COM 584 PR Campaigns
Inspirations, deep thoughts, surprising insights, or random ideas on how social media intersects PR.
May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor
Just like the Hunger Games, we must learn to fend for ourselves if we want to have the most exceptional content out there. We are all competing against each other in the digital world. Google’s site rank is the ultimate dominator. This feature of Google determines when one site gains authority over another which can sometimes be in a short amount of time. I always expected the most important content to show up at the top of the search bar but that is not always the case. It is the most important websites that show up at the top of the search page all according to Google. An important thing to remember is that site authority is not everything especially for someone just starting a blog; it takes years of experience.
A blogger or author of a website must earn credibility everywhere they go. For example, a writer for the New York Times has an advantage over someone who has only been writing on their personal page for a few years. Being linked to other credible outlets definitely has its perks. A great example of someone who has gained site authority is my journalism professor, David Wheeler. He has his own website which contains links to the classes he teaches at The University of Tampa, his writing and photography portfolio, and his blog. Since he is a freelance writer for CNN, The Atlantic, The Week and The New York Times, he has gained a lot of positive exposure. This worked to his advantage because Google sent his page to the top of the search bar. If you type in “David R. Wheeler” into google, his website will appear at the top of the page. His success has came by encouraging conversations through his blog; his site has a link-building strategy; and he aims for stability by keeping the same design and layout. In other words, the odd are in his favor.
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I love your comparison to the Hunger Games! Reading the chapter I made similar comparisons as well, I often think the communication profession like many others is a very “dog eat dog” world. You have to continue to fight (figuratively) to be the best in your field. It in our profession especially, it not enough to have the best content, you have to have the credibility and popularity to go along with it, much like in the Hunger Games.
When searching for content using search engines, it is very true, that most times, you have to scroll through a few pages to find the material you need to find what you need. The more popular web pages, although they too are credible on some topics are not ALWAYS going to be most credible. I imagine that many people who don’t have a good understanding of how Google and other search engines make their list of results are often fooled into believing the content they are searching for just isn’t out there because they don’t have the patience to comb through pages and pages to find it.
It’s exciting to hear that your professor has had such a great amount of success for his works writing for such popular news outlets. He has the experience to show his students what it takes to be successful in the communication field. I searched his name, and his page was number one as you said! That’s awesome!
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