Google News is the primary go-to platform for millions of users worldwide for local, regional, and international news. Website owners are continuously finding new ways to bring traffic to their websites to generate success.
Appearing on the Google News homepage benefits website owners in a multitude of ways that you wouldn’t even imagine. It opens your website to more traffic, a broader audience, and numerous monetization options. In addition, getting listed on Google News feeds is an excellent way to get more attention redirected to your content, thanks to the visibility Google gives to their top stories.
Unlike Google Search, websites are served through a feed rather than a search result page. Although Google collaborates with most news platforms, Google News is not limited to large professional companies. You don’t necessarily need to be a journalist; you can be a professional blogger or a small media outlet. If your platform is a news website, whether current or industry news, you can appear on the Google News homepage and enjoy the increased benefits!
What’s your goal with SEO optimization and search engine marketing? For most website owners and entrepreneurs, it’s becoming Google News’ top story! You can get thousands of clicks through Google. Isn’t that just a dream come true? But as you can imagine, it isn’t that easy.
So, how can you get your content featured on the Google News Top Stories section of the search results? Google News produces approximately 6 billion clicks per month to publishers from all around the world. Even if you could get only 0.0001% of all these clicks on your website, imagine the traffic that could generate.
Over 60% of readers trust Google News over other news outlets. So, for many businesses, their inclusion with Google News could boost their sales to another level and is another excellent way of making more out of their current content.
That being said, it’s quite the challenge to get your website indexed as a news publisher on Google News. When you fund a great deal of time, money, and resources in your business, you need a way to make that investment work out for you and generate a return.
Let’s look at a few best practices to become part of the Google News team and generate real-time traffic.
There are several various tactics out there to help you generate and display your content. Here are some of the most pragmatic ones on how to publish an article with Google News.
Take Care of the Basics: Get Your Headline Right
Google News is an excellent initiative by Google for both users and its publishers. Reaching success takes time, but with the right tools, it can lead to growth opportunities. In SEO, content is king, and it couldn’t be more accurate than with Google News. Always publish high-quality and original content relevant to your audience. Publish news frequently and consistently to build trust and credibility with your readers.
There are some big sharks out there, and every detail counts. However, we need to get started with the basics. Your news content needs to be accessible, rich in information, and timely. Your facts must be supported and independent of sales tones, no matter the subject at hand.
Your headline exhibits a brief overview of your story to charm potential readers. If you do it right, Google will want to pick up your story too. When your content is unique and fascinating, more readers will want to visit your website and act. But, when your story is like everyone else’s, you’re not making that impact Google is looking for!
Your headline is the first and only opportunity for you to get your reader’s attention. Your headline should serve as a promise. The promise is to let your readers know what your article will cover. Aim to include rich headlines to ensure your content ranks highly.
Keep it concise and keep it simple. Avoid phrases or words that are unfamiliar or might sound confusing to some of your readers. When it comes to your headline, it’s imperative that you use an active and present voice.
Google News aggregates news from different sources and uses algorithms to choose which news story is relevant based on interest, location, authoritativeness, and usability, hence the importance of having fresh and accurate content confirmed.
Even though you are competing with thousands of other top news publications out there, ensuring you’ve formatted your articles properly and that your headline is captivating will increase your chance of them clicking through your website rather than competitors’.
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Adhere to the Fundamentals of Good Journalism
Why do you think that Google’s news feed crawls with third-party websites such as CNN’s TechCrunch, the Wall Street Journal, and others in their search engine? Google News is restricted to sites and blogs that publish timely, relevant, and original articles. Google is a trustworthy business and a significant search engine that individuals trust all around the world. So, imagine the catastrophe if Google reported a false story! Good journalism is all about being authentic and as objective as possible.
Now, all you must do is produce high-quality content, and you’re ready to get going. Sounds easy, right? In fact, your content needs to meet Google News’ content policies. Make your content easy to read, share, and engage with; and ensure your content meets the basic requirements for depth, options, trust, and expertise.
A major search engine like Google doesn’t fancy syndicating the same piece of content. You must make your story an original one with accurate data and credible sources. Wherever your information comes from, ensure your sources are trustworthy.
