High Value Publishing

In this week’s High Value Publishing session, Eric Shanfelt breaks down a common problem that costs publishers renewals and credibility with advertisers: you are driving traffic, but your advertiser’s Google Analytics is not giving you credit for it.

Eric explains where “hidden traffic” shows up (often as Direct/None, generic email platform sources, or social referrals) and shares a simple system you can use to make sure clicks from...

In this High Value Publishing session, Eric Shanfelt is joined by Jez Walters of What's New in Publishing to unpack what the latest AI and distribution shifts actually mean for magazine and news publishers.

The conversation gets practical fast:

- How much traffic are publishers really seeing from ChatGPT?
- Is it worth optimizing your content for AI?
- Is Facebook going to start charging for link posts?
- W...

In this kickoff episode for 2026, Eric Shanfelt runs an “ask me anything” session focused on real-world problems publishers are dealing with right now, including ad strategy, performance, analytics, and the growing impact of bots and AI on measurement.

You will hear practical guidance on whether you should rotate or refresh ads, when AMP still matters (and when it does not), why email click data can be distorted by security bots, an...

If you are a local or regional publisher, your Google Business Profile is one of the most overlooked assets you have. It is not just a “listing.” It is a credibility signal, a discovery surface in Search and Maps, and a practical way to build trust in your brand, your website, and your audience in Google’s eyes.

In this session, Eric Shanfelt breaks down how Google Business Profiles work for media companies, what matters m...

AI junk content, Meta’s new AI licensing deals, Google’s latest core update, experimental pay-per-article wallets, and creator-journalists with bigger followings than local newsrooms all collide in this episode of “What’s New in Publishing.”

Eric Shanfelt and Jez Walters unpack how these shifts are reshaping the playing field for news, magazine, B2B, and city/regional publishers, and what practical moves you can make right now.

In th...

Should publishers block AI bots like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity from crawling their sites? If so, what is the smartest way to do it?

In this session, Eric Shanfelt shows you how generative AI is impacting publication search traffic, which types of publications are most at risk, and a practical framework for deciding whether blocking AI crawlers makes sense for your business. He then breaks down step-by-step how to actually block...

Eric Shanfelt teams up with Jez Walters from What’s New in Publishing for a concise, no-nonsense update on the most important stories and developments impacting the future of publishing.

In this session we cover:

• OpenAI honoring robots.txt, but getting around it using Common Crawl.

• Who is actually losing traffic from AI overviews ... and who is actually gaining traffic.

• How publishers are making money by licensing their arch...

Why do some digital media companies thrive while others fail?

With over 30 years in the industry, digital media veteran Eric Shanfelt has seen what works and what doesn't. In this reboot of the "High Value Publishing" webinar series, Eric breaks down the 7 essential characteristics of a successful digital media company.

• Commitment from executive leadership.
• Content readers actually want.
• Website-first publishing.
• Simp...

If implemented properly, Meta Ads can be a cost-effective way for a publisher to drive website traffic and grow their email list.

In this High Value Publishing session, Eric Shanfelt is joined by digital industry legend, Dennis Yu. Dennis is the CTO and co-founder of BlitzMetrics and a former search engine engineer. He's managed billions of dollars with Meta ad campaigns.

Eric and Dennis show two different, c...

As publishers, our email reputation and deliverability is critical. Google Postmaster Tools is a free tool that any publisher can use to see how well they are doing at delivering email to Gmail and Google Workspace users. Think of it like Google Search Console, but for email. It provides insights into email performance, sender reputation, and potential deliverability issues. Google Postmaster Tools provides insight into your:

• Sp...

In this week's session of High Value Publishing, we're shifting focus from our usual digital strategies to reflect on what lies ahead for media companies in 2024 including:

• The enforcement of stronger email authentication by Google and Yahoo.
• The removal of third-party cookies, particularly in Google Chrome.
• The integration of Artificial Intelligence into search engines.
• Google's focus on EEAT (Experience, Expertise,...

For publishers, a podcast can be more than just an audio format. It can be a convenient way for readers to discover and follow your content, it can drive people back to your website, and eventually it can be a new revenue stream once you reach some scale.

But producing daily or weekly podcast episodes can be resource-intensive and expensive. This is where the concept of a fully AI-generated podcast comes in. By creatively combining ...

In this High Value Publishing session, we'll discuss strategies for publishers to simplify their digital advertising models in order to drive more revenue, including:

• Consolidating underperforming ad products.
• Limiting inventory / controlling supply and demand.
• Delivering differentiated value to advertisers.
• Having larger ad placements but fewer of them.
• Properly pricing products based on value delivered.

You'll see ex...

SmartNews is a rapidly growing news aggregator rivaling Google News and Apple News in usage. As such it can be an important part of an overall content distribution strategy for publishers.

But publishers need to go in with their eyes wide open before agreeing to work with SmartNews.

In this High Value Publishing session, Eric Shanfelt shows publishers how SmartNews pitches themselves to publishers, but how publisher content is used p...

Email newsletter subject lines and preheader text play a pivotal role in increasing newsletter open rates and, in turn, ad impressions, website traffic, and overall engagement with your audience.

Despite their importance, many publishers fail to utilize the subject line and preheader text effectively. Common mistakes include overly long subject lines, irrelevant or missing preheader text, and the inclusion of unnecessary elements su...

Is Google good or bad for publishers? A Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit against Google is bringing this question to the forefront.

In this High Value Publishing session, Eric Shanfelt and his guest, Kenny Katzgrau of Broadstreet Ads, delve into the implications of the lawsuit and how publishers should best interact with Google. The conversation stems from a recent subpoena request by Google and the Department of Justice conc...

Would you like to develop a 6-digit reader revenue stream without launching a paywall? If so, look no further than The Berkshire Edge, a small, regional publication in Massachusetts.

A couple of years ago, The Berkshire Edge launched an online membership that was donation only ... no paywall. They now have over 1,600 members approaching $120,000 per year in donation revenue.

David Walsh with Web Publisher PRO join...

Did you know that Google Analytics is misleading you?

If you look at analytics regularly, you see a lot of web traffic coming from the Direct source.
Most publishers think this represents people who directly type in their website URL. But it doesn't.
Up to 90% of "direct" traffic is actually "unknown". Google Analytics doesn't know the actual source, so it classifies unknown as direct ...