USA TODAY Co. Organic Growth Opportunities

Create inspection-score cards for every restaurant in Gannett markets, showing violation history and plain-language explanations. This play captures a massive volume of high-intent local searches and provides a valuable public service.

Example Keywords

• "inspection score [restaurant name] [city]"
• "health violations 2024 [city] restaurants"
• "food safety grade [restaurant name]"
• "[restaurant name] health report"

Rationale

Local newsrooms already obtain this public data, but it's often trapped in hard-to-read PDFs. By structuring this data into user-friendly pages at scale, USA TODAY Co. can become the go-to resource for food safety information, driving subscriptions and ad revenue.

Topical Authority

As a trusted local news source, Gannett has the inherent authority to report on public health and safety. This play reinforces their role as a community watchdog and provides service journalism that competitors (like Yelp) don't offer with the same rigor.

Internal Data Sources

Use parsed county health inspection PDFs, reporter annotations on notable closures or trends, and the internal photo archive of top-rated or problematic venues.

Estimated Number of Pages

850,000+

Develop comprehensive KPI sheets for every public school and district in America. These pages will combine official data with unique journalistic context to serve parents and community members.

Example Keywords

• "reading proficiency [school name] [city]"
• "per pupil spending in [school district]"
• "teacher tenure rates [school name]"
• "[high school] test scores vs state average"

Rationale

Parents and homebuyers are constantly searching for reliable information about local schools. Current SERPs are dominated by ad-heavy sites with dated information, creating an opportunity for a trusted brand to provide a superior, data-rich experience.

Topical Authority

Gannett reporters have covered education accountability for decades. This play scales that expertise by combining public data (NCES, State DOE) with an archive of local reporting, photos, and interview snippets, establishing unmatched authority.

Internal Data Sources

Utilize the Gannett photo archive of school events, reporter interview quotes tagged by school ID, and a database of all education-related articles for internal linking.

Estimated Number of Pages

132,000+

Launch data-rich scorecards for every US ZIP code that answer the question 'How livable is this area?'. The pages will cover metrics like cost of living, crime trends, and local news sentiment, capturing high-intent relocation and research traffic.

Example Keywords

• "cost of living 85004"
• "crime rate 29407 vs 29412"
• "quality of life index [zip code]"
• "is [zip code] a good place to live"

Rationale

Millions of people research new places to live each year, and they seek reliable, comprehensive data. This play aggregates disparate public data and combines it with a unique proprietary metric (local news sentiment) to create a best-in-class resource that outcompetes existing real estate portals.

Topical Authority

With reporters in hundreds of communities, USA TODAY Co. has a deep understanding of local life. This play programmatically scales that local knowledge, reinforcing the brand's authority on community dynamics across the entire country.

Internal Data Sources

Leverage a 10-year archive of local headline sentiment analyzed by ZIP code, delivery-route subscriber counts as a proxy for community engagement, and LOCALiQ advertising spend benchmarks indicating economic vibrancy.

Estimated Number of Pages

42,000+

Create a living timeline for every state and federal bill, featuring its status, a plain-English summary, and related reporting. This play serves civically-engaged readers and policy professionals by making complex legislative information accessible.

Example Keywords

• "hb 1234 summary florida 2025"
• "did sb 221 pass in texas"
• "status of [bill name]"
• "congressional bill to ban junk fees status"

Rationale

Legislative information is notoriously difficult for the public to track, often hidden in government websites or expensive lobbying tools. By creating a free, easy-to-navigate resource, USA TODAY Co. can capture a valuable audience and cement its status as an essential source for civic information.

Topical Authority

As a major news organization with statehouse reporters across the country, Gannett is perfectly positioned to provide context and analysis on legislation. This play leverages that existing journalistic infrastructure to create a scalable, authoritative product.

Internal Data Sources

Use real-time statehouse data feeds (Legiscan/AP), the USA TODAY 'Follow the Money' campaign-finance database, and a library of reporter analysis and quotes tagged to specific bill IDs.

Estimated Number of Pages

65,000+

Build a comprehensive hub for high school sports, featuring state-level team rankings, schedules, and historical data. This play expands on the success of the national USA TODAY Sports brand to capture a passionate, high-volume local audience.

Example Keywords

• "2025 ohio high school football rankings"
• "california girls basketball top teams"
• "[school name] football schedule 2024"
• "top high school quarterbacks in [state]"

Rationale

The search volume for high school sports is immense and highly localized, driven by parents, students, and alumni. This play creates a definitive resource that consolidates fragmented information, driving significant traffic and engagement.

Topical Authority

USA TODAY Sports is already a recognized national authority with its Super 25 polls. Extending this brand to the state and local level is a natural and credible expansion that leverages existing brand equity to quickly establish topical authority.

Internal Data Sources

Incorporate the Super 25 national rankings database, local stat feeds from reporters, a photo archive for thousands of teams, and game recaps from the local news network.

Estimated Number of Pages

15,000+

Improvements Summary

Differentiate and optimize /careers/, /search-jobs/, and /deliver/ pages to target specific job-seeker intents and high-value keywords. Expand content, implement structured data, and strengthen internal linking to address cannibalization and improve rankings.

Improvements Details

Assign unique keyword targets to each page, such as 'usa today careers' for /careers/ and 'newspaper carrier' for /deliver/. Expand copy to cover internships, benefits, and FAQs, add JobPosting and FAQPage schema, and create geo-targeted landing pages. Strengthen internal links from high-authority pages and between the cluster, and improve technical SEO with optimized title tags, meta descriptions, and a jobs sitemap.

Improvements Rationale

Current pages compete for the same keywords, causing cannibalization and weak rankings. By clarifying each page's purpose, expanding relevant content, and improving technical SEO, the site can capture more search traffic and move key pages from page 2 to the top search results. This approach targets high-opportunity keywords and is expected to drive significant increases in organic visits and applicant conversions.