Take a look at Google’s home page and its featured stories. Content is original with credible sources. In addition, the publishers are transparent and adhere to strict professional standards.
Publish Newsworthy and Well-Written Niche Content
Google News is like magic when it comes to generating traffic. It can bring thousands of clicks to your website, leading to increased sales and exposure.
While appearing on Google News isn’t an easy task, we’re here to make it easier for every publisher out there to have a chance to get published. Design and adherence to all of Google’s service requirements are crucial. It’s proven that websites with a specific niche have a greater chance of acceptance than those that cover a range of different topics. If your articles are the primary source of information on a particular topic, you are an influencer. Your opinion matters, and that, my friend, is very appealing to Google.
Google News looks at daily article updates and determines the trustworthiness of each applicant; the more articles you’ll publish, the better chance you’ll have to be selected.
In order for your articles or blog posts to have a chance of appearing in Google news feeds, some preliminary work is necessary. Optimize your website and each article with keywords so that Google News considers them receptive and relevant. Pass a strategic eye over the neutrality of each piece of content and examine your flow. To convey a story in a narrative and objective tone is one of the biggest hurdles, especially for young websites.
But you can’t just write to write in the hopes it will increase your traffic. Frequently updated content needs to be unique and eye-catching. However, consistency isn’t the only significant factor. Readability is also an important element that can’t be undermined. Experienced editors know not to publish articles of poor quality. The staff of Google News carefully evaluates incorrect grammar or spelling to evaluate whether you are a worthy candidate. Remember, quality is better than quantity.
Are you doing all this already? You are one step ahead, and we are ready to pass to the second phase. The format is another crucial step in the process. Text is the only type of information Google bots can process, so while readability is essential, it also needs to be accessible by Google News bots. The only thing they can understand is HTML. It would be advantageous if you used HTML exclusively to publish your articles. Avoid using JavaScript or PDF to ensure your publications get indexed faster.
Google News really cares for the reader experience, and therefore, they ensure they can guarantee quality to facilitate the user experience. Always check for broken slideshows and missing media podcasts to ensure your content is always at the top of its form.
How to Get into Google News Feeds
Google is passionate about newsworthy and timely stories so you need to find a way to prove to Google that you’ve adhered to all its guidelines. Now that you can get started with Google News, it’s time to take action and create your path towards success.
If you run a news release reporting platform, there are two ways to get your content on the table. You can license your content through a producer tool or submit your website through the publisher center.
The Google News Publisher Center is a simplified tool that enables editors with content production. It lets you create your brand to serve ads and grow a subscriber base. In addition, you can import or link content from your websites within the producer, such as video and audio.
On the other hand, the Publisher Center is a portal for publishers to manage their websites within Google News. While submission is no longer required, it provides additional benefits such as content and branding control and running ads to monetize your content.
Signing up with Google Publisher doesn’t guarantee a place on Google News, but it provides some great customization features and could accelerate your approval process.
Google News Sitemap
It’s not mandatory to create a Google News Sitemap, but it comes highly recommended. It’s not a ranking factor, but the influence it has on Google News crawlers is proven. Google News will discover and index your website more rapidly and effectively with Google News sitemaps.
If you’ve already created a sitemap, you should create a separate one just for your website. This sitemap should include up to 1,000 articles with publications posted daily.
How often Google crawls your website is defined algorithmically and really is dependent on your publication frequency. If you publish quality content several times a day, Google News will surface it to its users in a short period of time. Prioritize your high-value content to maximize your chances of getting indexed faster on Google’s Newsfeed.
There’s no doubt that there are several benefits of being listed on Google News, and it gives a competitive advantage to list your business among other high-ranked search results.
Follow technical and general guidelines and integrate professional journalism practices, and you may be on your way to becoming the followed newsworthy website content on Google News. It’s time to implement what you’ve learned to reach the desired results. Create a route map and your strategy to approach this new target. Carefully observe other news sites and their daily activities. While all these tips will help you reach your target faster, your observation will be an added benefit. Get started today!