Google news, also called Google news, is an information platform offered by the web giant to allow individuals to benefit from verified information in real time and publishers to serve good information to the whole world.

A survey shows that 60% of people trust the information they read on Google News more than elsewhere.

This is the main reason why millions of people visit the platform daily in search of a wide range of factual information.

For publishers, it is a great opportunity to showcase their news expertise to the world in order to increase traffic to their websites.

On the other hand, Google News is the best place to find relevant and verified information for users, regardless of their location.

On both sides, Google News plays a vital role in the distribution and consumption of information on the Internet.

If you want to know more, I invite you to continue reading this article.

Chapter 1: What is Google News and how does it work?

Let’s review in this chapter the main points about Google News.

1. What is Google News?

Founded in 2002 by Krishna Bharat, Google News is a platform initially designed to bring accurate information to people about the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2001.

The basic principle is to allow the reader, with extreme ease, to have access to various local and global information.

More and more powerful nowadays, Google New is presented as a news aggregator providing information in a direct, fast and global way.

The definition of Google News can be based on these three adjectives that qualify this aggregator in its main characteristics

The information is direct, because it arrives from the editors to the readers without them having done any search within the engines

Rather than a physical team of editors, Google relies on an algorithm whose methodology is a well-kept secret.

The algorithm selects textual content, images and videos to be displayed in an order based on language and geographic area.

In addition, the algorithm automatically examines the content, looks for quality indicators and evaluates the placement of a news item based on:

• The number of user clicks it attracts
• Popular consensus on the reliability of its publisher
• The relevance of the story to the reader’s current geographic location
• And the freshness of the story in question.

The recurrence of specific keywords in publications and the level of public interest indicated by user searches guide the algorithm in creating and organizing specific topics into clusters.

1.2 How does Google News work?

Google News selects and categorizes news items into the following categories:

• Headlines;
• For You;
• France;
• Business;
• Science and Technology;
• Health; Sport
• Sports ;
• Etc.

The sections defined by default are not completely immovable, as they can be easily customized by users.

Google News gives you the ability to follow local news categorized by geolocation, a pretty accurate feature of the platform.

You also have a section that specifically lists the latest searches you’ve done.

In fact, Google News users have a drop-down menu to manage all the available sections.

Users can also choose news articles that refer to different languages and countries

You can also bookmark your favorite sources to receive specific news of a certain type. In addition, users can block sources that they do not find useful enough.

Searches on Google News can be done in a variety of ways

You can search by category, geography, date, website, by simply typing in a specific keyword or by searching specific sources.

The Google Alert service is another very interesting feature of the platform, to keep up to date with the topics of interest that concern a specific area

All you have to do is set the alarm by entering a word on which you want to be updated, then by email you will receive reports of all the articles regarding the topic of your interest.

1.3. What are the ranking factors of Google News?

To display pages, whether on its homepage or in search results, the Google News algorithm takes into account several factors, some of which are standard and others quite specific.

Here is a list of them

1.3.1. The number of articles produced

The number of articles produced by a publisher in a given period of time has a strong impact on the ranking of content in Google News.

Evidence shows us that the more articles produced, the more average traffic each article receives from Google News

Publishers really need to find the right balance between producing high-quality news articles and the volume of content published.

1.3.2. Average article length

The length of articles varies a lot. We recommend an average length of 350 to 700 words.

If the article is too long, you may get a crawl error that will impact the article indexed in Google News.

But in all cases, the importance of news source coverage is the amount of content created by the publisher on a particular topic compared to the total amount of content produced for that topic

Generally speaking, the more resource allocated to informing the public about a given event, the better the reward.

1.3.3. Breaking News Score

This factor measures the ability of the news source to publish an article shortly after an event has occurred

It is also one of the most important factors for ranking on Google News

Thus, editorial structures that do less research have little chance of appearing regularly on Google News.

There are many creative techniques to improve this score, such as automation, a method that is increasingly used today

Some of the larger publishers use bots to quickly provide information on business or sports news

1.3.4. Engagement or CTR models

Click-through rate and bounce rate are two different indicators that allow Google to assign a quality score

In order to give a good impression to Google, you need to minimize the bounce rate as much as possible and increase the click rates.

For this, a catchy title and a captivating summary can be a good option.

