<![CDATA[The rapid growth of digital news compels media outlets to utilize Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and data analytics to maintain visibility. Prioritizing viral data over meaningful reporting creates a critical editorial and audience engagement problem, as highly searched topics do not universally translate into actual readership. Addressing the research gap that often treats SEO as a purely technical mechanism, this study investigates how popular trends from Google Trends are selected and represented in SEO content at Akurat.co. The specific novelty of this research lies in its dual approach: integrating Gatekeeping and Framing theories, and methodologically combining front end search data (Google Trends) with back end performance metrics (Google Analytics). Employing a descriptive qualitative method, primary data were gathered between April and May 2026 through in-depth editorial interviews, observation, and digital metric cross-referencing. The findings reveal that broad topics contextualized into practical, daily life utilities generate significantly higher pageviews than generic highly searched trends. This suggests that within observed room practices, SEO elements (such as keywords, titles, and meta descriptions) function actively as modern framing tools rather than mere technical parameters. This framing is guided by a rigorous gatekeeping process prioritizing ethics and relevance over raw search volume. The study implies that digital newsrooms must balance algorithmic visibility with journalistic integrity, transforming broad search trends into discoverable content that genuinely serves public utility]]>
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