Donald John Trump was sworn in to his second term as President of the United States during the inauguration ceremony in Washington D.C. on Jan. 20, 2025. Due to frigid temperatures, the ceremony, which normally takes place outdoors, was instead held inside the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol building.

This presidential inauguration analysis data spans the week from Jan. 13, 2025, through January 20, 2025, to capture the preparation days leading up to Inauguration Day, as well as the live coverage and post-event coverage on the historic day. 

With the help of the Trisolute News Dashboard, we focused on the Mobile SERP Visibility during the event, with the analyzed ranking types including News Boxes (Headline, Text, and Carousel), Video Boxes, Publisher and Other Carousels, Web Stories, Featured Snippets, and Visual Digest (Knowledge Panels). The evaluated keywords are sourced from Google News and Google Trends.

News publisher visibility insights: Jan. 13-Jan. 19

Mobile Visibility Overall (Ranking types including News Boxes (Headline, Text, and Carousel), Video Boxes, Publisher and Other Carousels, Web Stories, Featured Snippets, and Visual Digest.)

Overall mobile visibility of news publishers the week before Inauguration Day 2025.

CNN was the top news publisher in visibility and ranking on Google’s mobile SERP for the inauguration keyword set. CNN’s top article was Michelle Obama to skip Trump inauguration. 

AP News and Fox News followed CNN in the number of rankings on Google’s mobile SERP. In visibility, CNN led the pack of top 10 competitors once again, with Fox News and NBC News following in second and third place, respectively.

Mobile News Box

When focusing on just Mobile News Box rankings, CNN once again led in visibility but Fox News claimed the top spot in rankings. The New York Times came in third place in both visibility and ranking amount.

Mobile News Box visibility pre-Inauguration Day 2025.

Inauguration Day

Keyword insights

Which keywords ranked the best in Mobile Visibility Overall? Entertainment-related keywords, such as “Carrie Underwood” and “Lee Greenwood” were among the top 3 keywords in overall mobile visibility on Inauguration Day.

Which keywords ranked the best in the Mobile News Box? In the Mobile News Box, entertainment was less of a focus on Inauguration Day. “Donald Trump inauguration” was the top performing keyword, while only one entertainer, “Carrie Underwood” made the top 5 keywords.

News publisher visibility insights

Mobile Visibility Overall

News Publisher Mobile Visibility Overall: Inauguration Day 2025.

• The New York Times led news publishers in visibility on the Mobile SERP for Inauguration Day coverage.
• CNN had the most news publisher rankings on the Mobile SERP overall, due in large part to demonstrating topic authority for the keyword “JD Vance.”
• In Visual Digest rankings on Mobile, Fox News was the only news publisher to make the top 5 in visibility and rankings, with the top 5 being dominated by YouTube and social media platforms: Instagram, Facebook, and X.
• NBC News claimed the top news publisher spot for Video Box rankings on the Mobile SERP, with ABC News a close second. CNN came in third place. 

Mobile News Box

Mobile News Box visibility for news publishers on Inauguration Day 2025.

• The New York Times was able to pull away from the competition in visibility and rankings as the inauguration ceremony began at noon on Monday. The New York Times demonstrated topic authority for the highly competitive keywords “Donald Trump inauguration” and Trump inauguration.”
• Fox News, CBS News, CNN, and AP News rounded out the top 5 news publishers in Mobile News Box visibility on Inauguration Day.
• CBS News, Fox News, CNN, and AP News rounded out the top 5 news publishers in Mobile News Box rankings on Inauguration Day.

Top-performing Mobile News Box articles 

• For The New York Times, live updates was the top performer: Trump Inauguration Live Updates: Video and Analysis.
• For Fox News, the entertainment angle performed best: Trump inauguration performer Lee Greenwood defends Carrie Underwood against critics.
• CNN had success with an article about post-inauguration ceremony activities: Trump signs slew of executive actions after being sworn in.
• For AP News, their top-performing article on the Mobile News Box was Highlights from Donald Trump’s Presidential Inauguration. 

Conclusion

Inauguration Day 2025 was a highly-competitive news event on Google’s Mobile SERP. In overall Mobile Visibility in the news-related ranking types, The New York Times earned the most visibility while CNN earned the most rankings.

In the Mobile News Box, The New York Times was the clear winner in both visibility and ranking amounts. 

In search interest, Inauguration Day entertainers were a hot topic in the week leading up to Inauguration Day and on the day itself.

The top-performing articles demonstrated the different angles a news publisher can take when covering such an event to have search visibility success, whether it’s live updates, an entertainment focus, post-event updates or a highlights roundup. 

Read more news SEO analysis from Trisolute News Dashboard on U.S. politics: 2024 Election Day analysis | US Election 2024 overview analysis

Not yet part of the Trisolute News Dashboard family? Request a FREE DEMO today and find out how your articles rank on Google Discover, Google News, and the SERPs!