Brand strength also plays an important role in engaging readers with your content. For example, well-known sites, such as the BBC, tend to be preferred over less popular sites.

1.3.5. The Google News sitemap

While having a separate Google News sitemap is obviously not a ranking factor, it will make it easier for the Google News bot to index pages.

A separate sitemap is recommended and should include up to 1,000 URLs for articles published in the previous two days. In addition, it should be updated as soon as new articles are published.

But, if you plan to create a number of URLs over 1000, it is necessary to opt for a sitemap index file to manage them all at once.

The standard XML sitemap is a driving path for a Google News sitemap, except that here, a few specific elements are included.

Each included article URL has three required tags

• , with derived tags:

Once the sitemap is created, it must be validated using an XML sitemap validator and submitted to Google Search Console.

The most common errors in sitemaps are related to incompatibilities between the URL included in the sitemap and the URL seen by Google News.

1.3.6. Site architecture

Making a website easy for Google to crawl and index should be the focus of any site architecture. This requires a clean and easy-to-understand architecture for categorizing articles

Whether it’s categories, sections or any other custom taxonomy, the goal should be to make it easy for users and Google to navigate the site.

It is ideal to keep the structure of the site as uncomplicated as possible, as this avoids too many clicks to get from the home page to any other page on the site.

1.3.7 Author information

Google News requires that every article have a byline attributing authorship to a human being, not a company name.

Otherwise, organizations should provide author information.

This means that each article should contain the authors’ full name, photo and a short biography about them

Another option would be to link the author page from the signature. This author page should include this information, as well as contact information in more detail.

This information serves two purposes

• First, it shows accountability and transparency, it answers the question of who is responsible for this content
• Second, it demonstrates the expertise or authority of the authors.

1.3.8. Fresh or topical content

Obviously, sites seeking Google News approval must offer timely and accurate information on important, relevant and interesting topics

You can ensure that your article appears as a news story by writing it in a PR press release format

Avoid posting job offers, how-to articles, advice columns, event announcements, etc., if you want to appear on Google News

Most importantly here, the content should be up-to-date so as to provide information first about an event or issue.

1.3.9. Journalistic standards

Google News approval requires that sites maintain quality journalistic values, such as honest attribution and original reporting

If you want to add syndicated content or original content, mark it with the syndicated source or original source meta tag

If you’re going to publish aggregated content, make sure it doesn’t get mixed in with your original work. You can separate the two or use your robots.txt file to restrict Google’s access to aggregated articles.

1.3.10. Source authority

It’s important to present clear expertise for Google News approval

Regardless of the category of content you publish, being an authority in the field will always help your site’s ranking and reputation

Therefore, it’s a good idea to write what you know best.

Chapter 2: Why is it important to appear in Google News?

For publishers and bloggers, getting their content to appear in Google News should be a challenge, as it has several benefits, some of which are

2.1. Brand focus

As you publish more articles, it increases the chances that users will see and discover the brand multiple times

If the content and UX are great on every visit, it will build brand loyalty and drive conversions.

For example,

• Subscribe to the email newsletter;
• Or sign up for a Pro account.

Exposure of your brand through Google News is free and has a multiplying effect when you regularly publish good content.

Moreover, having a position on Google News offers you a great chance in terms of logo potential with significant influence on your audience, especially if you are looking to increase the attention paid to your brand.

The simple reason is that Google, being the most used search engine in the world, has adopted changes in the page ranking model with the sole purpose of providing its customers with enjoyable content.

So, when your content is regularly displayed in the news, it means to users that you have authority to the point where Google associates with your brand.

2.2. Strong backlinks

Appearing on Google News implies that you are a legitimate news source

This is because all news sources have been verified by Google News manually or algorithmically

Because of this implicit trust, news publishers, bloggers and other types of contributors are more likely to link to your articles.

In addition, many new websites are constantly searching for highly ranked content in Google News to see what topics are trending.

This is also a great chance to get credit for the links they will create to you to illustrate their ideas or statistics.

This will later help you get a wider target market and rank high in Google’s organic SERPs.

If you write a trending news story on the web, you can easily create dozens of connections just from that one post.

2.3. article indexing

Fast article indexing is a significant advantage of indexing your website over Google news

When you produce an article for your website, Google indexes it almost immediately, with a maximum of 10 minutes after you write it.

