Know Your Brand
Brand Awareness
As SEO enthusiasts
& audience experts successfully navigating
the news universe
NRC 2024 demonstrated the great need for a specialized news SEO conference. That’s why we moved forward with the News Reach Conference 2025 in Dortmund, setting new standards with a bigger, more practical, and more international event! At NRC 25, we explored ways for publishers to strengthen their brand in a fast-paced news environment by sharpening their identity, building trust, and maximizing visibility in search and beyond. In an era of fleeting attention spans and constant updates, knowing your brand is more essential than ever.
Since the NRC 2025, the conference is open to an international audience. In addition to German-language slots, there were sessions with English-speaking speakers for an even greater exchange of knowledge with the world’s leading SEO experts.
Secure your ticket!
Be there when SEO enthusiasts and audience experts meet in Dortmund on October 22 and 23, 2026!
Speakers at NRC 25
Jessie Willms (The Guardian US)
Why YMYL still matters: navigating news SEO in the age of AI (Englisch)
The web is where information lives. And the information people consume directly impact affects their lives (health, money, safety). In an AI world, it’s hard to know what to trust—and the brands/publications that can stand out on YMYL topics are best positioned to survive and thrive. This talk will cover the things writers and their brands need to do to build trust and demonstrate and improve the actual lives of their readers.
The web is where information lives. And the information people consume directly impact affects their lives (health, money, safety). In an AI world, it’s hard to know what to trust—and the brands/publications that can stand out on YMYL topics are best positioned to survive and thrive. This talk will cover the things writers and their brands need to do to build trust and demonstrate and improve the actual lives of their readers.
Jessie Willms is an SEO editor at The Guardian US, journalism teacher and co-founder of the WTF is SEO? newsletter. She specializes in search strategy for newsrooms, with extensive experience in using data to inform audience development.
Previously, she was the SEO editor at The Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper, where she led initiatives to optimize content to grow search audiences. Jessie has honed her visual, programming, and teaching skills in some of Canada’s top newsrooms including CBC News and the Toronto Star.
Joy Johnston (Trisolute Software)
Beyond Clicks: Building News Brands that Algorithms Surface and Audiences Trust (English)
Think you know your brand? In this joint keynote address, we’ll explore branding trends and myths, then share our own brand wins to inspire and inform your brand identity strategy that will win in search and help develop meaningful, direct relationships with your audience.
Think you know your brand? In this joint keynote address, we’ll explore branding trends and myths, then share our own brand wins to inspire and inform your brand identity strategy that will win in search and help develop meaningful, direct relationships with your audience.
Joy Johnston is a News SEO Strategist for Trisolute News Dashboard. A former journalist with 25+ years of SEO experience, she began her career at About.com, learning SEO fundamentals before moving on to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Cox Media Group, where she made content quality and search visibility top priorities. She has weathered many Google core updates and pivots to the latest SEO trends and is ready for the challenges and opportunities that AI-powered search may present.
Barry Adams (Polemic Digital)
Common Technical SEO Issues for News Publishers (English)
Showing common technical SEO problems that news websites suffer from, based on Barry’s 15+ years of experience auditing news websites. Issues like crawl optimization, pagination, structured data, HTML optimization (yes, still relevant for news, and he’ll show why), internal linking, JavaScript, and more—and why this is also important for LLMs as they also crawl the web.
Showing common technical SEO problems that news websites suffer from, based on Barry’s 15+ years of experience auditing news websites. Issues like crawl optimization, pagination, structured data, HTML optimization (yes, still relevant for news, and he’ll show why), internal linking, JavaScript, and more—and why this is also important for LLMs as they also crawl the web.
Barry Adams is a 25-year veteran of the SEO industry. As a specialised SEO consultant for news publishers, he focuses on delivering technical and editorial SEO services to news publishers around the globe. Barry counts some of the biggest media brands among his clients including The New York Times, Daily Mail, The Guardian, Condé Nast, The Globe and Mail, Mediahuis, Reach, Euronews, and The Independent. He is a regular speaker at conferences and events across the world, delivers annual guest lectures for local universities, co-founded the News and Editorial SEO Summit, and writes an irregular newsletter on SEOforGoogleNews.com
Vivienne Goizet (Bild)
AI Overviews in Germany: Where are they popping up and who are they stealing traffic from? (English)
Since the start of AI Overviews in Germany, we have carried out an intensive study into which keywords are affected by AI Overviews. We have grouped these together and can now provide verified information on which keyword clusters are more and which are less affected by AI Overviews.
