Met Gala 2025 - Top News Publishers & SEO Winners Dominating Google

By John Shehata 0 Comments

The 2025 Met Gala wasn’t just a cultural spectacle—it was a digital SEO battleground. While celebrities lit up the red carpet, news publishers competed for premium real estate across Google Search’s evolving SERP features: Top Stories, Live Coverage, Organic Results, What People Are Saying (formerly known as Perspectives), and Google Discover. Google Discover is the primary traffic driver for news publishers based on NewzDash recent study of 400+ publishers driving 66% on average of Google's traffic to news sites.

As the leading News SEO tracking platform —recognized as the Best SEO Software Suite across the U.S., U.K., and Europe— NewzDash monitored the SEO race across 200+ top trending keywords during May 5–6, capturing data every 15 minutes.

From fashion moments and surprise appearances to opinion-driven coverage, this analysis reveals which publishers and strategies truly dominated Google.

TL;DR

People.com, NYTimes, and Page Six led in Google Top Stories.

YouTube and Instagram topped Organic and Discover rankings.

Opinionated headlines and entity-rich storytelling consistently outperformed generic recaps.

Google Discover sustained traffic longer than traditional search.

check our Extensive Guide on Dominating Single-Day Live Events.

NewzDash is recognized as the Best SEO Software Suite across the U.S., U.K., and Europe

Scroll to the end for a breakdown of Discover’s impact on Met Gala visibility.

Top Trending Keyword Themes: Met Gala 2025

At the core of NewzDash’s competitive edge is its proprietary technology that calculates real-time search volume estimates—going beyond simply identifying what’s trending. By analyzing the velocity, frequency, and entity co-occurrence of keywords in Google’s news surfaces, NewzDash empowers publishers with instant visibility into the size of each opportunity. This allows clients to prioritize coverage not just based on what's buzzing, but on what has the greatest potential to drive meaningful traffic and visibility. It's not just trend tracking—it's predictive editorial intelligence. Real-Time Search Volumes are estimates and can fluctuate.

Between May 5–6, over 200 keywords emerged. Here's how they broke down:

Core Event Searches

Met Gala (15.5M)
Met Gala 2025 (1.1M)
2025 Met Gala (365K)
Met Gala 2025 theme (117K)
Met Gala theme (100K)
2025 Met Gala theme (72K)
Watch Met Gala (34K)

Fashion + Red Carpet

Met Gala 2025 looks (10K)
2025 Met Gala looks (10K)
Met Gala red carpet (6K)
Met Gala Best Looks (2K)

Top Celebrities Searched

Sabrina Carpenter (462K)
Rihanna (200K)
Zendaya (31K)
Sydney Sweeney (27K)
Kim Kardashian (26K)
Diana Ross (25K)
Justin Bieber (22K)
Pamela Anderson (20K)

Style Movements + Themes

Black Dandyism (18K)
Dandyism (15K)
Black Style (7K)

Political + Viral Moments

Kamala Harris (11K)
Kamala Harris Met Gala (5K)

Recommendation: Prioritize Entities and Trending Modifiers like "pregnancy", baby bump," "outfit," or "surprise" and create clusters around key personalities to capture compound interest. Check the 5 Headlines every news organization need to optimize in their CMS.

Top Domains in Google “Live Badge” Results — May 5–6, 2025

Google’s "Live" label appeared in 11% of all Met Gala keyword SERPs, with some results indexed as early as 8:00 AM EST on May 5.

NYTimes.com led with 17% visibility and an average position of 2.63 in "Live" Top Stories—showing the power of structured, real-time reporting.

Other players: Yahoo, People, and Hollywood Reporter—each used live blogs or real-time updates.

Recommendation: Use Live Schema. Keep stories updated frequently with timestamped insights to qualify for Google’s red badge.

Organic Search Rankings: Who Ruled the Traditional SERPs?

In Organic Results Including all SERP features, Instagram and YouTube outpaced traditional news outlets:

Instagram: 15.4% visibility
YouTube: 14.1%
Wikipedia: #1 for avg. position (1.82)

What Stands Out:

Social and video platforms like Instagram and YouTube topped the charts, emphasizing that event-related content consumption is now deeply visual and social-first.
Wikipedia held the #3 spot with the best average position (1.82), highlighting its dominance for informational queries like event overviews and guest lists.
Traditional publishers like Vogue, People, and The New York Times maintained strong positions due to editorial authority and topical relevance.

Recommendation: SEO strategies for tentpole events should include optimization beyond Top Stories—particularly for evergreen, FAQ-style, and visually-driven queries that persist beyond the 24-hour news cycle. Embedding video, linking social posts, and structuring content semantically can help capture these lasting rankings.

SERP Features: Met Gala in Google SERPs

The Met Gala 2025 wasn't just a red carpet event—it played out across a wide range of Google SERP features, reflecting the evolving ways users engage with live events, opinions, and multimedia content. While organic links remain dominant, features like Perspectives, Video, and Publisher Carousels captured a large share of real estate.

