Google News is an online aggregator of global news from various news outlets. Its first version was created in mid-2002, and after more than three years in development, it was officially completed and unveiled in January 2006.
Google News – what is it and how does it work?
Google News is available in 12 languages (we also have Google News in Polish) and 20 regions worldwide. Its primary goal is to present users with personalized news from a wide range of sources on a variety of topics.
Google, using its algorithm and search engine trends, captures the most current events and displays them to Internet users in several different communication channels:
- As a section of the "most important articles" so-called "Top Stories" (above the search results, for example after entering the phrase in the search engine "war in Ukraine");
- In the "news" tab in the search results (example after entering "war in Ukraine" in the search engine and going to the "news" tab);
- In the dedicated Google subdomain – “Google news” (news.google.com);
- By creating notifications for phones and computers with an article selected using an algorithm.
It's worth knowing – how do I turn off Google News? How do I turn it on?
How to enable/disable Google News on your phone?
(The rest of the article can be found below the form)
- Open the chrome app.
- In the upper right corner, click "more."
- Open "Settings", and then "Notifications".
- In the top section "Allow notifications to be displayed", turn notifications on or off using the button.
- As a separate platform, Google Discover is even more tailored to users, showing them content directly related to their interests. The algorithm is based on the Topic Layer function, which uses your search history and can personalize the article to your level of knowledge in a given field! Content is often displayed in the form of dedicated notifications.
Google News: What sites are most likely to generate traffic?
The answer to this question is both simple and complex! News outlets that focus on both current news and evergreen articles have the greatest chance of sparking interest among audiences, and therefore generating website traffic .
Google News – how to add a website?
On the official support page, Google states that anyone can create interesting content and try to enter the world of news publishing . The path to visibility in Google is long and demanding. The most important factors considered by the algorithm are:
- visibility and traffic on the website – the more popular the website, the better,
- relevance and usefulness of the content – it must correspond to the user’s intentions,
- credibility of the authors of the texts – the creator of the news or longer article must be verified, experienced, signed and included in a dedicated sitemap,
- timeliness and regularity of website content updates,
- location,
- language (content only in one language is accepted). Google News in Polish allows you to share valuable content with the world in your native language!
In addition to the above-mentioned content -related guidelines, there is also appropriate technical optimization (which we will discuss later in the article).
All factors are closely interconnected, and none of them can be neglected. They have a real impact on search engine rankings . The entire process requires significant investment, but there are no shortcuts . In today's world of "fake news" and disinformation, Google places particular emphasis on verifying the sources from which it sources articles.
The following content is strictly excluded:
- promoting hatred, violence,
- medical,
- terrorist,
- sexually explicit,
- vulgar.
Google News - Technical Page Optimization
Here are the most important technical requirements that must be met to score points in Google News rankings:
- Take care of the proper structure of the website
Create persistent URLs embedded in HTML. Google's crawler will have trouble reading links hidden within images or directly within JavaScript code. If the URL is non-persistent, the algorithm won't be able to determine which ones to index and show to users.
>> Psss… We described friendly addresses and the proper functioning of sitemap.xml, among others, in our free, still hot guide 30 SEO lessons with Verseo. You can download it for free HERE. Now! <<
2. Check if your robots.txt file is not blocking access to Google robots
Here are 2 simple ways to check if a robot can index your website:
3. Create articles in one language (for example, Google News in Polish) and encode in UTF-8
- Google News won't show pages with articles using more than one language. So, there's no point in messing around with foreign-language quotes and coining new words. Okay… "żeli papą," "indistributor," or "San Eskobar" are completely different stories and already have their own "visibility" 🙂
- Encode in UTF-8 – sounds strange? Don't worry, it's currently the most commonly used encoding system for storing strings in files and communicating online. Without going into details, check if the source code of your website (press Ctrl+U) in the section there is a line containing the magic UTF-8 .
4. Remember the rule: 1 article = 1 URL
- Don't let the link to your article change. That's what it's supposed to be for. unique and friendly, suggesting the content of the newsGoogle likes change, but only in its algorithm. It doesn't like it when something is indexed only to be outdated or removed.
- Do not add multiple articles to the same URL.
Fun fact…
If you want to update your content or broadcast live, use phrases like [Live Report] or [Updated February 1, 2022] in the title. Remember that the content must still relate to the topic being discussed.
