SEO in Google News; How to appear in Google News?

Google News (Google News in English) is a tool, from Google, that disseminates current, reliable, and truthful content from different websites or web portals dedicated exclusively to the news. The sites that appear in Google News have a great opportunity to increase traffic to your website and, consequently, the opportunity to increase your sales through it.

If you have a company or an online business, you know the importance of attracting quality traffic to your website, that is, people who are really interested in the services or products you offer and who can increase your conversion rate.

To achieve these results, the most effective is to improve the web positioning of your website and, from Xplora, we can help you. I guarantee you will take your business to another level! But not only can we help you improve your ranking in major search engines, such as Google or Bing, we can also help you with SEO optimization and web positioning: position your content in Google News.

With a good SEO in Google News, you will attract tons of traffic to your website, as long as you offer your audience the information they really want to know. Appearing in the main headlines of this news platform will give your business more visibility, which is why many websites compete to be there and what do you expect?

If you are wondering “how to appear in Google News?”, In this article, I will tell you everything you need to know to achieve it. Check it out.

What is Google News?

Google News, or Google News, is a platform, from Google Inc, whose purpose is to track the main news, updated, in development, and relevant to the audience. To later facilitate its visualization from the Internet search engine.

Google News is a powerful tool to increase organic visits to your website.

Unlike traditional search engines, Google News presents headlines from different portals and also the results of organic searches. In addition, it filters through an algorithm the “qualified” pages according to the search made by the reader. This information is displayed according to the preferences and interests of the user, or through a search filter.

What is the main advantage of Google News?

Due to its effectiveness, Google News has become an alternative channel for generating traffic, that is, directing people to your website and this is its main advantage. But it will also give your content much more visibility, both in the SERP and in the specific category where your article appears. Nor should we forget other important advantages the benefits that lead to branding and the increase of authority of your content, website, or blog.

But, if Google News is a news portal, why would you want to have a presence in this medium?

Why do web pages want to appear in Google News?

As I told you before, traffic is the main benefit offered by Google News, and one of the reasons why web pages want to appear on this news platform. The more people reach your website, you will have more conversion and sales opportunities.

Appearing on Google News is a great opportunity to bring more visits to your website and increase your sales.

But that’s not all, it is estimated that more than 60% of people trust Google News. Therefore, if your content appears on this platform, it will give your readers more confidence. This trust establishes the difference between brands and web pages, which affects user behavior in the pre-click (ad) and post-click (web page experience) stages.

For us, in Xplora, the best part of all this is that Google News headlines appear integrated with the other results of a particular search, which can increase organic traffic to your website in a short period of time.

Conquer and position your website on top of Google!

Without trap or cardboard; We develop realistic web positioning (SEO) campaigns on Google and other search engines, with our feet on the ground, true to the profile of your company and with results that give results.

How much does Google News affect the traffic?

Compared to regular organic traffic, the news attracts 100 times more traffic. This means that Google News, can generate tons of traffic and increase the authority of the web domain of your page. As a result, shared resources and inbound links will also increase and, as a result, your organic visibility in Web search engines.

If you want to get these benefits, you must know how to appear on Google News, and first, you must meet certain requirements that I show you below.

What are the requirements to appear on Google News?

Your website must be exclusive news

The first requirement, demanded by Google News, is that the website, which you want to index, is dedicated exclusively to publishing news. If your website is sales or marketing, for example, it will not take it into account.

Google News only shows web pages that write and publish relevant news or content on specific topics and niches. To ensure that this is the case, there is a team that is responsible for manually reviewing the website to decide whether or not to include it in the News index.

This is the first barrier that you must pass, and the most important requirement to appear in Google News so, if you do not comply, it is recommended that you do not bother to request that Google News add you to your listings.

Technical requirements

If you overcome the first obstacle, bravo! However, you still have a long way to go, it’s not so easy to get into Google News! You have to overcome a good number of obstacles, so let’s continue.

Use static and unique URLs

It’s critical that your articles and news have static URLs (Web addresses) so that Google News can easily track them.

Make sure your URLs are not generated dynamically, otherwise it will not work very well with Google News.

Flat HTML content only

For Google News, loading speed is paramount, as it allows you to index and position web content quickly.

Google News only uses the HTML source code to index the content. Therefore, you must ensure that the content of your articles appears directly in the HTML source code and that they do not need to execute JavaScript for it.

Have a clean code

This means that the article must have a continuous block of HTML code.

Avoid placing videos, photo galleries, etc., in the middle of the article code, as this can affect the indexing process of Google News.

Optional technical considerations (but more or less mandatory)

In addition, to the technical requirements, which I already mentioned, there are others that Google News does not consider mandatory, but that can help you appear faster on the platform.

Also, they will help you get the best position in the carousel of stories, which is where you will get most of your news traffic. Let’s see what they are:

Create a news specific XML Sitemap

It is necessary, if not mandatory, that you have a specific XML news sitemap. This sitemap must contain the articles you have published in the last 48 hours, up to a maximum of one thousand.

This is the main mechanism that Google News uses to track your website and find the new articles and news you have published.

Mark your articles with structured data

Google can only enter structured data from more specific articles or segments of data. However, the marking of articles or news on your web pages is practically mandatory, as it will increase your chances of entering the carousel of main stories from Google News.

Additional requirements

There are other obstacles that, as I told you are many, that you have to overcome before appearing in Google News.

It has multiple authors

It is important that several authors, with authority, contribute to the content of your website. This will place you above all other blogs and small sites that exist, and increase your chances of the Google manager approving your Web page on the platform quickly.

