{"id":42408,"date":"2017-03-21T04:05:25","date_gmt":"2017-03-21T11:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/blog\/?p=42408"},"modified":"2019-08-01T15:24:39","modified_gmt":"2019-08-01T22:24:39","slug":"fake-news-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/blog\/fake-news-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"How Fake News Changed SEO & How to Add More Facts to Your Site"},"content":{"rendered":"

Update on April 21, 2017<\/strong>: Fake news is in the spotlight again.<\/em><\/p>\n

Google is getting more aggressive about calling out fake news in Google search results. Last October, Google announced<\/a> that publishers could use schema markup to \u201cshow a \u2018Fact Check\u2019 tag in Google News for news stories. This label identifies articles that include information fact checked by news publishers and fact-checking organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week the “fact check” label rolled out to all of Google Search<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Marking up the HTML code of a Share the Facts box with Schema.org\u2019s ClaimReview<\/a> schema could result in a \u201cfact check\u201d label in search results. Here’s an example seen in a live SERP:<\/p>\n

\"fact<\/p>\n

The tech behind Google\u2019s label was developed as a joint venture between Duke University Reporters’ Lab and Alphabet Inc.\u2019s Jigsaw incubator (Alphabet is Google\u2019s parent company). The effort of these two groups produced the Share the Facts Widget<\/a> which inserts into the HTML code of an article or blog post a \u201cShare the Facts\u201d box that includes a claim\/statement and whether or not it is true.<\/p>\n

ShareTheFacts.com said of its widget code:<\/p>\n

\u201cShare the Facts boxes are also fully machine-readable, enabling new ways of assembling automated collections of fact-check findings from across the Internet.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This new rich snippet in search results is a game changer for SEO<\/a>. That’s because users now have a way to verify the accuracy of a claim even before they\u2019ve clicked a result. It is also a continuation of Google\u2019s present initiatives to curtail the visibility of fake news. You can read more about this in the original post below.<\/p>\n

\n

The concept of \u201cfake news\u201d exploded into the public zeitgeist at the end of the 2016 presidential election season. It\u2019s been in the spotlight ever since.<\/p>\n

\"fake
The popularity of the term \u201cfake news\u201d as indicated by Google search volume over the last two years skyrocketed the week of Nov. 6, 2016, the week of the U.S. presidential election.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Google is among those concerned with fake news, as we learn from a December 2016 interview with Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Pichai says:<\/p>\n

At Google, we\u2019ve always cared about bringing the most relevant and accurate results to users \u2026 There have been a couple of instances where (fake news has) been pointed out, and we clearly did not get it right \u2026 Just in the last two days we announced that we will remove advertising from anything we identify as fake news.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pichai\u2019s focus here is towards paid advertisements, but with all the buzz over fake news in the media, SEOs are asking questions about the effect of fake news on organic search.<\/p>\n

The bottom line is that Google needs to provide users with quality answers that accurately fulfill the intent of their users\u2019 queries. <\/b><\/p>\n

So why should SEOs care? What can you do? These are questions organic search marketers are wondering.<\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

Trying to Control Fake News<\/h3>\n

Is fake news beyond Google\u2019s ability to control? You can bet the search engines don\u2019t take that stance.<\/p>\n

Google and Bing are able to verify the accuracy of content to some extent.\u00a0And the search engines are already in a good position to mitigate the spread of fake news in organic search results.<\/p>\n

Read on for\u00a0what we know about:<\/p>\n