How to Optimize for Google News
If you own a news website and you’re looking to grow your traffic and reach more users, Google News is the place to be. Google News is a news aggregator by Google that was launched in 2002 and by 2013, the platform has more than 50,000 verified news sources and receives 6 billion visits per month.
What Google News does is collate news articles from its list of verified websites and serves it to users based on their interests and location. It is available in more than 60 regions and 35 languages. Through Google News, users are able to access fresh local and worldwide news. Users can also customize the content that they can see by setting up their interests.
Since the platform is accessible worldwide and has a prominent number of users, Google News can boost the traffic of a news website by a significant amount. However, publishers would have to follow Google’s set of criteria for them to get their content visible in Google News. It’s difficult but it’s not impossible.
The good news is, now you don’t have to submit an application to Google anymore and wait for your verification. All you have to do is to adhere to Google New’s content policies. Here’s what you need to know.
Website Should be a News Site
This is pretty obvious but it is important to reiterate. For content to appear on Google News, it has to come from a pure news website. Businesses or companies who put a “News” section that functions as a blog is not eligible to appear in Google news.
Publish Original and Timely Content
Plagiarism will heavily hurt the chances of a news website to appear in Google News. Publishers should still play within the rules of Journalism. Content should also be fresh especially if you are writing about current events.
Be Transparent on your Sources
Articles should clearly state the date and author. The name of the publication and the company should also be visible on the website. News articles that label sources as anonymous will not be considered as credible sources. E-A-T is a huge factor here since Google only wants reliable sources on the platform. Clearly indicating information about writers and the background of the company is a good indication of authority.
Submit your Website in Google News Publisher Center
While you don’t have to sign up on any platform, submitting your website in Google News Publisher Center provides a number of benefits. The Google News Publisher Center was launched in 2019 to allow news publishers to customize their content preferences in Google News.
In the Google News Publisher Center, publishers can control their branding and how they appear in Google News. You can add basic information about your publication and upload logos, images, and videos.
The Google News Publisher Center allows you to submit your content directly instead of waiting for Google bots to crawl your website. You can submit your content via feeds, URLs, or videos.
Another great feature of Google News Publisher Center is that you can monetize your content through the platform. You can integrate your Google AdSense account or create a pricing structure like paid subscriptions.
There are many more benefits that you could explore in the platform. It’s free and easy to use and utilizing it well can significantly boost the traffic you can get from Google News.
What Not to Do in Google news
The Google News Content Policy is heavily against sexually explicit content, violence, hateful content, medical advice, illegal activities, harassment, and deceptive content.
Having content that would fall into any of these categories is similar to receiving a penalty in the Google search results.
Key Takeaway
Google News is a great platform for users and they are doing a good job in making sure the platform is clean and credible. While it is difficult to get content into it, the benefits heavily outweigh the challenges. News publishers whether big or small can benefit greatly from the traffic Google News can bring.