Not only that, but the article you just scraped will also be indexed in the top Google search results for the same example

Let’s say you are the first website to heavily publish the latest trending news, you will be listed in Google News and its core index on the first position available to everyone.

2.4. Instant global traffic

Appearing in Google News means you are instantly exposed to a global audience

As a result, you are more likely to acquire consistent daily traffic from all countries around the world.

Ordinarily, organic traffic from Google does not have the same impact as traffic in Google News

Without being listed in Google News, a site’s content will generate traffic from other countries, but not much, unless it is targeted to specific countries

However, Google News acts as a global platform for your content that would otherwise not be exposed to a global audience without the internationalization efforts.

2.5. Authority status

If you have a website listed in Google News, your logo will be considered the authority page for your primary target topic

Thus, a large and growing number of people will link to your website, which is valid for bookmarking.

As a result, other search engines such as Bing and Yahoo will add benefits to your website creating a win-win strategy for Google and your brand.

2.6. Increased Authenticity

Google’s listing not only helps you increase site visitors, but also validates you as an authentic brand that can be easily relied upon in the target market

With the Google name, people automatically associate great authenticity and trust with the logo.

This gives you a major advantage over your competitor when your customers feel that you have a genuine logo with super distinctive features that are in line with the target market requirements.

2.7. Increased organic traffic

Google News sends over 10 billion clicks to publishers. Therefore, being featured there will bring you a ton of traffic.

This is a no-brainer because for news topics, Google displays news articles at the top of search results.

This means that the likelihood of someone clicking on your website, as opposed to the millions of others they might choose, increases exponentially.

Once you are featured on Google News, you will likely see an improvement in both your domain authority and the number of backlinks generated from your content.

2.8. Visibility in Google Discover

Without a doubt, there is a strong correlation between Google News and Discover

However, many publishers have found that articles that have worked well for them in Google News are in most cases, closely related to Google Discover traffic in Google Search Console.

2.9. Less SEO effort

The advantage of being indexed in Google is that you don’t have to put much effort into your SEO-based ranking

Because your content structure is so powerful, Google consistently gives you the highest rankings based on the performance of your content.

Your specific content is your advantage with Google News.

2.10. Google News helps publishers

In 2018, Google launched a $300 million initiative to elevate and strengthen quality journalism and combat fake news and misinformation on the web

The Google News Initiative is a 3-year project based on improving and adding features like:

• Those that help publishers build a stronger future for news
• Those that help publishers generate subscriptions and increase revenue;
• And so on.

Chapter 3: How to use Google News

Using Google News is pretty easy and interesting when you understand each of its features.

In this chapter, we will develop the different tactics of use for individuals, and then for publishers.

3.1) How can users use Google News?

If you are an individual user of Google News, here are some ways to make better use of the platform:

3.1.1. Use the search bar

Using Google News becomes even more interesting when you let it know what you want.

To do this, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the search bar. You can find it in the top corner at the top of the web page

The search field is the key to unlocking the full potential of Google News.

If you are looking for a specific source Twaino, you can type that query into the search field and press the ”follow” button when you are on a phone, type ”enter” when you are on a computer.

As you can see, the specific source appeared with a timeline of the last published content

In fact, this is the freshness factor of Google News, it tries to display up-to-date information to users

Also, if you want to search for a topic rather than a source, such as Google or iPhone, you can also choose to save them for future reference

Just like with sources, you can follow as many topics as you want, and Google News will aggregate all the news about that topic that it can find.

Also, when you click Show More Coverage at the bottom of a topic, the algorithm will only show you similar topics. So you start by letting it know your news preferences.

3.1.2. Save and Share

The share and save option allows you to share the content you find interesting with your friends and family and save it for later reading.

Next to each news item, you will see an overflow menu on the far right that contains links for sharing and saving when you are on a phone.

But on a computer, you can copy the link or simply send it via Google+, Facebook or Twitter

If you just want to save the post, you can press the bookmark icon and it will be added to your list of articles on your Favorites page

Since Google News is always chronological and there is no marker to identify a previously read or unread article, it can be difficult to keep track of every article you want to read. Saving for later is a great way to remember.

3.1.3. Show Google News your preferences

Google Reader was great for organization, but it wasn’t very effective for discovering new sources of information

Think of the ”For You” section in the right sidebar as a station where Google News shows you articles related to things you like, and the more you use it, the more it automatically personalizes.