- Don't add the same articles to different URLs
It sounds like a threat, and it is. Search engines hate duplicate content, and neither do we ( we wrote more about it HERE ). Sometimes, the situation requires us to break this rule. Panic isn't advisable, as we have a few lifelines thrown our way from the official Help Center – "Wydawca Wiadomości":
- Disable the Google News crawler or its parent, Googlebot, by placing it in the HTML code of the section code like this:
– noindex only for Google News
and/ or
– concerns indexing – search results and Google News
Of course, do this on all pages except the one you want to show to the world.
5. Keep your website and articles neatly organized
What do we mean by a "neat" page layout? Subpages containing articles should be appealing to both the user and the Google crawler. We haven't discovered America, but not knowing the semantics of headings would be a mistake:
- H1 Header It must contain the most important topics of the page. It's best if it refers to the meta title of the given subpage. It can be used only once on each subpage. It can be called the title of a book.
- H2 Header is responsible for separating uniform information into parts. It can act as a chapter in a book.
- H3 Header is an extension of the thesis – subchapter.
- The remaining content should be included in the paragraph
To check if your content is visible and indexable, we recommend a browser plugin called "Disable JavaScript." This plugin allows you to disable JavaScript on the page you're viewing and see what crawlers see when they visit your domain.
6. Tag ads and sponsored content
Don't overdo it with paid banners on your page. They shouldn't take up more space than the content itself. Any sponsored article or advertisement must be enclosed in appropriate tags.
7. Use structured data
Make sure you are properly implementing the structured data markup that web crawlers will use when displaying your article:
- datapublished – publication date,
- datamodified – when content changes,
- headline – a headline that does not exceed 110 characters,
- image – URL of the image used in the article,
- isAccessibleForFree – whether the content is paid,
- author.url – indicating a page with, for example, the author's portfolio, confirming his credibility and role as an expert in a given field
If you have not implemented structured data on your news website, please refer to the official Google support https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/structured-data/article
8. Add a dedicated Google News sitemap
Creating a dedicated sitemap.xml file will significantly help crawlers organize their content indexing.
This file will contain several independent links with mini-maps of the site, including chronologically organized news and content divided by author. Importantly, there will be a clear classification of other subpages unrelated to article publishing, such as offers or contact information, which are also important to you.
If you have WordPress, we recommend a plugin called "XML Sitemap & Google News".
9. Speed up your website by implementing AMP
One of the most important technical elements is site speed. If your website performs poorly in speed tests (especially on mobile), it's worth considering implementing AMP. It's a well-known fact that bounce rates increase with slow website performance. Furthermore, this feature is officially recommended by Google.
Good to know…
Accelerated Mobile Pages is a technology designed to improve and speed up website loading by eliminating resources that delay content loading. It can be implemented through WordPress or by consulting the official support instructions. https://support.google.com/tagmanager/answer/9205783?hl=pl
After implementing AMP, it is worth checking its correct operation:
https://search.google.com/test/amp – by pasting the link to the page
When using AMP, it's important to remember canonical tags, which will indicate the original version of the article. Your site will display two different links pointing to the same article, for example:
- www.twojastrona.pl/wiadomosci-ze-swiata
- www.twojastrona.pl/wiadomosci-ze-swiata/amp – set the canonical link to www.twojastrona.pl/wiadomosci-ze-swiata
Google News – How to Add a Service? Creating a Publisher Center Account – Step by Step
Once you've met the above guidelines, creating a Publisher Center account shouldn't be a major challenge. This is a crucial step in the entire process, officially confirming your entry into the news publishing community. Let's take a step-by-step approach together:
- go to the website https://publishercenter.google.com/, using your Google account.
- Click "Add publication" and fill in the fields – name, main service, location and "add publication" again.
3. A section with the page name and a "publication settings" button should appear in your account.
4. After clicking "Publish Settings," fill out all the fields, including the "Main Site Property URL." If your site is connected to Google Search Console, verification should go smoothly and the text will turn green as "verified."
5. You can skip "Additional Website Service URLs" and add yourself as a contact, specifying that you would like to be notified about "technical issues" and "latest service information."
6. After clicking "Next", you will go to the "visual styles" section, where you should attach the logo of your website in the form of a square and a rectangle.
7. After filling in all fields, select "Save".
8. Then go to the "Google News" section.
9. Click "edit" in the upper right corner.
10. Fill out the description of your publications (two lines are enough), category, place of operation, acceptance of services, save and proceed.
11. If you are not using WordPress, select one of the four verification options suggested by Google and follow the further configuration steps.
