What It Is
Newsjacking is the practice of inserting your brand or client into breaking news coverage as an expert source — within hours of a major story breaking in your industry. The window is narrow: journalists writing follow-up pieces in the first 24–48 hours after a news event are actively looking for quotable experts. By publishing a reaction post and pitching journalists immediately, you become the source they cite, earning editorial backlinks from publications that would otherwise never link to you. Gerry White, VP of Growth at Mirador Local, advocates newsjacking as one of the highest-speed link earning methods available to SEOs and content teams.
How It Works
- Set up Google Alerts for your top 10 industry keywords and Feedly monitors for the leading trade publications and news sites in your niche — check these daily
- Within 2–4 hours of a major industry news event, draft a 400–600 word expert reaction post that adds original insight, data, or a perspective not already in the initial coverage
- Publish the post on your own domain with a datestamp and author byline — this establishes you as the original source for journalists to reference
- Build a short pitch list of 5–10 journalists actively covering the story using Twitter/X search for the news topic — pitch via direct message and email with a single-paragraph expert commentary offer
- Include a specific, quotable expert statement in your pitch that the journalist can use verbatim — make it effortless for them to cite you
Who Recommends It
- Gerry White endorses — VP of Growth at Mirador Local, advocate for newsjacking as a core link earning technique for local and enterprise SEOs. Unscripted SEO episode →
Difficulty & Time Estimates
MediumDifficulty
Days to weeksTime to Results