Since the start of AI Overviews in Germany, we have carried out an intensive study into which keywords are affected by AI Overviews. We have grouped these together and can now provide verified information on which keyword clusters are more and which are less affected by AI Overviews.
After completing her studies and initial internships in editorial offices, Vivienne Goizet started working as an SEO freelancer and editor. She has worked as an editor-in-chief and SEO consultant in print, online, and agencies. At Ippen Digital, she helped build the news portal 24hamburg.de and developed a unique SEO training concept. She then moved to BILD, initially as Editorial Lead SEO, where she was responsible for editorial SEO strategy and internal training. Today, her focus is on AI projects – at the intersection of journalism and technology.
Juliane Bettinga (SEOSOON)
Are you wasting crawling resources? Log file analysis without log files – with the Google Search Console (German)
Log file analyses are time-consuming and often doomed to failure at the data procurement stage. However, publishers with large, dynamic URL structures in particular need to keep an eye on their crawl budget to avoid wasting valuable crawling resources.
In her presentation, Juliane will introduce a “log file analysis light”—a method that can be used to analyze crawl behavior without any log files. Valuable insights can be gained by correctly evaluating the GSC crawl statistics. Using concrete examples, she shows how SEOs can identify crawl problems and derive optimization potential—efficiently and without complicated server access.
Log file analyses are time-consuming and often doomed to failure at the data procurement stage. However, publishers with large, dynamic URL structures in particular need to keep an eye on their crawl budget to avoid wasting valuable crawling resources.
In her presentation, Juliane will introduce a “log file analysis light”—a method that can be used to analyze crawl behavior without any log files. Valuable insights can be gained by correctly evaluating the GSC crawl statistics. Using concrete examples, she shows how SEOs can identify crawl problems and derive optimization potential—efficiently and without complicated server access.
Juliane Bettinga is Co-founder of the SEO agency SEOSOON in Jena and specialize in technical SEO. In recent years, she has advised major publishers and media companies in the public broadcasting sector—with a particular focus on crawling, indexing, and technical optimization.
Kjeld Stein (Tag24)
Beyond search: How publishers must rethink brand, SEO & community in 2025 (English)
The traditional SEO playbook is no longer enough. In 2025, successful publishers need to build trust-based brands, act as guides in a fragmented information landscape, and rethink SEO as a strategic consultant, not just a traffic driver. This session explores how the role of SEO, digital strategy, and content planning must evolve in the AI era.
The traditional SEO playbook is no longer enough. In 2025, successful publishers need to build trust-based brands, act as guides in a fragmented information landscape, and rethink SEO as a strategic consultant, not just a traffic driver. This session explores how the role of SEO, digital strategy, and content planning must evolve in the AI era.
Kjeld Stein brings over 15 years of experience in the digital media sector to the table—he has been working at TAG24 since 2018. As Lead Data & SEO, he focuses on how data analysis, user behavior, and search engine optimization can help to better control and scale content.
Valérie Glutz (Blue Entertainment AG)
Is AI going to take my job? How to remain relevant as an SEO expert: practical tips (German)
AI here, AI there: we are living in times of change. Publishers are worried about their traffic, stakeholders about their investments, and SEOs about their jobs. From whispered conversations at the coffee machine (“ChatGPT told me that…”) to direct confrontation in steering meetings (“Is SEO still worthwhile if we no longer get any traffic?”): the profession of “SEO expert” is increasingly being called into question by changes in the search engine world. Some may be quietly asking themselves: Are we now obsolete?
Spoiler alert: No, quite the opposite! In my (not always entirely serious) career advice, I’ll tell you why this is the case and how you can secure your position within the company in the long term.
