More than half of Americans believe that national news organizations actually intend to mislead or slant the facts, according to a major new study. The latest study released by Gallup and the Knight Foundation shows that only 26% of Americans have a favorable opinion of the news media, and 50% don’t believe what they read, see or hear.
As trust in media continues to decline, more and more seekers of truth and unbiased information turn to online search, specifically Google. Think about it: the first thing you do when looking for information about anything – a company, organization, product, political candidate, policy issue, or trending topic – is a quick Google search. It’s where 92% of Americans gather information in today’s world, and it is flipping the traditional role of media and public relations on its head. In fact, Google is the most trusted online news source, according to a 2023 Reuters report.
Gone are the days when hard-working PR professionals spent weeks trying to pitch their stories or clients to walled-off reporters in the hopes of getting an interview, mention or feature story. Instead, they’re writing their own stories, producing their own content and leveraging new technologies to improve how they show up high in Google search results related to their brand, business, industry, topic or issue.
Key to maximizing your Google presence is analyzing your current search results position using a suite of various data sources to understand where you are now, why your results are where they are, and continuously monitor key technological metrics for your content (and competing content) to improve your search rankings and position. That’s where Lightbox Search comes in.
Lightbox Search is the online software platform that does the work for you. The platform provides agencies and in-house communications teams with critical Google search results intelligence, data analytics from various sources – so you don’t need to pay costly fees for a half-dozen different providers – and customized reporting features in an easy-to-use, visual format that creates the blueprint for improving and maintaining high search results visibility and presence.
