Google News: how to get there and get additional traffic?

Google News, or Google News, is a powerful news aggregator that collects and displays the latest news from various sources around the world. This service organizes news content so that users can easily access information relevant to their interests and location. The Google News algorithm takes into account SEO parameters that determine which news is the most organic and important to users.

What are the advantages of adding a site to Google News?

Adding your site to Google News has many advantages that can significantly increase its effectiveness, organic and visibility on the Internet. Here are the main ones:

1. Increased visibility

Google News is one of the most popular news platforms used by millions of users in Ukraine and around the world. Getting your site into the news aggregator means that your content will become available to a wide audience of users in Ukraine, which automatically increases your visibility.

2. Increase in traffic

When your site appears in Google News, more users go to it, which increases the number of visitors. This is especially important for news and information resources that depend on high traffic for monetization. More visitors mean more ways to show ads, subscribe to newsletters, sell products or services.

3. Authority

Users trust Google News and consider it a reliable source of information. When your site appears in this news feed, it automatically becomes trusted.

4. Benefits for SEO

Google considers the site’s inclusion in the news aggregator as a positive signal. Your site can get better positions in search queries, which increases its visibility in general search. News articles are often cited by other sites, resulting in more backlinks. This, in turn, improves SEO of your site.

Requirements for news to appear in Google News

In order for your news to appear in the Google News feed, it must meet certain requirements. In particular, the content must be relevant, reliable, adhere to all journalistic norms and have a clear structure.

Content quality

Informativeness

Articles should be filled with useful information that answers user queries.

• Tip: Post analytics, event reviews, interviews, and expert opinions to make your content more informative.

Uniqueness

Content must be original to avoid duplication and plagiarism.

• Tip: Use uniqueness checking tools like Copyscape tool or Plagscan tool to ensure the originality of your content.

No errors

Check grammar and style to ensure high quality text.

• Tip: Use grammar-checking tools like Grammarly or LanguageTool, or get editors or experienced writers to check your texts before publishing.

Regularity

Update your content feeds regularly by posting at least two news articles per day.

• Tip: This will help keep your audience engaged and increase your site’s visibility in search engines. If you cannot provide such a frequency of publication, focus on the quality of the news by providing exclusive content.

What should not be written for publication in Google News?

The publication of content in Google News is subject to strict rules and standards aimed at ensuring the quality, reliability and safety of information for users. Here’s what content is unacceptable for publication on Google News:

1. Disinformation content and fake news

Google News strictly prohibits the publication of any information that is false. Fake news or material that deliberately misleads the audience is a serious violation and may result in the exclusion of the site from Google News.

2. Plagiarism and copyright infringement

Content that is plagiarized or infringes the copyrights of other individuals or organizations is strictly prohibited. All content must be original or properly attributed if quotes are used.

3. Sensational and clickbait content

Google News does not allow the publication of sensational content created with the sole purpose of attracting attention through overly dramatic headlines or clickbait.

4. Obscene, shocking or violent content

Content that contains obscene language, shocking images, or describes scenes of unnecessary violence is prohibited. Google News is committed to providing a safe environment for all users.

5. Advertising content and hidden advertising

Google News is not a platform for advertising materials or content that is hidden advertising.

6. Hate speech and discriminatory content

Any content that promotes hatred, discrimination based on race, nationality, religion or other characteristics is unacceptable. Google News has a strict policy of not allowing hate speech on its platform.

7. Financial scams and false health information

Content that may harm the financial situation or health of users is not allowed to be published.

8. Unreliable or speculative content

News based on rumors or unconfirmed sources are not accepted into Google News.

9. Spam and automatically generated content

Content that is automatically generated without adding value to users, or content that shows signs of spam, is not allowed in Google News. This also applies to content that is repeated on different pages of the site.

We are preparing the site to be added to Google News

To prepare your site for successful inclusion in Google News, it is important to consider all aspects, from content quality to technical optimization.

Publish quality content:

• Ensure the length of news articles is no less than 2000 characters without spaces.
• Avoid “water” in texts; each paragraph should carry valuable information.

Optimize technical aspects:

• Ensure proper URL structure and customize Sitemap for better indexation.
• Use correct tags and metadata.
• Make sure your site loads quickly, it’s important for user retention and positive ranking in Google News.
• Include the publication date of the news articles and make sure it appears in the snippet of each news story.

Implement micro-markup:

• Add News-type micromarkup to help search engines better understand the content of your pages.
• Use googles tools like Google Structured Data, Markup Helper tool or micro markup generators to generate correct code.

Use video content:

• Add videos to news feeds to reach a larger audience.
• Make sure that the video files are optimized for correct display on different devices.

Increase the authority and trustworthiness of the site:

• Publish authoritative, organic and authentic content that builds user trust.
• Add authors to articles, especially if they are well-known journalists or experts, to increase the authority of your content.
• Create separate pages for each author and pin their articles to them.

Adhere to the regularity of publications:

• Post at least two news articles daily to keep the site active and relevant.

How to add a site to Google News?

Adding your site to Google News is a multi-step process. This method will help ensure that your site is included in the news aggregator, get more traffic and make it more organic in Ukraine.

1. Register your site in Google Publisher Center

Google Publisher Center is a tool that allows publishers to manage their content and apply for inclusion in Google News.

Steps to register with Google Publisher Center:

• Go to Google Publisher Center (open your browser and go to the address Google Publisher Center).
• Sign in to your Google Account (use your credentials to sign in to your Google Account. If you don’t have an account yet, create one).
• Add a new post (after logging in, click on the “Add publication” button and enter your site name and URL).

• Website verification (after adding a post, you need to verify your site. Google will provide instructions for verification).

2. Apply for inclusion

After successful registration and verification of your site in Google Publisher Center, you can apply for inclusion in Google News.

Steps to apply:

• Customize your news sections (in the Google Publisher Center, go to your publication and add a news section. These can be different categories of news. For each section, enter the URLs of the relevant sections on your site).
• Fill in the required information (make sure you provide all the necessary information about your site and its content).

• Apply (after configuring the sections and filling in all the necessary information, click on the “Submit application for inclusion in Google News” button. Your application will be reviewed by the Google team).

3. Follow Google’s recommendations

To ensure that your site is successfully included in Google News, make sure that your site meets all of Google’s requirements and recommendations.

How to track statistics?

After adding your site to a news aggregator, it’s important to monitor its organic performance. This can be done with the help of Google Search Console and other SEO tools that allow analyzing traffic, user engagement and other indicators. Tracking statistics will help you adjust your strategy and improve the quality of your content.

With the help of this program, we can find out the number of clicks from Google News, the total number of impressions of the news, the average CTR (Click-Through Rate) and, using a graph, determine the period of greatest activity.

To summarize

Adding your site to Google News opens new ways to increase the visibility, traffic and authority of your resource throughout Ukraine and beyond. To achieve success and receive traffic – follow all the recommendations provided in our article.

Olha Tyshchenko

Editor

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