What This Means for Publishers:

What People Are Saying (Perspectives) had a 78% visibility in SERPs Frequency (i.e. 78% of all keyword rankings produced such feature). Opinionated, expert-authored content with unique value and clear author bylines is being elevated.
Video and Short Videos (seen on 77% and 15% of SERPs) highlight Google’s increasing preference for visual storytelling—a trend perfectly aligned with red carpet events.
The Publisher Carousel, while less frequent (9%), tends to appear with high editorial authority, making structured data and brand trustworthiness critical for inclusion.

Recommendation: To fully capitalize on event-driven SEO moments like the Met Gala, publishers should optimize across formats—text, video, expert opinion, and structured markup. Being discoverable in just one surface is no longer enough.

Top Ranking Domains in What People Are Saying

Platforms like Instagram and Reddit dominated Google's "What People Are Saying" SERP feature, while X (formerly Twitter) showed significantly lower visibility than in previous years.

Recommendation: Collaborate closely with social media teams to amplify your content across high-impact platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and Reddit to increase your chance of surfacing in this SERP feature.

Screenshot of early SERP rankings on May 5, 8am EST

Top Domains in Google Discover

YouTube led with a Discover Score of 100, followed by NYPost, Yahoo, and Glamour.

Recommendation: Discover prioritizes entity-based headlines, visuals, and mobile UX. Tailor for behavior-driven, visual-first consumption. Check our guide on Google Discover Optimization.

Google Discover Performance: A New Layer of Met Gala Visibility

NewzDash’s full Discover analysis reveals that Google Discover played a crucial role in extending Met Gala visibility beyond the immediate search window. YouTube led all platforms with a perfect Discover Score of 100, driven by high-volume, visually engaging videos like “Lisa’s First Met Gala Look” and “Megan Thee Stallion & Miley Cyrus Met Gala Lovefest.” Meanwhile, traditional publishers like New York Post, Glamour, InStyle, and Page Six successfully tapped into Discover with emotionally charged headlines, personality-driven stories, and content formats well-aligned with user interests. Notably, New York Post’s article on Rihanna and Ciara’s reunion topped the chart despite only being live for 8 hours—demonstrating Discover’s ability to rapidly amplify relevance.

In contrast to Google Search, where traffic spiked and dropped quickly, Discover offered a more gradual and sustained visibility curve, favoring publishers who understand how to optimize for topic momentum, mobile UX, and behavioral engagement. The full report underscores that Discover is no longer optional—it’s a critical discovery layer for cultural event coverage.

Google Discover Top Articles - Emotional Headlines Win

Narrative-driven, curiosity-heavy headlines topped Discover:

Pregnant Rihanna and Ciara reunite at Met Gala… (NYPost)
Teyana Taylor’s Platforms May Be Tallest in History (Glamour)
Lisa’s First Met Gala Look (Vogue/YouTube)

Recommendations: Use emotional tension, entities, trends, and named entities in your headlines. Pair them with engaging thumbnails.

Google Discover Visibility vs Google Search Interest

While Google Search demand peaked sharply on May 6, visibility in Google Discover remained consistently strong through May 7, indicating that Discover is more effective at sustaining engagement after search interest fades.

Key Takeaways & SEO Recommendations for Publishers

1. Dominating Google Top Stories Requires Speed, Structure, and Scale

Outlets like People.com, NYTimes.com, and Page Six succeeded by publishing fast, structured, and well-optimized content across dozens of unique URLs. They didn’t rely on a single viral piece—they scaled their coverage across red carpet arrivals, celebrity interviews, after-parties, and live updates.
Recommendation: Prepare multiple headline variants ahead of time, and use structured data to tag live event coverage. Prioritize publishing early and updating frequently to maintain visibility.

2. “Live” Badge Visibility Is a Game Changer

NYTimes.com secured the top spot in Google’s “Live” Top Stories results with 17% visibility and an average position of #2.63. Publishers that treated the Met Gala like a breaking news event reaped the benefits of elevated SERP placement.
Recommendation: Leverage live blogs, live schema, and frequent timestamped updates to qualify for Google's "Live" label. Prioritize real-time reporting during tentpole events.

3. Celebrity Modifiers Unlock Massive Search Volume - Optimize for Trending Names + Modifiers

Keywords with celebrity names and specific modifiers (e.g., "Zendaya Met Gala 2025", "Rihanna pregnancy", “best looks”) drove massive search interest. Generic terms alone weren’t enough—nuanced queries carried high intent and volume.
Recommendation: Use tools like Google Trends and NewzDash to spot modifier-driven trends (e.g., "baby bump", "arrival", "photos"). Build clusters of content and headlines targeting these combinations.

4. Topic Coverage Matters More Than Authority Alone

While NYTimes.com had the highest authority score, People.com won the day with the broadest topic coverage (55%) and most appearances (1,311). Quantity and breadth of relevant articles significantly boosted visibility.
Recommendation: Map your editorial calendar to cover all angles: fashion, culture, celebrity, politics, and social themes. Diversify authorship and perspectives to expand coverage naturally.

