze some Croatian websites on the topics of computer science and engineering.
They concluded that independently from the country that a website serves the same principles of SEO
are applied Chandra et al (2014) [25] showed 32 efficient and effective methods of detecting spam in
the URL, the content and the links of a website To accomplish this, they created a classifier that is
based on neural networks and requires minimal processing power Thakur et al (2011) [26] aim to
simplify the steps for the optimization of websites to make the process easier for marketing experts.
They present several SEO techniques mentioning the most flexible and effective of them Their research
constitutes a guideline for marketers in order to adopt the best techniques Ergi et al (2014) [27] found
out in their research that the loading speed, the low bounce rate, and the total traffic of a website
have a positive impact on the ranking of a website Kumar et al (2011) [28] study the characteristics
of the algorithms that the search engines use and they suggest an optimization strategy for websites.
The application of the strategy was proved effective and gave information for even better ways of
website optimization Dean (2016) [29] made a primal SEO research with the use of a crawler which
crawled 1 million websites, and information about them was gathered The main purpose of the
research was to compare the ranking of the websites in the SERPs and the SEO techniques used on
them He concluded that backlinks affect mostly the position of a website followed by relevant content,
the existence of at least one image as well as the existence of SSL certificate However, they found out
that techniques such as the existence of the preferred keyword in the title tag do not affect the SEO
6
Future Internet 2019, 11, 32
of a website Fishkin (2017) [30], in his article, included the main factors that will affect a website's
position in 2018 He provides marketers a checklist with all the data that they should take into
consideration according SEO He suggests that marketers should focus on providing value through
their content while optimizing the website's structure in order to provide better user experience and
content traceability Finally, Palos-Sanchez et al (2018) [31] focused on analyzing user behavior when
using Internet applications They found out that technology companies should stop recommending
undifferentiated strategies and to adopt processes to emphasize on better user experience in a website.
4 Findings
4.1 Literature Review
Through the literature review we found that the factors as shown on Table 1 impact the ranking
of websites in search engine indexes On Table 2 the matching of previous researches to indexes
is presented.
Table 1

 Search engines nowadays change
their algorithms regularly by adding and removing factors affecting the ranking of websites: SEO is a
dynamic procedure.
In this paper, a literature review, as well as a research review was conducted in order to pinpoint
the main factors that affect the ranking of a website in the search engines' results The knowledge from
this paper aims to provide enterprises and freelancers with a guide on the best techniques to maximize
a website's position in search results.
2 Methodology
In order to accomplish the study, we researched several scientific databases to find articles about
SEO The keyword used in our research is "Search Engine Optimization".
To choose the most relevant articles, we searched academic papers using the PRISMA
methodology [2] as shown on Figure 1 on the digital libraries of (i) Science Direct, (ii) Springer,
and (iii) IEEE Xplore during February and March of 2018 The first search resulted in almost
1010 citations

 More specifically,
in Dean's study [26], the sample contained less search results for more keywords In the other one
conducted in 2015 by Moz [28], the changes in the algorithm of the search engine may have affected
the factors that affect the results.
5 Conclusions
The competition among the websites for the SERPs is huge so a convenient optimization plan is
needed: a plan that includes a holistic approach regarding the SEO factors but depends on the most
effective ones As our study revealed, some factors determine the bulk of success in term of ranking
high in the SERPs and they have remained unchanged over time However, search engine algorithms
tend to change often, and new factors are added while outdated or not effective factors are excluded.
This is why web developers must check the algorithm changes and adjust their websites in order to not
only achieve but also maintain high ranking in search engines This study attempts to show the most
effective SEO factors for high ranking in search engines and the significance for the most important
factors that affect SEO.
5.1 Implications for Academics
In this paper, 24 SEO factors are included with all of them being equally analyzed, providing the
opportunity to explore the most important factors that affect SEO in one place This study can be used
as a base for future studies with the use of better infrastructure in order to reveal more detailed results
regarding the factors that affect the ranking of a website in the search engines.
5.2

