How to get into Google News

Google News is one of the most popular online news aggregators. Until now you have only been a user of the service in question, but now you have opened a news site and you would like to know how to use Google News to your advantage and get some visibility. Well, if that's the case, there is no doubt: you are in the right place at the right time!

In the tutorial you are reading, in fact, I will be able to explain how to enter Google News . In addition to indicating what are the necessary requirements to be included among the publishers who may appear in the news aggregator of "Big G", I will also guide you step-by-step in filling out the application to be admitted, hoping that the site you manage will be admitted. by the team of the Mountain View giant.

If you're ready to get started, let's put the chatter aside and move on! Strength and courage: take all the time you need to concentrate on reading the next lines and implement the instructions that I will give you, so as not to have problems in submitting the application to appear in Google News. I cheer for you!

What is Google News and what is it for

Before getting into the guide, it seems only right to make a note of what Google News is and what it is for , so as to clarify any doubts about it.

As I have already partially mentioned in the introduction of the guide, Google News is a news aggregator whose task is to "intercept" the most interesting news on the Web and show them to users who might be interested in them in some way.

The service in question, therefore, offers users the possibility to more easily identify the hottest news of the moment in line with their interests and, presumably, also those written with certain quality standards.

For content creators , on the other hand, Google News represents an excellent opportunity to gain greater visibility with their articles.

As regards the news, these can come both from the so-called "publishers" (ie the sites that have decided to register with the Publisher Center, which I will talk about later ), and from "standard" sites, thanks to the Web scanning procedures made by the Google algorithm (which I told you about in this other guide of mine ). In the past, however, it was necessary to fill out a form and be accepted by the Google team. Now practically the opposite is happening: it is Google that takes the initiative by promoting an article in Google News.

If there are any chances of appearing on Google News even though you haven't applied to be considered a publisher yet, then why should you do the same? Because in this way you will be able to take advantage of some advantages reserved for publishers, including the ability to design , sponsor and customize your own publication in Google News and use paywalls through the “Subscribe with Google” feature . More info here .

Having clarified these aspects, I would say that we can proceed by analyzing the requirements to appear in Google News and see how to apply to become a publisher.

Requirements to enter Google News

As for the requirements to enter Google News , these are roughly listed by Google on its official blog. Here are the main ones.

• Publish journalistic articles - this is probably the most important requirement for an article to be taken into account by Google's algorithms to appear in its own aggregator (news, in fact!). This means, therefore, that the article should be characterized by a title that is not excessively long , which defines the news, which is truthful (no “click-catcher” titles, please). Furthermore, the text of the article should be correct from a grammatical and syntactic point of view, satisfy the canons of truthfulness of Google, proving the information entered with authoritative sources and satisfy the so-called 5W rule ( Who?, What? , Where? , When? , Why? , or Who? What ? , Where? When ? Why ? ).
• Publish fresh content - the more new content you have on your site, the more likely it is that it will be considered by Google News. A good thing in this regard is to make the date and time of publication of the articles visible .
• Be transparent - have an "About us" , "About us" or "Editorial team" page , in which to provide clear information about the names of the authors, information on the company or network that distributes the content, contact information for the editors, etc.
• Optimizing content from an SEO perspective - content written with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) criteria , is usually good quality content, which is mostly taken into consideration by Google (and in general by search engines). In SEO, the keywords or keywords used, the drafting of the article and also the characteristics of the site are of considerable importance. Given the complexity of the topic, I suggest you deepen it thoroughly in this other guide of mine .
• Use unique and unchanged URLs - if the URLs of major news sections change frequently, Google News may have a hard time identifying and understanding what content on your site to offer to other users. The Googlebot-News automatic crawler (a technology from Google that contributes to the decision of what content to insert in Google News), in fact, is more effective when the URLs of the main news sections remain unchanged over time. In addition, Googlebot-News is optimized for crawling HTML links and not image links or embedded links in JavaScript, so make sure that articles posted on your site only contain HTML links.
• No to advertising invasiveness - if the advertising is excessive, it even exceeds the amount of content in the article making it difficult to consult, it is unlikely that Google will make it appear in Google News.
• No To Inappropriate Content - Violent, sexually explicit, harassing, deceptive, hateful, medical, terrorist, offensive or abusive language is not taken into consideration by Google's algorithm.

• If you want to learn more and check whether your site meets the main requirements for appearing in Google News or not, take a look at the following pages on the official Google blog: Publisher Center Overview , Google News Rules and Ranking in Google News .

How do you get into Google News

Having clarified the fact that even those who are not publishers can enter Google News , provided that the articles on the site in which they are contained have the necessary requirements , let's see how to apply to be part of the Google Publisher Center and obtain the benefits of which I talked to you in the previous lines .

I repeat: this is not a mandatory procedure to ensure that the articles on your site are taken into consideration and appear in Google News; also because joining the Publisher Center does not at all give you the certainty that your news will automatically appear in the aggregator.

Google's algorithm takes into consideration many factors to determine which content to make visible and for how long. These include the relevance of the contents, their evidence, the authoritativeness of the publisher, their topicality, the location and language of publication. More info here .

Having clarified these aspects, if you want to join the Publisher Center, go to this page , click on the (+) Add publication button located at the top left and fill in the form that appeared on the screen, taking care to specify in the appropriate text fields Publication name , Property main website and headquarters . Then click on the Add publication button .

Now, click on the Publication settings button , located next to the publication you have added and fill in the remaining remaining fields ( Language , Other URLs owned by websites , Contacts , etc.), using the appropriate buttons and menus. Finally, remember to click on the Save button (top right) and the Next button (bottom right). On the page that opened, then provide a square logo of your site, following the guidelines indicated and save these changes as well.

Then go back to the page dedicated to the management of your publication, click on the Google News button , click on the Edit button and define all the characteristics of your publication, including basic information , its category of belonging, the countries in which to distribute it . , etc., saving the changes made each time and following the instructions that appear on the screen.

In this way, by registering your publication in the Google Publisher Center, you can be able to have a personalized experience on Google News with all the potential benefits of the case.