Reaching a wider audience has long been one of the primary concerns for journalists worldwide. In the ever-evolving digital landscape, where information is abundant, Google has emerged as a pivotal tool. It provides not only the means to expand readership, but also the opportunity to deeply engage with audiences.

Understanding how news appears on Google Search and Google News can help you reach a wider audience and ensure your content is visible to those who seek reliable news sources. Here are some insights into how Google News works and how news articles appear on Google Search.

But before we get to that, it’s important to remember that by ensuring your content is original, relevant, authoritative, and trustworthy, you increase your chances of appearing in Google News search results. You must also consider the page experience you offer.

Where does Google News content appear on Google?

News content can be found on several platforms, including Google News, Google Search, Google Assistant, YouTube, and Discover.

Google Search: news surfaces

While Google Search primarily focuses on Web results, it also features news-specific surfaces. The Top Stories carousel is a prominent section that often appears at the top of search results, highlighting relevant news stories related to a specific search query.

Users can also navigate to the News tab within Google Search. This tab allows users to narrow their search results specifically to news-related content.

Google News: a comprehensive news experience

Google News, available through the Google News iOS and Android apps, and found at news.google.com, offers a diverse range of features to help users discover relevant news content. Within Google News, users can conduct searches to find links to specific news articles. The For You feed is a personalised section that displays news stories based on individual interests. Additionally, the Headlines section within the app highlights fresh and newsworthy stories and topics in a user’s region and the world.

Is my site eligible to appear in these places?

Your site is automatically considered for Google News and news surfaces in Search — no application required. You just need to produce relevant content that’s identified as:

• Having high levels of experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.
• Having a consistent history of producing original news-related content.
• Complying with our News policies.

The eligibility details here only apply to Google News, Top stories, and the News tab in Search. These details don’t apply or impact the ability to appear in Web results in Google Search.

Manage your publication through the Publisher Center

The Publisher Center is an interface that helps publishers submit and manage their content in Google News, as well as configure monetisation solutions through Reader Revenue Manager.

It will allow you to add basic information about your publication, include details about the location of your headquarters, verify the Web site URL property, add your publication’s contact details, and add visual elements identifying your publication, like logos and fonts, among other actions.

Experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (EEAT)

Your site should demonstrate high levels of expertise, authority, and trustworthiness in delivering news content. This involves consistently producing original news-related content and complying with Google’s News policies.

Also, it is relevant to offer a great page experience across different aspects such as Core Web Vitals, security or mobile versions, or page design, among others. (For more advice, see our information on understanding page experience in Google Search results.)

Consistent history of original news content

A strong track record of producing original news content is essential for establishing credibility and eligibility for Google News and news surfaces in Search.

Best practices for organising content

While eligibility for Google News and news surfaces in Search is determined automatically, there are measures you can take to enhance your visibility.

Utilise the Publisher Center to define essential details about your site, such as RSS feeds, Web site URLs, and videos. Additionally, the Publisher Center enables the creation of a dedicated “news source” page for your publication, allowing Google News users to follow your publication and access your latest content.

(Please note Publisher Center can help you manage content that’s deemed eligible, but eligibility itself is determined through the automated process. Being approved to use the Publisher Center does not mean content will appear in search results at Google News, Google News features like “For You” or headlines, news surfaces in Search such as Top Stories, or the News tab.)

Consider implementing the following practices within the Publisher Center.

• URL redirects: Google News can follow redirects to some extent. To make sure we can access your pages easily, make every page on your site reachable from at least one static text link.
• Structured data markup: To make sure Google has the correct information for your published articles, update your articles’ structured data markup.
• Show one clear date and time: To be considered in Google News, articles need to show both a clear, visible date and time. Ideally, these should be between the headline and the article text.
• Do not artificially freshen stories: If an article has been substantially changed, it can make sense to give it a fresh date and time. However, it’s against Google’s guidelines to artificially freshen a story when the publisher didn’t add significant information or demonstrate a compelling reason.
• Prevent inaccurate article titles: We use our crawler to scan your article pages and determine the correct headlines for your content.
• Prevent missing or incorrect images: Use images that are relevant to the story, rather than logos or captions, and use the right formats and labels.
• Block republished content: Google News seeks to provide access to original journalistic content. To achieve this, publishers within Google News must block certain types of content like scraped content, paid and unnatural links, and some republished content.
• Create great content: The best way to achieve success with Google News and Google Search generally is to have outstanding content that’s helpful and created for people.

There is a lot of additional helpful information to consider within the Google News Publisher Help Center.

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