The Olympic games are over and all medals handed out. Articles have been written and everybody is now focused on the Paralympics and there is a lot to take on board from the Olympics. In this article we will establish what the most worthwhile keywords were to use in your Olympic articles from Google’s point of view to help you choose what keywords to use now. As most publishers use a mobile first approach, our focus will be the most ranked for keywords from the mobile News Boxes (aka Top Stories). The keywords in question stem from Google News and Google Trends, so all topics that are either sorted as newsworthy by Google and/or interesting to the users. The mentioned rankings tell you how often and how many appearances there were in the News Boxes based on a near-real time crawling interval and how long the keywords were active based on how long they were relevant either for users or Google. As a bonus we will add the 5 most visible publishers in the mobile News Boxes for the category “Sports” from July 26th to August 11th and their most prominent articles so you can learn from the current medalists.

France: All about Paris

After a slow start, lequipe.fr overtakes the whole competition.

In France just one sports-only publisher is able to place in the top 5, but they quickly take the lead and are able to keep the momentum going until the end. The top 5 publishers are in descending order with their most visible sports article:

1. lequipe.fr Judo : Teddy Riner offre à la France un nouveau titre dans l’épreuve mixte par équipes face au Japon aux JO de Paris
2. francetvinfo.fr Cérémonie des JO de Paris 2024 : défilé sur la Seine, spectacle grandiose, invités inattendus… revivez la soirée
3. lemonde.fr JO 2024 : « Paris a émerveillé le monde sous le déluge » : le regard de la presse étrangère sur une cérémonie d’ouverture « unique »
4. ouest-france.fr JO 2024 – Tennis de table. Félix Lebrun qualifié en quarts de finale, son frère Alexis éliminé
5. lefigaro.fr Ces images que la cérémonie d’ouverture des JO de Paris 2024 aurait pu nous épargner

Two publishers highlight achievements of French athletes, the rest talks about the opening ceremony, which stirred up a lot of controversy internationally. Let’s now look at the top 5 keywords from Google’s sports category:

1. jo
2. jo 2024
3. 2024
4. jeux olympiques
5. paris 2024

Unsurprisingly, everyone in the host country of the Olympics had just one topic to talk about!

Switzerland (GER): Lost medals and missed opportunities

Srf.ch edges out blick.ch on most days.

Here, we see only general interest publishers taking the top ranks for sports topics with only one being a public broadcaster. The top 5 publishers are in descending order with their most visible sports article:

1. srf.ch Paris 2024: Zeitfahren Männer – Bissegger und Küng gehen bei Medaillen-Vergabe leer aus
2. blick.ch Bitterer Olympia-Final: Simon Ehammer verpasst Weitsprung-Medaille
3. watson.ch «Es wäre so viel mehr drin gelegen» – Ehammer nach verpasster Weitsprung-Medaille traurig
4. 20min.ch Olympia 2024: Noè Ponti verpasst die nächste Schwimmmedaille?
5. tagesanzeiger.ch Olympia-Spektakel an der Seine Der Eiffelturm strahlt, Céline Dion singt: Die Spiele sind eröffnet

Asides from one article talking about the opening ceremony, we have all others discussing achievements and misses from Swiss athletes during the games. Let’s now look at the top 5 keywords from Google’s sports category:

1. olympia
2. olympia 2024
3. yb
4. schweizer
5. 2024

While the first two keywords concern the Olympics, the third one talks about soccer as we we will see in a few other countries. The last two are just general words that can be related to a whole array of topics.

Switzerland (FR): Dedication to the Olympics

Starting on first place, lefigaro.fr loses the pole position in the following days.

For sports news in the French speaking part of Switzerland we see two Swiss publishers and three French publishers in the top portion of the mobile News Box with one of them being a sports-only publisher. The top 5 publishers are in descending order with their most visible sports article:

1. rts.ch Fin de l’aventure olympique pour Wawrinka, battu 6-4 7-5 par Popyrin
2. lequipe.fr JO de Paris 2024 : Teddy Riner dans la légende avec un troisième titre individuel (Judo (H))
3. lemonde.fr JO 2024 : « Paris a émerveillé le monde sous le déluge » : le regard de la presse étrangère sur une cérémonie d’ouverture « unique »
4. 20min.ch JO 2024 en direct: le marathon féminin vient de démarrer à Paris
5. lefigaro.fr Ces images que la cérémonie d’ouverture des JO de Paris 2024 aurait pu nous épargner

Unsurprisingly, with this mix of publishers we have at least one article discussing the performance of a French athlete and one for a Swiss athlete. As in most countries, the opening ceremony was also a hot topic and one publisher scored with a live article. Let’s now look at the top 5 keywords from Google’s sports category:

1. jo
2. jo 2024
3. jeux olympiques
4. 2024
5. paris

French speakers in Switzerland seem to be fonder of the Olympics than soccer, therefore just placing this event in the top 5 sports keywords.

UK: Gossip sweetens the games

Theguardian.com barely beats bbc.co.uk and bbc.com.