12. If your CMS is WordPress, install the plugin called " GN Publisher" and find the function called " info & tips." Then copy the link to your site's "feed," which should look something like this:
- www.twojastrona.pl/feed/gn
- www.twojastrona.pl/wiadomosci-lokalne/feed/
- www.twojastrona.pl/wiadomosci-ze-swiata/feed/
In the "sections" category, click "+ new section" and select "channels." From there, fill out the remaining fields:
- Section title – name for your stories, e.g. Breaking news, latest news, News,
- RSS or Atom feed URL – paste the link copied from the WordPress plugin www.twojastrona.pl/feed/gn – which is the main channel and collects all news, without division into categories. We recommend using only the main one to ensure the configuration is error-free, which can be caused by dividing into specific categories.
- Viewing permissions – anyone.
- Configure access groups only when you need to limit access to people who test the website and have access to it.
- Once you click "save" at the top, the whole thing should download in about 15 minutes.
- After your coffee break, refresh the page and see if your news list expands when you click on the articles.
13. Once you've finished configuring the "Content Settings" tab, go to "Review and Publish." This section may display errors, warnings, and tips related to incorrect configuration . Use this tab to review all your settings and accept the terms and conditions. After completing the final steps, click "Publish."
DONE! Your website has been submitted for Google verification, which takes 2 to 4 weeks, sometimes less.
Now wait for the Publisher Center homepage to display "published" next to your publication. And that's it!
How to verify traffic coming from Google News?
Once you've completed the setup, now measure your results! How do you do it? It's very simple. In the Google Search Console, in the left-hand menu labeled "Performance," you should see the categories "Google News" and "Discover." There, you can see the results of your articles in terms of click-through rates, impressions, and average CTR.
How to quickly generate interesting and current topics?
Take advantage of Google Trends! Leverage this tool to track daily search trends or real-time search trends.
Summary – How to become a Google News Publisher?
The path to visibility in Google News is long and demanding. Not every website is able to meet all the search engine's guidelines. It's important to remember that the more we understand how the algorithm responsible for creating Google News works, the better we can adapt our website to its requirements. The most important takeaways from our guide that you should remember are:
- invest in popularity of the website with the help of SEO and build trust in the eyes of users and web robots,
- take care of quality and timeliness of articles, credibility of the authors, do not deviate from the topic contained on the website and be an expert in your field,
- stick to the guidelines regarding website optimization from a technical perspective,
- get through configuration in Publisher Center,
- be patient, try to hit the target search trends and user intentions.
Google News FAQs
Google News is a powerful, free content aggregator from Google that continuously collects, categorizes, and displays the latest news from around the world to users. The app and dashboard tailor the information displayed to the reader's individual interests and location.
An article appearing in Google News is an opportunity for a huge, even exponential, increase in organic traffic. Posts with high viral potential or those related to hot trends can generate thousands of page views in a very short time, building brand recognition and the site's authority.
In the past, this required manual submission and verification. Today, the process is largely automated, with Google's algorithms deciding which sites meet quality criteria. However, it's worth actively helping the search engine by registering and configuring your site in the free Google Publisher Center.
For articles to have a chance of being indexed in Google News, the website must be optimized. Key elements include:
- News sitemap: Implement a dedicated sitemap-news.xml file that only contains articles from the last 48 hours.
- Structured data: markup text with Schema.org microdata (e.g. NewsArticle or Article).
- Speed and responsiveness: the website must work instantly on mobile devices (it is worth taking care of the Core Web Vitals indicators).
Google takes a rigorous approach to quality. Content must be unique, reliable, and relevant to current events (this is no place for evergreen advice). Adherence to the EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Credibility) principles is also essential, which in practice means clearly indicating the date and time of publication, signing articles with the author's name, and providing contact information for the editorial office.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- Google News is a news aggregator operating in 12 languages and 20 regions that displays personalized content in the Top Stories section, the news tab, a dedicated subdomain, and as mobile notifications.
- News websites that publish both current news and evergreen content have the greatest chance of generating traffic.
- To add a website to Google News, you must meet the requirements regarding website visibility, content relevance, author credibility, regularity of publications and proper technical optimization.
- Technical optimization requires, among other things, the appropriate URL structure, a correct robots.txt file, UTF-8 encoding, unique addresses for articles, and a neat layout with the correct heading hierarchy.
- Setting up a Publisher Center account involves verifying your domain, adding a logo, setting up an RSS feed, and filling out forms, followed by a 2-4 week verification process.
- Google News traffic can be verified in Google Search Console in the “Google News” and “Discover” sections, where data on clicks, impressions, and CTR is available.
- Google Trends lets you track daily search trends in real time, making it easy to generate timely and interesting article topics.
- Success in Google News requires investment in SEO, attention to content quality and author credibility, adherence to technical guidelines, and patience in meeting trends and user intentions.
