Google News-driven results send over 24 billion clicks per month to publishers. Here's how to claim your share.
Let’s set the record straight. Google News optimization is not only for news sites.
Any website which regularly invests in timely content can reach engaged audiences and drive quality traffic with a solid Google News SEO strategy.
Google News aggregates and amplifies story exposure
Google News is an aggregator that offers somewhat newsworthy local and international stories from numerous sources, categorizing content into topics.
I say “somewhat newsworthy” because what Google defines as “news” is now lax.
The publisher no longer needs to be a dedicated news site. You can get in with your blog if you regularly produce high-quality, original and timely content.
Ranking in Google News can be a game-changer for content visibility. However, audience targeting and reach can vary greatly depending on the placement.
The Google News Showcase is a content licensing program in which Google pays participating publishers to curate their best content.
It’s unique within Google News products because the publisher’s editorial team selects which stories to show readers.
This selection is displayed in Google Discover and across Google News surfaces in a Sources panel.
Personalized placements
Google personalizes content for each individual user based on their interests, sources, locations and past activity on Google Search and YouTube. This algorithm dictates what is shown on:
- “For you” tab on Google News Android and iOS apps, plus the browser version on news.google.com.
- “Suggested sources” in news stand tab.
- Google News app push notifications.
- Google News daily briefing emails.
- “News tab” of the YouTube app on TVs.
- “Subscribe with Google” module in search.
It can deliver a highly engaged audience if your coverage matches the user’s topics of interest.
Location-driven placements
For videos, Google News offers placements in:
- YouTube’s top news.
- YouTube’s breaking news
- In U.S. local news shelves.
- YouTube.com/news
- The News section in the YouTube app.
Google News articles also have a chance to show:
- On YouTube in the developing news information panel.
- In the news tab in search.
- The headlines section of the app and site.
- Down into the full coverage reports.
- The local news carousel in universal search.
However, the ultimate prize is securing a spot in the top stories carousel within universal search. This will also show if you ask Google Assistant news-driven queries such as “What’s the news?”
None of these placements are personalized. Everyone of a qualifying age who shares the same region, language and location settings sees the same content.
For this reason, non-personalized placements have a higher impact potential. Those within universal search can also offer an easier route to display for highly competitive search terms than attempting to rank position one.
So with all that potential visibility on the line, what should you do to appeal to the Google News algorithms?
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