All but one of the publisher are general interest focused. The biggest public broadcaster, BBC, is even able to score twice with two domains .com and co.uk. The top 5 publishers are in descending order with their most visible sports article:

1. theguardian.com Paris Olympics opening ceremony review – soaring ambition deflated by patchy delivery
2. bbc.co.uk Steven van de Velde: Convicted child rapist booed on Olympic debut in beach volleyball
3. bbc.com Noah Lyles: Paris 2024 Olympics sprint double bid wrecked by Covid-19
4. dailymail.co.uk Kyle Walker’s extraordinary child maintenance battle with Lauryn Goodman laid bare: Ex-mistress used footballe
5. skysports.com Martin Zubimendi transfer: Liverpool interested in Spain and Real Sociedad midfielder

A lot of articles take a rather broad approach to sport news from child rapists to child maintenance. None speak of the UK’s achievements at the games. While two are personal, one of the Olympic articles discusses the opening ceremony at length. The last two articles in the top 5 are about seemingly Europe’s favorite past time – soccer. Let’s now look at the top 5 keywords from Google’s sports category:

1. olympics
2. arsenal
3. olympic games
4. paris
5. liverpool

The sentiment from the former results is reflected in the top keywords with two mentioning the Olympic games and two being about soccer.

Austria: From fast humans to fast cars

After a strong start, krone.at loses some visibility over time.

Again, we see just one sports-focused publisher reaching the top 5 and while they finish in first place overall, they have to fight with one public broadcaster and one general interest publisher very closely. The top 5 publishers are in descending order with their most visible sports article:

1. laola1.at Goldtorschütze Grgic! Rapid holt Sieg gegen Trabzonspor
2. orf.at Schwimmen: Espernberger bei Debüt im Delfin-Finale
3. krone.at Judo bei Olympia – Bronze! Polleres holt Österreichs erste Medaille
4. derstandard.at 470er-Medal-Race verschoben, Chancen von Bontus gestiegen
5. kleinezeitung.at Österreicher Jakob Schubert klettert in Paris zu Olympia-Bronze

We can read a lot of talk about Austria’s Olympic medals but it seems soccer still has a big impact on Austria. Let’s now look at the top 5 keywords from Google’s sports category:

1. rapid
2. olympia
3. olympische spiele
4. austria
5. formel 1

The Olympics do not hold Austria in quite such an intense grasp like a lot of other European countries. In first position ranks a soccer club and the fifth position is taken up by Formula One while the fourth position is taken up by a bit of national pride. Just the second and third position mention the Olympics, although they dominate the most visible articles above.

Germany: Variety matters in the Olympics and beyond

Bild.de and tagesschau.de are neck and neck throughout the whole time-span.

For the top 5 publishers we see only two sports publishers and three general interest publishers. The lead position interchanges between a public broadcaster with a sports focus and a private general news publisher. The top 5 publishers are in descending order with their most visible sports article:

1. bild.de Olympia 2024: Riesen-Zoff nach Hockey-Finale zwischen Deutschland und Holland
2. sportschau.de Paris hautnah erleben mit dem Olympia-Liveblog
3. t-online.de Deutsches Beachvolleyball-Duo nach Coup gegen Brasilien auf Medaillenkurs | Olympia 2024
4. spiegel.de Stabhochsprung: Armand Duplantis reichen vier Sprünge für Gold – dann beginnt die Weltrekord-Show
5. sport1.de Gold-Held dankt Thomas Müller – “Ganz großer Anteil!” – Bayern-Star reagiert mit Videobotschaft

We see a lot of focus on Germany’s achievement with two out of three articles having a more personal touch. One article is a live blog and the last celebrates outstanding results by another athlete. Let’s now look at the top 5 keywords from Google’s sports category:

1. olympia
2. olympia 2024
3. olympische spiele
4. bvb
5. fc bayern

Unlike the top articles, only the first three keywords mention the Olympics. The last two keywords connect to Germany’s most beloved sport: soccer.

Spain: Nadal leads the game

Marca.com dominates the mobile News Boxes.

They take sports serious in Spain, therefore not just one sports-centered publisher ranks in the top 5 on last place. The top 5 publishers are in descending order with their most visible sports article:

1. marca.com Dani Olmo vuelve al Barça: ya es oficial
2. as.com Marruecos 1-2 España: resumen, goles y resultado
3. mundodeportivo.com El explosivo Nadal-Djokovic en los Juegos Olímpicos ya tiene hora oficial y televisión
4. sport.es OFICIAL: Dani Olmo ficha por el Barça hasta 2030
5. elpais.com Así le hemos contado la ceremonia de inauguración de los Juegos Olímpicos en la que París exhibió su majestuosidad

Seemingly, the most important news during the Olympics was one soccer player joining Barcelona. Another article also talks about soccer, but in this case it’s Olympic soccer. There is another article talking about an Olympic match and the last one captures the opening ceremony. Let’s now look at the top 5 keywords from Google’s sports category:

1. españa
2. juegos olímpicos
3. parís
4. juegos olímpicos de parís 2024
5. nadal

All top keywords talk about the Olympics, so Spain isn’t just a soccer-only nation after all!

Final Thoughts: Europe loves the Olympics and soccer!

Click here – EURO 2024: The most visible publishers – if you are interested in even more sports-focused SEO content!

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