Google Journalism: SEO News as a ‘Necessary Evil’ in the Digital Age and the Deformation of News for the Sake of ‘Clicks’

Abstract

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is one of the newest and most widespread journalistic practices in contemporary journalism. Making newsworthy the topics most searched for on Google, by journalists known as SEO editors, has given rise to a Google-focused journalistic practice. Although they are now widespread in Turkey and throughout the world, search engine optimization and SEO journalism are still new, and have yet to be considered in the literature as journalism per se. Analysis of the ethical problems created by SEO news remains lacking; this study aims to make a contribution to the field. Semi-structured interviews were held with 15 professional journalists employed by Hürriyet, Sabah, Habertürk, Sözcü, A Haber, T24 and Diken, all of whom had personal experience on the topic. According to the study results, journalists see the production of SEO content as a necessity for newspapers to be able to compete in the digital world, despite its negative aspects. According to the journalists, the ethical problems created by SEO news items published on news portals and newspaper web sites are: a) the creation of a Google-focused journalistic practice; b) the use of click bait headlines, with no answer in the news item to the question(s) posed; c) spam content and excessive repetition of keywords; d) exploitation of shocking events; e) the robotization of journalists; f) the creation of information pollution; g) the manipulation of public expectations; and h) ethical principles being left up to the conscience of the journalists On the other hand, although SEO news might not have the same news value as traditional journalism, it is not perceived as an ethical problem by journalists.

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