What to do if your traffic on SmartNews drops significantly

Your traffic on SmartNews will naturally fluctuate as our algorithm, which is tuned for news discovery, constantly and dynamically analyzes hundreds of thousands of stories based on the news of the moment and the interests of SmartNews users. However, if your traffic drops suddenly and significantly from normal levels, the first thing to do is check to see if anyone made  changes to your SmartFormat feed.

Is there an error in SmartFormat?

The best way to check for errors in your SmartFormat feed is to use the SmartFormat feed validator. Check for error messages against the SmartFormat feed spec.

Are you designating the URL, date, etc. of the article appropriately?

Please note that the SmartFormat validator only detects errors in such basic items as the validity of  XML files, size restrictions and the like. So even though a feed registers as “Valid,” there may be other problems that affect the accessibility of your content:

• Make sure the URL is configured correctly: Please make sure to designate a canonical URL. Have you specified the correct protocol (i.e. HTTPS)? Also make sure to strip any UTM parameters appended to the end of a URL. If you need to measure tracking, please use the <snf:analytics> element to embed your analytics script.
• Check your date handling. Is the date of your content designated appropriately? Please check whether the date format is correct, and whether there are any old or future-dated articles included in your SmartFormat feed.
  Please note that the <pubDate> element requires the full year, as in <pubDate>Wed, 29 Jan 2020 07:22:10 +0000</pubDate> .