AI here, AI there: we are living in times of change. Publishers are worried about their traffic, stakeholders about their investments, and SEOs about their jobs. From whispered conversations at the coffee machine (“ChatGPT told me that…”) to direct confrontation in steering meetings (“Is SEO still worthwhile if we no longer get any traffic?”): the profession of “SEO expert” is increasingly being called into question by changes in the search engine world. Some may be quietly asking themselves: Are we now obsolete?
Spoiler alert: No, quite the opposite! In my (not always entirely serious) career advice, I’ll tell you why this is the case and how you can secure your position within the company in the long term.
Valérie Glutz is part of the editorial team and Head of SEO, Analytics and Verticals at blue News.
She got a taste for search engine optimization many (many) moons ago at Blick. From the very beginning, she worked directly in and with the editorial team in the area of news optimization. After a detour into agency life for several years, focusing on SEO consulting for clients and managing internal and external communications, she was drawn back into the colorful world of media. At blue News, she is responsible for digital change management, sustainable SEO support for the trilingual newsroom, the integration of AI solutions for the editorial team and “keeping things running.” Other suitable job titles would also be number cruncher, juggler or translator.
Steffen Heringhaus (five elements digital)
Newspaper SEO Core-Updates (English)
What makes publishers resilient to Google’s ever-changing Core Updates? This session explores how a distinct editorial identity and brand can act as long-term stabilizers against volatility. Instead of chasing individual ranking factors, the focus is on aligning market and content fit—and on building proactive brand resilience in an era shaped by AI Overviews and shrinking CTRs.
Attendees will learn why a strong editorial identity and brand can translate into tangible ranking stability, why optimizing for fit matters more than optimizing for factors, and how to move from reactive traffic recovery to proactive resilience.
What makes publishers resilient to Google’s ever-changing Core Updates? This session explores how a distinct editorial identity and brand can act as long-term stabilizers against volatility. Instead of chasing individual ranking factors, the focus is on aligning market and content fit—and on building proactive brand resilience in an era shaped by AI Overviews and shrinking CTRs.
Attendees will learn why a strong editorial identity and brand can translate into tangible ranking stability, why optimizing for fit matters more than optimizing for factors, and how to move from reactive traffic recovery to proactive resilience.
Steffen Heringhaus is the founder of five elements digital, a boutique SEO and performance marketing agency specializing in publishers and classified websites. Working with search engines since 1999, he worked as Google Quality Rater during university years and later spent eight years at Ringier, where he grew from SEO to CDO at Ringier Romania, overseeing 2-4 national newspapers, 15 magazines, and 2+ classified websites. Since 2018, five elements digital has helped publishers navigate through Core-Updates and AI-Overviews.
Laura Oelker (DIE ZEIT)
Exchange on the topic of brand awareness (German)
Instead of a traditional session, Laura would like to engage in a discussion with colleagues. The discussion will focus on whether and to what extent brand awareness plays a role in their work. What measures have already been taken and how brand awareness can be measured. She will provide concrete examples from our everyday work at ZEIT ONLINE.
Instead of a traditional session, Laura would like to engage in a discussion with colleagues. The discussion will focus on whether and to what extent brand awareness plays a role in their work. What measures have already been taken and how brand awareness can be measured. She will provide concrete examples from our everyday work at ZEIT ONLINE.
Laura Oelker has been working in the online editorial department of DIE ZEIT since 2015. She started as a search engine optimizer on the newsdesk and now heads the editorial SEO team. She and her team work closely with the editors. She trains new colleagues and keeps experienced colleagues up to date. She is constantly developing workflows, strategies and topics. Laura is a writer herself and knows how to combine an interest in search, journalistic standards and fun in what she does.
Konstantin Sarkar (AccScale)
SEO-Siteclinic (English)
Everyone looks at all participating sites and provides input for possible technical and content optimization. This allows everyone to gather input from different people in order to discover potential together and further deepen their own SEO knowledge.
Everyone looks at all participating sites and provides input for possible technical and content optimization. This allows everyone to gather input from different people in order to discover potential together and further deepen their own SEO knowledge.
Konstantin Sarkar is an SEO consultant with over 17 years of experience driving organic growth for global brands and high-traffic publishing platforms. Currently serving as Head of SEO at AccScale, he specializes in building data-driven and technical SEO strategies that deliver measurable results across Search, News, and Discover.
