Behind TechCrunch's Design and SEO: What Works and What Doesn't
Key takeaways from TechCrunch successes and failures to help you improve your own digital publication.
Our Speakers
Jeremy Fremont
Director of Business Development
Jeremy Fremont is a digital solutions expert with over 15 years of experience helping both Fortune 500 companies and emerging startups build and grow their online presence. His expertise lies in the intersection of technology, content & business processes, making him qualified to analyze industry trends and shifts. Jeremy’s background in web design, development & performance optimization for various platforms gives him valuable insights into the technical challenges faced by enterprise publishers. His passion for creating value through digital innovation and his experience in eCommerce and accessibility provide him with an understanding of the digital publishing landscape.
Vahe Arabian
Founder and Editor in Chief
Vahe Arabyan is the founder of State of Digital Publishing, bringing over 15 years of expertise in digital media publishing and SEO to the table. As a seasoned consultant, Vahe specializes in helping publishers optimize their online platforms for improved performance, user engagement, and revenue growth. His data-driven approach to content strategy and SEO has assisted numerous enterprise-level publishers in navigating the ever-changing digital landscape. Vahe’s insights are informed by his deep understanding of sustainable business models for digital media and his hands-on experience with search engine optimization, information architecture, and editorial operations.
Watch Session
In this episode, Vahe Arabian and Jeremy Fremont review TechCrunch, focusing on its subscription product and revenue streams. They discuss the recent news of TechCrunch shutting down its subscription offering and explore the reasons behind this decision by TechCrunch. The co-hosts analyze TechCrunch’s website design, user experience, SEO issues, and more.
Inside TechCrunch's Strategy: Key Lessons for Digital Publishers
A guide for modern publishers balancing SEO, user experience, and revenue in the digital age.
Navigation and Site Structure
TechCrunch's unique vertical navigation bar and clear section headings improve user experience, but slow load times and ad issues point to areas for performance optimization.
Traffic Decline and SEO Issues
A significant drop in organic traffic from 8 million to 2 million monthly users coincides with Google's helpful content update, revealing critical technical SEO problems to avoid.
Schema Markup Errors Hurt Rankings
Improper implementation of schema markup for paywalled content led Google to misinterpret TechCrunch's pages, drastically impacting search visibility.
URL Structure Hinders Long-Term SEO
Using timestamps in URLs forces re-indexing with each update, harming search rankings for competitive topics and disrupting internal linking.
User Engagement and Content Recirculation
TechCrunch's related articles feature misses opportunities to keep readers on-site longer by showing latest posts instead of contextually relevant content.
Mobile Optimization Opportunities
While excelling in mobile navigation, TechCrunch's footer design fails to utilize full screen width, highlighting areas for improved mobile user experience.