# SEO inside Newsrooms: Reports from the Field
## 4 Methodology
The main questions during the interviews are depicted in Table 2, according to their type (open/close-ended). Prior to performing the main research, a pilot study was conducted in order to find any problems and discrepancies that the questions might have included. A number of improvements were made on the initial questionnaire, mainly in the fields of readability and usability. An introductory text informed the respondents about the use of the obtained information and the voluntary nature of this \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline
**Questions** & **Type** \\ \hline How familiar are you with SEO, and how long have you been dealing with these practices? & Closed-ended (Likert scale)/open-ended \\ \hline Is there any SEO expert in your organization? If not, is there another person involved in such practices? & Open-ended \\ \hline What factors do you think may influence SEO usage? & Open-ended \\ \hline How SEO strategy is applied inside your newstroom and which are the most common practices—tools? & Close-ended with a list of possible answers \\ \hline Do you use SEO practices when writing news articles? & Open-ended \\ \hline What (if any) are the consequences of SEO on news language? & Open-ended \\ \hline Do you track online traffic to your site and what kind of metrics are you most interested in? & Open-ended/close-ended (Likert scale) \\ \hline What impact do you think SEO has on news agenda and several publication practices? & Open-ended \\ \hline How much do you think SEO improves the relationship with your audience? & Open-ended \\ \hline Do you think SEO benefits journalism, in general, (or it may impact negatively)? & Open-ended \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Main questions under study. SEO, search engine optimization. research. Thematic analysis (TA) using [PERSON]'s six-phase framework [61] was used to make sense of the data. The analysis focused on examining patterns within qualitative data that are important or interesting. Specifically, it was used to explore questions about respondents' experiences, perspectives, practices or factors that influence and shape particular phenomena. The different stages that were followed in the process of analysis were:  
1. Familiarizing with data  
Repeated reading in order for researchers to feel familiar with the data. Also, the follow up interviews made via telephone were transcribed. In parallel, thoughts or ideas for coding and meanings were noted, generating an initial list of interesting segments across the data set. 2. Assign preliminary codes to the data  
Identify interesting elements of the data (coding manually) that can be assessed in a meaningful way. Important ideas/codes providing a description of respondent's experience were identified and written in the form of a list. 3. Searching for repeated patterns and themes  
When all interviews were coded separately, the different codes were sorted into potential themes. Also, the researchers considered how different codes may combine to form a primary theme. 4. Reviewing themes  
Themes were reviewed and refined--coherent patterns were formed in the context of the data set. The researchers re-read data several times and went backwards and forwards between raw data, codes and themes, until they felt confident enough that different codes, could collate together and form a theme. 5. Defining and naming themes  
The scope and content of each theme and sub-theme clearly defined. The researchers considered the themes themselves, and each theme in relation to the others. Different dimensions of the same pattern-phenomenon were shown at this stage. 6. Producing the report  
Final analysis of repeated patterns (themes)--connection with research questions and relevant literature. Finally, the thematic analysis identified five major themes:  
* Awareness and use of SEO;
* Factors affecting the use of SEO;
* Common SEO tools/practices;
* Monitoring web traffic;
* Impact of SEO on news content creation and journalism.