Update your content daily

Try to write and publish content every day. You can use information from others, but most of it must be of your own authorship.

There is no rule that says how much you should write, while the content is unique.

Remember, if you copy content from another Google site you will notice and penalize you.

In general terms, I recommend that you publish at least 70% of content that is your own and unique and only 30% that comes from external sources. This is very good for SEO in Google News.

Write for a specialized niche

It is essential that you focus on a niche or specialized topic. There are already many news sites that publish general news and try to do everything. This is why Google News pays more interest to websites that specialize in specific topics or areas.

So, if you have a very specific topic or a specialized industry that covers your news, you are on a very good path. This will increase your chances of entering the News Index and get more organic traffic.

You already know how to appear in Google News, it meets all these requirements and I assure you that you will get a lot of traffic, coming from the best stories, everything is advantages!

But, (yes, there is a but) we only saw the technical requirements. What about the content?

Content requirements to appear on Google News

1. You need a legal notice with all possible contact information.
2. You must mention all authors and publishers on the editorial page or in the news.
3. Your complete website must be written and maintained by an organization with several authors and publishers.
4. The content of your articles must go through editorial supervision. Forums, individual blog articles, and other similar sources are not included in Google News.
5. Do not overload your website or your articles with ads.
6. Write regularly, articles must be new and current.
7. The contents must be written for your own website, ideally subject to editorial control
8. Create articles and other sections of content that have a high level of relevance in a specific topic
9. Avoid posting content that has nothing to do with the topics you usually deal with
10. Your articles cannot consist solely of promotional content related to your business.
11. Before signing up for Google News, make sure you have a good amount of articles.

Remember, during the acceptance process, a Google employee will examine your website in detail to validate that it meets all the requirements.

So far, we have talked about how to appear in Google News, but once you achieve it you must stay, so it is important that you use SEO strategies in Google News.

How to optimize your website and news for Google News?

Doing SEO in Google News is similar to doing SEO for web search engines. Some of the best strategies to achieve maximum visibility in Google News are:

Website Design

The design of your individual articles is as important as that of the rest of your website; The fewer elements there are between one news article and another, the better.

The structure of the HTML source code of a news article should not be interrupted and should follow this order:

1. Title
2. Image
3. Data
4. Body of the notice

Optimize content based on current affairs

When it comes to SEO in Google News, having current articles becomes crucial.

If you publish an article before your competitors, the greater your chances of improving your ranking in the news index.

Create a Sitemap with your news

The simple creation of a general XML sitemap will not take you very far, in Google News. You must create a special site map for the news, based on the XML protocol and containing the publication date of each individual article.

The XML map of your website for Google News should be updated automatically and without delay, every time you publish new news on the Web.

Another thing you should consider for SEO in Google News is that you should only include the articles that you have published in the last 48 hours. Why? Google News only considers the last two days for the news release.

You can use the Unlimited Sitemap Generator subscription service, for example, to automatically create your news XML sitemap for Google. This generator can be integrated into almost any web system and platform.

Along with a map of the XML site, dedicated to the news, you can also create maps of the XML site for videos and images.

Image optimization

Another important element for SEO in Google News is images. The image you will use for the news article is largely responsible for the click rate, also called CTR (Click Rate).

The image is shown as a preview of the news article within the organic search results. Therefore, you must upload it to the same web server as all other files on your web page.

The title below the image is another very important factor for the news article, be sure to use an appropriate ALT attribute for the image.

The image must be in JPG format, with reduced file size, and should not be part of a link.

Text optimization

The news, relevance, interdependence with the topic, and the speed of presentation of a specific topic are SEO factors in Google News.

Technically, your text should consist of only 80 words to be considered a news article. However, I recommend using a minimum of 125 words for cover articles and a minimum of 250 for all other types of news. In addition to this, it is important that words are not subject to internal or external links.

Optimize the title and H1 header

Be concise and get straight to the point. Use short titles that motivate the reader to click or expand the information. If possible, place the main keyword at the beginning of the title.

All this will increase the CTR (click-through rate), a key SEO positioning factor for Google News, and influences the way organic search results are displayed.

Reduce charging time

In addition to posting current content, try to get there first! The speed of loading a page and news is also a factor that impacts SEO in Google News.

It is considered that a news article has an optimal speed if, between the moment of loading and the complete display of the user’s browser page, no more than 200 milliseconds (0.2 seconds) have passed. Therefore, you should verify and optimize the loading time of your news website.

Become Visible! Start climbing positions on Google!

Do you want your potential customers to find you, before your competition, when they search for your products or services on Google or other Internet search engines?

Conclusion

Appearing on Google News is not that easy, but it is not impossible either. If you meet the requirements, which I showed you in this article, you will have many opportunities for Google News to accept you.

The first point to remember: is that it is not a tool for all web pages. Nor is it enough that you are a blogger or that you publish content daily, to obtain the privileges of this section, your web page must be EXCLUSIVELY news and information.

If this is your case, take advantage of the great opportunity that Google News offers you to make the quality of your content known, increase the visibility of your articles and, consequently, increase traffic to your website.

If you appear in the top list of Google News you will also have the top positions in the search engine results.

Surely, SEO is important, but an essential element for the success of your web project is the subscription to Google News. I am sure that this alternative will increase the visibility of your website and grow your business!

Did you like this post? I invite you to share it on your social networks since it is likely that many do not know the importance of Google News for their online marketing strategy.