Still, Hitwise's Robin Goad isn't jumping on the pay wall wagon just yet: "When we [Hitwise] see how reliant news sites are on searches (…) I really struggle to see how it's economical unless they have a very strong brand."
If publishers start charging for content, the traffic generated by 'organic' search will drop off, Goad explains to an industry gathering at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN). Significantly, that is the traffic that builds the brand, Goad says.
According to Hitwise's figures, Google typically accounts for 30 per cent of a news site's traffic. While an average site is reliant on the search engine for around 40-45 per cent, this is a significant figure and one ignored by news organisations at their peril.
The question is how to make pay walls work for news organisations in a web world: currently 15.75 million links point to Guardian.co.uk; while Times, Telegraph and Mail get over 7 million each, figures from Patrick Altoft, director of search from agency Branded3, suggest.
Social media growth
How new access structures on news sites are introduced will be a point for debate, if the practice is more widely adopted.
In particular it will be tricky to build them, without undermining boosted traffic and readership via increasing use of social media and social sites.
Altoft is seeing clients adopt a 'automated promotion network' for their products - a strategy involving RSS, Twitter, email subscriptions and Google News, which can work equally well for news sites.
Publishers need to make their content work with Google and work with consumers' searching habits, agree Altoft and Goad.
Money Saving Expert's Martin Lewis was the most searched for personality online in the UK in the third quarter of 2008 - because his site is the destination for a range of keyword searches, says Goad.
"Make sure [that] every time you publish an article, ping Google - don't wait for Google to come along and spider your website," adds Altoft. "This way your story on breaking news will get picked up by Google's 'query deserves freshness' algorithm and come out higher in search results than your competitors.
Most significantly, promoting work on social sites and search engine optimisation, are techniques that need to be integrated into a journalist's daily work, says Altoft.
"How many journalists after they've written a story go back and promote that story via Twitter, via Digg, via Stumbleupon?" he asks.
Succesfully promoting content through these channels can drive traffic and help build the news brand.
The Guardian, for example, has become a default follower on Twitter - someone the site suggests you follow on signing up, says Altoft.
What is more, three separate Guardian Twitter accounts have made it into the most popular referrers from the microblogging site to news and media sources, according to Hitwise.
At the Telegraph, staff are actively encouraged to Digg their own articles and the site has a Digg widget on stories, he adds.
While some news editors may dismiss Digg because of its international leanings, the Telegraph is building a US following from the social site.
"What we need to understand is how to tailor content to users of these social networks," says Altoft.
"The key thing a website can do is appeal to the right people. You need to appeal to the people that create content. You need to create the content that appeals directly to bloggers."
Meeting trends
It is an individual decision as to what extent news sites work with search and social sites: the Telegraph has tailored its content to meet consumer demand and reach new readers, for example by including more entertainment stories online; while others have worked around their core audience, buying up keywords on Google, for instance, on specific subjects, says Goad.
Monitoring changes in search behaviour is one way of keeping on top of this, adds Goad, who expects an increasing amount of traffic to go to non-text content from search engines.
Tailoring content for search engines or social sites, even if it is against the title's core editorial values, generates traffic, but, says Altoft, publishers must take an overview and remember to think about individual stories.
Seemingly useless or one-off traffic generated by individual articles will generate links, he says, particularly if it reaches the influential bloggers in that field, and help boost a news site's search ranking overall.
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