For example, lately I’ve been doing enough research on “real estate trends. And when I go to the ”For You” section of Google News, the first news topic is about real estate.

This is where you can nudge Google News to better capture your topics of interest.

In the overflow menu that appears when you hover over each piece of content, you’ll see options for ”More articles like this one” and ”Fewer articles like this one,” as well as ”Hide articles” from the source they came from.

The more you use these buttons, the more Google News will filter out the content you don’t want and suggest what you do want.

3.1.4 Save stories for offline reading

Google News allows you to download stories about an entire topic for offline reading.

Google News relies on an Internet connection to keep everything up to date. If you’re going to be on a plane or without access to a solid connection, you can download any of your favorite topics or sources for offline reading

Go to the Favorites tab, press the overflow menu at the top right of any of the icons and choose “Download”

A small download arrow will appear and once the download is complete, an arrow will indicate that Google News has saved all the news inside for offline reading

3.1.5. Customize your notifications

If you don’t often have time to check Google News diligently throughout the day, you can customize it so that it sends you updates on the latest news

In the app’s settings, you can customize your alerts so you don’t get cluttered with news all day.

If you only want content about the sources and topics you follow, turn off all toggles except your interests

You can also set the frequency of notifications from “low to standard” to “high standard”, with a few intermediate steps. Typically, the standard setting will send five to seven per day, while the high setting could send up to a dozen

3.2. Usage settings for publishers

Publishers who have a blog or newspaper that produces valuable content that can be categorized in Google News fall into the category of topics that publish news

To be published, a news item must be on a site that has been verified with Google Search Console and pass the Google News Publisher Center review process

Publications can also be cancelled or deleted

Ranking in Google News is algorithmically determined based on content relevance, authority, news, location and language

3.2.1. How to become a Google News source

Inclusion of a website on Google News is not automatic and is subject to acceptance by Google

It is not like the search engine web channel, where a submission is sufficient

To appear on Google News, it is necessary to apply for inclusion and wait for confirmation from Google.

In the form for inclusion in Google News, it is necessary to indicate various information about the website and the editorial organization

You need to provide general information about the number of authors who contributed to the creation of the content, the URL of the editorial contact information and the address where the information about authors and editors is available.

You must provide information about the website you wish to submit

The city and state in which the organization that runs the news portal resides, the name of the website, the URL of the website and the language.

It is also necessary to provide:

• The exact URL where the latest content of the site is published
• The section of the site dedicated mainly to news;
• The type of topics covered such as news, sports, technology, economy ;
• Etc.

Finally, it is necessary to indicate the contact information such as name, first name, email, subject and possible free comments in order to be contacted by Google

3.2.2. Not all requests are accepted by Google staff

Google staff is very selective to ensure a minimum level of guaranteed quality for news on Google News. However, if the website complies with Google’s guidelines, it is still advisable to try it out.

The website should have content that consists mainly of news articles on topics, events and current affairs

Articles on the site should be original, produced by a writer or author organization, whose information is public and accessible

Publications should focus on current events, not advertorials, promotions or product announcements.

Chapter 4: How to optimize your content for Google News?

Optimizing content for Google News means adopting specific practices rather than standard ones

4.1. Produce high quality original content

Just like the original search algorithm, the Google News crawler does not approve of plagiarized or low-quality content

However, writing for Google News means producing the highest quality text possible and ensuring that your external links lead to reliable sources.

To ensure the credibility of the content, Google also pays attention to the author’s rank

For example, when the system finds a particular author’s publications on any other trusted resource like Forbes. In this case, it adds credibility scores to the author, and thus to your website

Because Google does its best to exclude irrelevant content from search, this allows you to be more confident about the quality of the content it is pushing up

4.2. make headlines compelling

The best strategy with headlines when it comes to ranking in Google news is to keep it as clear and simple as possible

News headlines also have a strict character limit of 110

Search engines like more elaborate headlines because of their role in brand differentiation. That’s why it’s best to stick to the facts

With this in mind, staying fantastic in the construction of headlines only makes it harder for bots to understand the content.

Google crawls the pages in its news index just as it does its search index. In order for Google News to determine the correct title (hed), you must follow its best practices for article titles, which are summarized in these points:

• The basic rule is to place the content title in view above the body of the article, as in a

  tag ;

• Make your article page title in the HTML