 Less common practices (only two out of four
media outlets) were the use of different titles and the estimation of the title character limit.
SEO-
friendly
titles
Multimedia
content
Internal/
External
links
News
content
Images
optimization
Meta
description
Keywords
(text/tags)
Figure 1 Most common SEO practices in news content creation.
The above results are unsurprising Titles are considered one of the most important on-page SEO
elements with major search engines, paying a lot of attention to them Also, the use of meta description
tag is a good practice and is highly recommended because they are commonly used by Google as a
snippet/preview of someone's web pages on SERPs [28,29] The addition of relevant, video content
adds value, makes content even richer, and it is often ranked higher from search engines [45] Video
71
Future Internet 2019, 11, 261
content attracts and engages users more, since it is deemed to be highly shareable and having a higher
clickthrough rate compared to traditional text results [50] In addition, the optimization of images
helps search engines to determine easily what the image is about, and it is considered very important,
especially for image-based search engines, such as Google Images [19] Finally, links that lead to other
relevant web pages (preferably high-ranking sites) can contribute positively to SEO, especially if a site
is new [6,74] In contrast with our results, the practice of different titles is often used by several large
news organizations (e.g., New York Times, BBC News, Huffington Post or Guardian) and the most
common practice is the different headlines between the front page and the story page itself The latter,
appearing in search engine results, are usually more specific and include more keywords [6,32,52,53].
6.5 The General Impact of SEO on Journalism (RQ5)
Other topics addressed by this research included the impact of SEO practices on issues related to
both the publication and selection of news It also examined if these practices improve relations with
the public and with the journalism profession in general According to the respondents, the position of
the article on the site and the period of time it will remain online are connected with SEO, as their
responses ranged from quite to very much, while one of them indicated that there is no connection at
all About the multimedia content, there was some differentiation between the respondents: Two of
them said that its presence affects SEO practices a little and two of them said a lot According to the
answers, the presence and sharing of articles on social media are also connected with SEO.
Moreover, three out of four respondents indicated that the use of SEO practices within newsrooms
could greatly improve their relationship with the audience, and just only one believed that there is no
connection between them The respondents were asked to give their opinion about whether SEO, in
general, affects the way journalists choose the news stories that will be published All the respondents
responded that SEO, in general, affects the news agenda and news content chosen by their media outlet
considerably From the same perspective, SEO techniques seem to prefer news stories that concern
topical subjects or breaking news, while making the promotion of features or opinion pieces more
difficult [59] However, respondents also reported that SEO strategy would have a greater impact on
others (third person) than themselves (first person) as regards the selection of news content From a
social perspective, this might be connected to other studies where Davison's [75] initial hypothesis of
the third-person effect was studied.
Finally, all the respondents considered SEO strategy as an essential tool for editors, bloggers,
media professionals and anyone, in general, who publishes newsworthy content They seemed to
appreciate the usefulness of an SEO strategy, and they believed that it could only benefit journalistic
work by helping news articles to be found The above results are consistent with previous studies
where journalists and media owners in Greece were found to be able to adapt to technological progress,
considering it useful for their profession [15,76] It is remarkable that there were different opinions
about the journalistic product and how it is affected by the SEO practices Only one of the respondents
thought these practices do not diminish journalistic quality, while one of them thought that SEO affects
it a little, one quite a lot and one very much in agreement with media professionals who talk about a
negative impact on the craft of journalism and the creation of stories exclusively for search engines.
7 Conclusions and Future Extensions
This paper examined the use of search engine optimization practices in news websites and
journalism using a series of semi-structured, in-depth interviews with professionals at four Greek
media organizations The aim of this study was to identify how familiar news publishers are with SEO
practices, how SEO policy is applied inside newsrooms, the most common trends and practices, as
well as the impact on news content Nowadays, newsrooms and media outlets have embraced the
use of SEO practices and utilize them in order to make their content more easily available through
search results, something that is clear also from this study In the same context, the study also
noted specific optimization practices that are often used by news websites, such as keyword research,
72
Future Internet 2019, 11, 261
research about hot topics and the top search queries or dissemination via social media All of the four
newsrooms under study incorporate several techniques designed to ensure high ranking in search
results, such as the use of keywords and SEO-friendly titles, meta description tags, internal/external
links, image optimization or the use of multimedia content Furthermore, search traffic measurement
tools and Google analytics services were used across all news organizations studied According to the
respondents' viewpoints, SEO strategy seems to be varied among different newsrooms, depending
on factors, such as ownership model, editorial priorities and organizational structures Finally, SEO
practices may have a considerable impact on the way journalists and media professionals choose news
stories, as well as their publishing practices (e.g., position of the article on the site or the amount of
time it will remain online) In the context of the above findings, it should be noted that all the news
publishers of the sample seem to not have a clear structure for using SEO practices, and they have
adopted a more rudimentary approach utilizing different, popular off-the-shelf tools The absence
of a distinct SEO team or SEO chief is evident in the studied newsrooms where journalists or media
professionals with many other responsibilities often deal with these practices.
In a constantly changing and competitive media environment, no one can take their readership
for granted While the media industry adapts to the digital age and competition increases, effective use
of SEO within newsrooms seems to be an important element for attracting more online readers SEO
is not only about visibility on search engines-it also includes making a website more user-friendly.
As Richmond notes [59], everything has to do with the editorial choices SEO per se is value-neutral,
and it does not require journalists to dumb down or write solely for gaining traffic SEO practices
reflect the essential needs of web users to find information, while also securing long-term promotion for
journalism The content is still the most important thing for any website, and it has to be characterized by
reliability, interest and quality [6] In this way, readers will be satisfied and motivated to share it through
social networks, blog posts or forums, which is what search engines look for Under these conditions, a
journalist must be creative, but also strategic, combining SEO with quality content production.
This study is not without limitations Firstly, as being an exploratory study, the sample included
only a small number of Greek newsrooms, and thus, it is not claiming to be representative of the
entire population of newsrooms and media outlets It is reasonable that a larger sample could yield
better results Moreover, our results are dependent on the accuracy and honesty of the respondents
answering the questions Nevertheless, the main strength of the study was that it attempted to explore
the role of SEO practices in media websites, as well as in a journalism context with a culture (i.e., Greek
newsrooms) that has received little attention so far Even though SEO is widely used by marketing
practitioners, there is a relatively small amount of academic research that systematically attempts to
capture this phenomenon and its impact on various industries To the best of our knowledge, there is a
scarcity of academic research examining the relationship between SEO and journalism We believe that
this study provides useful insights concerning the use of SEO inside newsrooms and it will open the
door for further longitudinal analysis Future extension of this work will include the repetition of the
study with a larger sample size and a more varied selection of newsrooms In this context, comparative
studies with foreign online media would be another study goal in the near future.
Author Contributions: Conceptualization, D.G and C.K .; methodology, D.G .; validation, D.G .; formal analysis,
D.G .; investigation, D.G and C.K .; resources, D.G and C.K .; data curation, D.G .; writing-original draft
preparation, D.G and C.K .; writing-review and editing, D.G., C.K and A.V .; visualization, D.G .; supervision,
D.G

AskSia

Plus

分析给出seo的most effective strategies并给出理由，列出seo的优劣势并说明理由，说出seo的gap between theory a...