5. Emerging Entities Are SEO Gold

Names like Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, and Doechii saw massive spikes in search interest. Publishers that surfaced emerging talent alongside headliners gained early traction and long-tail rankings.
Recommendation: Invest in real-time entity tracking to identify rising stars, stylists, or trends. Publishing early about lesser-known—but rapidly trending—figures can help dominate niche keyword clusters.

6. Google SERPs Are About Format, Tone, and Diversity

Winning publishers didn’t just publish quickly—they diversified across content types (live blogs, opinion pieces, slideshows, explainers) and matched each format to the SERP feature it best serves.
Recommendation: Map your content formats to Google’s surfaces: Use live blogs for the red LIVE badge, Opinion pieces and expert takes for Perspectives, Slideshows, galleries, and recap lists for organic + Discover, and Video/Shorts for video carousels and YouTube visibility.

7. Tone Drives Rankings — Not Just Topics

Articles with a strong voice, bold opinions, or unique angles outperformed basic reporting. Headlines like “Off-theme guests shouldn’t be allowed in” or “Coolest carpet reveal” earned better positions and wider syndication.
Recommendation: Empower your writers to bring a point of view. Use engagement-driven tones for live coverage, cultural commentary for red carpets, and voice-y headlines that break through sameness.

8. The SERP Is Fragmented — Own Multiple Entry Points

The Met Gala SERPs displayed 7 Google SERP features, including Organic, Perspectives, Live, Video, Publisher Carousels, and even Twitter. Brands that ranked in 2+ surfaces earned the highest total visibility.
Recommendation: Optimize your content distribution across formats and surfaces. Use structured data, schema.org, media-rich embeds, and metadata to increase eligibility for carousels and rich results.

9. Social Platforms Now Outrank Traditional News Sites in Organic

Instagram and YouTube took the top 2 spots in organic visibility, beating out even Wikipedia and major publishers. Their dominance came from high visual coverage, authority, and mass embedding.
Recommendation: Publishers must lean into cross-channel SEO—embed Instagram posts, upload recap videos to YouTube with optimized titles/descriptions, and repurpose visuals across pages to maximize rankings.

10. Top Stories Visibility for Major Events Hinges on Content Volumes & Coverage

People.com, Page Six, and Yahoo succeeded by publishing a high number of unique URLs (50–150+), each targeting a distinct entity, outfit, or moment. Topic saturation = visibility.
Recommendation: Avoid dumping everything into one article. Create individual stories for key celebrities, outfits, themes, and viral moments to maximize rankings across keyword clusters.

11. Perspectives Is Emerging Powerhouse

With 78% visibility in Perspectives, Google is pushing beyond traditional links. These features favor authoritativeness, E-E-A-T, and on-page structure.
Recommendation: Use clear bylines, author bios, and commentary-style writing to qualify for Perspectives. Mark up articles with Article + Author schema, and submit content to Google News to appear in Publisher Carousels.

Closing Thoughts:

The Met Gala remains one of the most competitive and high-stakes cultural events in the digital space—and this year proved no different. From breaking headlines to Discover-driven content longevity, the winners of 2025 were those who anticipated the moment, understood the SERP landscape, and executed with speed, structure, and bold editorial voice.

At NewzDash, we’re proud to support leading publishers with real-time SEO visibility across Google Search, Top Stories, Discover, and News. Our tools empowered clients to:

Identify trending entities and search surges within minutes.
Optimize live coverage and headlines at the moment of demand.
Track performance across Google surfaces in real-time.
Strategically scale coverage across verticals and formats.

From fashion desks to breaking newsrooms, NewzDash clients had the insights they needed to rank, rise, and win the red carpet of search. We’re here to help you prepare for the next big moment—because in today’s algorithm, timing is everything.

Ready for your next event SEO strategy? Book a custom demo or request your free report.

Methodology

NewzDash leverages advanced tracking methods, surpassing standard keyword tracking. By tapping into real-time coverage and trends, we detect all relevant trending keywords, dynamically capturing shifts in user interests. This analysis covers keywords tracked from January 13 to 21, 2025, with a focus on the peak event period. Our analysis includes emerging long-tail keywords, though our primary focus is on high-impact trends relevant to publishers.

Search Visibility

Our main metric to determine top ranking news sites in Top Stories is Search Visibility. Search Visibility is a crucial SEO metric that represents the estimated percentage of clicks (traffic) a website receives from its rankings for a particular keyword or set of keywords. It is a measure of how visible your website is in search engine results pages (SERPs) for specific queries.

How NewzDash Calculates Search Visibility:

NewzDash's calculation of Search Visibility for SERP features like Top Stories involves several factors:

Ranking Position: The higher you rank for a keyword, the more visible you are and the higher your potential for clicks.
Estimated CTR: The CTR for each ranking position is estimated based on historical data and user behavior. Higher rankings typically yield higher CTRs.
Ranking Duration: We measure rankings every 15 minutes to accurately capture the length of time a website appears in the Top Stories carousel.
Number of Ranked URLs: The more URLs from a domain that rank for relevant keywords, the higher the total visibility.

Note: Search volume is not included in our calculations due to the difficulty of estimating it for all new and trending search terms.