How We Increased RTVE.es's Audience Using a New SEO Methodology

RTVE is Spain’s leading public media organization: seven television channels, six radio stations, the RTVE.es website, and its streaming platform, RTVE Play. As a media organization committed to the quality of its content, technological innovation, and public service, it wanted to extend that same leadership to the internet.

The challenge: to become the go-to news source on Google as well

RTVE was already producing high-quality content, but it needed to ensure that content reached people searching for news online. The goal was clear: to increase traffic to RTVE.es, both on the news website and across each of its digital sections, from Sports to Television.

To achieve this, it took more than just optimizing web pages. We needed to build an SEO-driven content strategy that could keep pace with a newsroom and reach the audience that consumes news online, with the same journalistic quality as on radio and television.

An SEO methodology tailored for a newsroom

Our media SEO team worked closely with RTVE’s SEO department to completely rethink its search engine strategy from the ground up. In the media, SEO isn’t just an afterthought—it’s an integral part of how every news story is written.

What did we do?

• We developed a new workflow for RTVE’s web team, designed to strictly adhere to its editorial standards. We standardized and harmonized the writing style to reinforce RTVE’s identity and maintain the quality of its news coverage.
• Real-time coverage formats. We promote breaking news and minute-by-minute updates, using standardized processes for major events such as Eurovision, the Champions League, general elections, and the war in Ukraine.
• Constant monitoring of current events. We continuously update our SEO strategy to identify and prioritize the topics with the highest media relevance at any given time.
• Training for newsrooms. We advise and train the various RTVE teams to apply the new methodology with consistency in style and performance across every piece.

The key: trust from management

RTVE’s content management team backed the project from day one. That support made it possible to implement the new methodology throughout the newsroom and grow together, achieving results that exceeded initial expectations.

Record Audience Numbers on RTVE.es

The new strategy has cemented RTVE’s position as the leading omnichannel media outlet and has enabled it to expand its digital coverage to new topics, with Sports at the forefront.

Major events, record-breaking viewership

• 2023 Christmas Lottery: More than four million people watched the drawing on RTVE.es, the highest figure in its history and a 33.4% increase in unique visitors compared to 2022. The minute-by-minute coverage alone attracted 1,369,768 unique visitors, nearly triple the number from 2021.
• Sports, July 2024: 12.8 million unique visitors, an all-time record for the section.
• 2024 Paris Olympics: nearly 11 million unique visitors. They drove the best August in RTVE.es’s history, with 23.9 million visitors.

We continue to grow together

RTVE’s trust in us has led to the extension of our partnership through 2025. We continue to work to ensure that the best journalistic content reaches the widest possible audience, both on Google and on new AI-powered search engines.

This project was developed by the media SEO team at Hiberus Search, which works with Semmántica as a single growth team.