Sabine Langmann (Norddeutscher Rundfunk)
The State of Tagging And Our Best Practices (German)
Everyone has their own approach to dealing with tagging, and only few of us are completely happy with their solutions. In this interactive workshop, we will show each other what has proven successful in our newsrooms. We’ll discuss effective ways to tidy up our tags, rearrange them, and design the whole tagging process as thoughtfully as possible for the future.
Everyone has their own approach to dealing with tagging, and only few of us are completely happy with their solutions. In this interactive workshop, we will show each other what has proven successful in our newsrooms. We’ll discuss effective ways to tidy up our tags, rearrange them, and design the whole tagging process as thoughtfully as possible for the future.
Sabine Langmann is the SEO manager for tagesschau.de and also supports an ARD-wide digital transformation process for all things technical SEO. Sabine has been working in the industry for many years and loves to inspire others alongside her work – whether as a speaker, lecturer, or sparring partner.
Jens Fauldrath (Get:traction)
Optimizing formats instead of articles—reproducing successes & editorial efficiency (German)
The workshop is intended to show how formats for articles can be used to increase and secure reach. In a short keynote speech, a definition of the term format will be presented from an SEO perspective and differentiated from normal articles. Successful examples will be shown and the advantages highlighted.
The workshop is intended to show how formats for articles can be used to increase and secure reach. In a short keynote speech, a definition of the term format will be presented from an SEO perspective and differentiated from normal articles. Successful examples will be shown and the advantages highlighted.
Jens Fauldrath is the managing partner of get:traction GmbH and has extensive experience in building reach through SEO for publishers. He worked as a senior expert and SEO team leader at Deutsche Telekom and built up the SEO team for t-online.de from 2008 to 2012.
Since then, Jens has been working on the topic of building reach for publishers in Google. He got to grips with optimization for Google News early on and was one of the first to work intensively with Google Discover.
In addition to his work as managing director and consultant for publishers, he is chairman of the BVDW search focus group, on the expert advisory board of SMX Munich, as well as host of his podcast SEOHouse and a popular speaker at various conferences.
Ani Palyan & Kathrin Duphorn (Innovations- und Digitalagentur ida)
Google Discover & the For You Page: The best practice strategy for newspaper publishers on TikTok & Co (German)
What do the For You Page and Google Discover have in common? Exactly. Both present users with topics they haven’t actively searched for. And best of all, news publishers can strategically leverage this commonality to their advantage. How can an editorial team continuously increase the reach of its content, and how can users become followers? We want to answer all these questions in our presentation, because we all know that TikTok has recently become a search engine—and SEO can make all the difference here. We don’t want to give you standard optimization recommendations that many of you have heard countless times before, but rather real best practices and insights that work.
But let’s not kid ourselves: if you don’t have good content, even the best SEO strategy won’t get you very far. However, if you have content that suits your target audience, then our presentation is exactly what editorial teams need to use Google Discover and TikTok synergistically to increase their SEO traffic with little effort.
What do the For You Page and Google Discover have in common? Exactly. Both present users with topics they haven’t actively searched for. And best of all, news publishers can strategically leverage this commonality to their advantage. How can an editorial team continuously increase the reach of its content, and how can users become followers? We want to answer all these questions in our presentation, because we all know that TikTok has recently become a search engine—and SEO can make all the difference here. We don’t want to give you standard optimization recommendations that many of you have heard countless times before, but rather real best practices and insights that work.
But let’s not kid ourselves: if you don’t have good content, even the best SEO strategy won’t get you very far. However, if you have content that suits your target audience, then our presentation is exactly what editorial teams need to use Google Discover and TikTok synergistically to increase their SEO traffic with little effort.
Ani Palyan and Kathrin Duphorn are SEO experts at Innovations- und Digitalagentur ida. Here, they support various private and public publishers. In addition to providing SEO consulting for news, they also assist numerous editorial teams with distributing their content via YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. And what can you talk to them about when it’s not SEO? Travel. Because they both love to travel. And if it has to be about SEO, then preferably about how to think about SEO holistically, because SEO has long since ceased to mean SEO for Google, but rather SEO for all channels.
