Optimalisasi SEO sebagai Penguat Trafik Pengunjung pada Media Online Metropaginews.com

The development of digital media has encouraged online news platforms to optimize Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies so that news content becomes more easily discoverable by readers. This research is motivated by the needs of Metropaginews.com, a growing online media outlet, to improve the visibility and traffic of its news articles through the implementation of on-page SEO techniques. The study aims to examine how the SEO optimization process is applied in news writing, how the editorial team understands and integrates SEO into the newsroom workflow, and how SEO contributes to increasing visitor traffic. This research employs a descriptive qualitative method through in-depth interviews with the editor-in-chief, editors, and IT staff. In addition, the researcher conducted observations of news-writing structures and analyzed documentation such as articles, Rank Math plugin data, and Google Search Console reports. This method enables a comprehensive understanding of SEO practices implemented within the editorial environment. The findings indicate that Metropaginews.com implements SEO by using relevant keywords, structured headings, meta descriptions, internal links, and image optimization. These practices contribute to increased impressions and organic clicks, although not all articles with high SEO scores achieve high traffic. This suggests that additional factors, such as trending topics and social media distribution, also influence article performance. The study concludes that SEO effectively enhances content visibility and supports the platform’s growth strategy. The researcher recommends that the editorial team strengthen the consistency of SEO implementation, expand internal training, and make regular use of analytical data to improve news performance.