As a web developer who has worked with several media organisations in Ghana, the standards in the online presence of Ghana’s newspapers has worried me for a long time.
So here is how I got to my tipping point, I had just reorganised our web development services at EnspireFX Websites into packaged offerings that small businesses can purchase and launch easily. The goal was simple: make professional websites more accessible, especially to organisations that don’t have large budgets for digital infrastructure.
Looking to promote this initiative, I explored paid distribution options. But the big-name media outlets quoted figures far beyond the marketing budget of any small business. So, I turned to Fiverr PR gigs, hoping to get the word out affordably. What I found were spammy websites and questionable SEO networks that could do more harm than good to our brand’s reputation.
At that point, a thought occurred to me: why not reach out to Ghanaian newspapers and news portals instead? According to data from the National Media Commission, over 70 newspapers, magazines, journals, and online news portals have been registered since 2023. If I could partner with even 10 of them, I’d have a powerful Made-in-Ghana PR campaign.
But then came the shock.
Aside from well-established platforms like Graphic Online, MyJoy Online, GhanaWeb, CitiNewsroom, 3News, Modern Ghana, News Ghana and AdomOnline, most of the other news organisations either did not have a website, had expired domains, or were down due to missing SSL certificates. Some that were live had default WordPress content or broken layouts, and almost none had proper contact pages.
Ironically, many of these publishers are active on Facebook. Their pages are updated regularly with headlines and breaking news, but their actual websites are either broken or completely absent. And that’s a huge problem.
Bigger Than Just “Bad Design”
For a country with an active and growing media landscape, the poor state of news websites is not just a tech issue; it’s a public trust, SEO, and monetisation issue.
In Google’s eyes, news websites fall under the YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) category. That means Google holds them to a higher standard when it comes to Expertise, Authority, and Trust (E-A-T). If your site doesn’t meet that bar, you will never show up in Google News, Google Discover, or the “Top Stories” carousel.
That also means no organic traffic, no worthwhile ad revenue, and no reach.
You could be churning out high-quality journalism every day, but if your website is slow, broken, or lacking structured data, you’ll get buried under content from Nigeria or international newswires. Other sites that republish your content will rank, while your website is still barely read by anyone. And let’s not even talk about AI search platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Claude, which have been proven to draw heavily from Google-indexed sources. If you’re invisible on Google, you’re invisible everywhere.
Poor SEO leads to Poor Revenue leads to Poor Journalists
A poor digital presence isn’t just embarrassing, it’s cutting off newsrooms from the ad revenue they need to survive. During my review of several Ghanaian news websites, I found critical issues that are harming their visibility and profitability.
Many had no About or Contact pages, lacked editorial or privacy policies, and took over six seconds to load. Some had broken links, outdated themes, or were nearly unreadable on mobile. These are fundamental problems tied to technical SEO and user experience, and they’re costing newsrooms dearly.
When readers land on a page and bounce after one article, that’s lost engagement and missed revenue. A well-structured publisher website should naturally lead visitors to read at least two or three stories per session. That’s how you increase ad impressions without needing more traffic.
Just how do you intend to impress the corporate world to choose your platform for advertising when your website smacks of unprofessionalism and amateur designs?
What can you do about it?
Rather than simply pointing out the problem, we decided to provide a real solution.
We’ve launched a News Publisher Website Design & Development Package tailored to newspapers, radio stations, bloggers, and digital publishers. This will be a visual upgrade for your platform, a complete portal built to meet the technical demands of modern digital media and online news.
The package promises Google News and Discover indexing, loads fast on mobile, improves reader retention, includes contributor and guest author profiles, integrates newsletter and monetisation tools, and comes with a built-in SEO structure. It’s also ad-ready and legally compliant with editorial and policy pages.
We also train editorial teams on how to optimise content, write effective headlines, and structure metadata so their stories rank better on search engines.
We’ve already supported newsrooms such as The Ghanaian Standard, GhanaFacts, FactSpace West Africa, The High Street Journal, GhArticles, GhNewsday, KiddoJunior, and Liberia’s AYR Radio, among others.
Ending the Digital News Crisis
It’s unacceptable that when someone searches for Ghanaian news, the top results often come from Nigerian or foreign sites. We need to change that.
If we want to grow our media ecosystem, attract serious advertisers, and build lasting reader trust, then news websites must be more than placeholders; they must become real digital platforms built with intention and expertise.
Search for Ghana news on Google, and just about 4 sites have hijacked the top stories carousel and the news tab, leaving the over 70 Ghanaian publishers shut out from surfacing, only at best showing up in the general web section. This must end. Ghanaian news platforms like The Ghanaian Times, The Chronicle, and The Spectator are some of the oldest news publishers on the continent. It’s time to take our place as the frontiers of African freepress.
Transform Your Newsroom in 14 days
Our News Publisher Website Package includes everything needed to build a powerful online newsroom, from SEO optimisation and fast mobile design to newsletter tools, monetisation features, and technical maintenance. All delivered within just 14 working days.
Let us help you expand your reach, increase authority, and unlock new revenue streams. You can learn more or get in touch for a free consultation on 0550919202, [email protected]
The Author, Rev Dennis Gyamfi Bediako, is the CEO of EnspireFX Websites, a business web design company based in Accra, Ghana.