Gabriella Iannetta (Realtor)
Stop Fighting the Algorithm — Start Aligning the Team (English)
SEO and audience development professionals often face the challenge of balancing competing priorities. They must decide when to diversify traffic, when to focus on a single topic, and when to take risks with new stories. They also spend time working with reporters and editors to uncover fresh angles and break out new stories. Building strong connections across teams including marketing, custom content, editorial, and leadership is crucial to fostering an audience-first brand. Small wins help build trust, and effectively navigating conflict ensures teams stay aligned on shared goals.
SEO and audience development professionals often face the challenge of balancing competing priorities. They must decide when to diversify traffic, when to focus on a single topic, and when to take risks with new stories. They also spend time working with reporters and editors to uncover fresh angles and break out new stories. Building strong connections across teams including marketing, custom content, editorial, and leadership is crucial to fostering an audience-first brand. Small wins help build trust, and effectively navigating conflict ensures teams stay aligned on shared goals.
Gabriella Iannetta is Audience Development Senior Editor for the News & Insights team at Realtor.com. She is responsible for trend analysis, developing and implementing content strategies, refining SEO best practices, collaborating on growth projects, and most recently, leveraging AI in the RDC newsroom to grow readership. Gabriella previously worked for Glamour, Crain’s New York, The US Sun, and NBC. During her time at Glamour, she worked with the team on the national campaign to introduce paid vacation for all families in the US. Gabriella has written articles on millennial investors for American Banker and Financial Planning, including Microinvestor steps into neobanking clique and Are big banks too big to robo? Gabriella is a graduate of Drexel University in Philadelphia.
Tobias Willmann (Ringier Medien Schweiz)
From “only Blick” to Ringier Media Schweiz: Transformation in the SEO team after the merger to become probably the largest media company in Switzerland (German)
At the beginning of 2024, the Blick Group and the 20 RASCH brands (Beobachter, Handelszeitung, Bilanz, cash.ch, Tele, Schweizer Illustrierte, …) became one company: Ringier Media Schweiz. The presentation will show this transformation from an SEO perspective. It is about potentials and challenges that arise from many different brands. And about learnings after approx. 1.5 years of Ringier Media Schweiz.
At the beginning of 2024, the Blick Group and the 20 RASCH brands (Beobachter, Handelszeitung, Bilanz, cash.ch, Tele, Schweizer Illustrierte, …) became one company: Ringier Media Schweiz. The presentation will show this transformation from an SEO perspective. It is about potentials and challenges that arise from many different brands. And about learnings after approx. 1.5 years of Ringier Media Schweiz.
Tobias Willmann is Lead SEO at Ringier Media Schweiz and an accomplished expert in the field of search engine optimization. Tobias has a technical background and also takes care of everything to do with SEO data and tech SEO at RMS. He has been working in SEO since 2012.
Freya Dombach (Trisolute Software)
Relevance, Rules, Rankings: News-SEO in times of global conflicts (English)
SEO and journalism are both dynamic fields that require specialized and flexible strategies in combination. In 2024, global conflicts such as the Gaza war dominated the news cycles. Based on German Google SERP data and a customized keyword set, Freya shows how political conflicts are mapped in Google searches—and what role news SEO plays in this.
SEO and journalism are both dynamic fields that require specialized and flexible strategies in combination. In 2024, global conflicts such as the Gaza war dominated the news cycles. Based on German Google SERP data and a customized keyword set, Freya shows how political conflicts are mapped in Google searches—and what role news SEO plays in this.
Freya Dombach has been working in News SEO for around eight years. As a Customer Success Manager at the Trisolute News Dashboard, she supports publishers worldwide in planning and implementing data-driven strategies — both for fast-paced news situations and long-term topic planning. Her insights not only shape her day-to-day work but also contribute to published data analyses on current SEO trends — because for her, good SEO is based not just on instinct, but on real facts. With a background in Oriental and Asian Studies and crisis management, she brings a sharp sensitivity to cultural nuances — a skill often underestimated in the global SEO landscape.
Secure your ticket!
Be there when SEO enthusiasts and audience experts meet in Dortmund on October 22 and 23, 2026!
News Reach Conference 2026
Successfully navigating the Google universe
October 22-23, 2026 · Dortmund