Publishers rely heavily on website traffic to grow as a brand and yield higher ad revenue. Well, you can quickly achieve this by getting your articles published on Google News. Many publishers think it’s a tough nut to crack while are unaware of its importance. However, the truth is getting published on Google News isn’t that hard and you don’t even need to be a journalist for this. The key is:
- Publishing newsworthy content
- Know the best ways to optimize your website.
This may sound simple, but it is not that easy to achieve. In this blog, we will share some steps to help you get on Google News. Let’s jump in!
Why do websites want to get on Google News?
Google News has approximately 280 million users worldwide, and this number is constantly growing. With the right content, you can put your website in front of thousands of readers every day. This will allow publishers to get highly-targeted traffic.
Because Google News users look at content based on their interests, you can be sure that the traffic your website attracts is relevant.
Tips to help you get your website on Google News
There are several tips and tricks that can help you get on Google News consistently. Some of them are the following:
1. Create a Google News sitemap
Every website should have an XML sitemap because it is a complete roadmap of your entire website. It also assists Google in finding and indexing every page. To get into Google News, you should create a news-specific sitemap.
There is an XML sitemap that highlights every page of your website, but you are also advised to create a sitemap that only contains your latest articles. It will help Google to know what to feature. You can use the Yoast SEO plugin for this.
2. Follow the Google News Guidelines rigorously
Do you know Google has its own set of guidelines? You should know about them and implement them to appear on Google News. So, what are those guidelines?
Do you know Google has its own set of guidelines? You should know about them and implement them. There are three types of guidelines that you need to follow:
- General guidelines
- Technical guidelines
- Quality guidelines
This may sound complicated, but it is not. The general guidelines focus on ensuring quality content. For this, you must ensure that your content is timely, relevant, newsworthy, readable and credible.
If you want strict compliance with technical guidelines, your URLs should be optimized, and internal and external links should have accurate anchor text. Content should be provided in HTML. For quality guidelines, you need to have accurate and high-quality content that can benefit your audience. Make sure your content has variation and explicit opinions.
3. Format your content
Formatting is one of the most overlooked aspects of content writing. Formatting your content can drive tons of views on Google News. The formula for good formatting is pretty simple—make it easy to scan and read.
You can start by appropriately creating a good page structure using headings and subheadings. This makes your articles scannable and helps users understand their flow.
Part of formatting also means adding numbers and bullet points to make your content more digestible. You must avoid large chunks of text, use plenty of white spaces and use quotation marks wherever required.
Also, don’t forget to use multimedia (videos, images, etc.) throughout your content because it makes the content easy to understand while allowing readers to visualize your content. Try including an image after every 300 words.
4. Optimize your pages
The criterion of good on-page SEO is also applicable to Google News. The right SEO helps Google algorithms to understand your content. While many people consider SEO a way to manipulate search engines to get higher ranking, this isn’t true.
On-page SEO is a way of helping Google better understand your site and pages, which results in a higher ranking. Some of the most critical SEO factors for Google News content include:
- Short optimized URLs
- Unique and informative content
- Internal linking
- Fast page load speed
Remember, a news story doesn’t have to be unnecessarily long. However, it should cover all newsworthy points.
5. Keep your URLs short, descriptive and simple
The clearer and shorter your article’s URL is, the more favourable it will become for Google News. Google uses URLs to understand your content in a better way.
- URLs explain your topic
- URLs add clarity to your page
- Google’s algorithm reads all the content of your page, but one of the first things it will look at is your URL.
- Don’t change your URL later because it can impact your article’s page traffic and quality.
- Choose a short, descriptive, and SEO-friendly URL.
6. Increase E.A.T. signals
E.A.T. is basically content guidelines by Google to ensure high quality. It came into being in 2014, but it has become a standard when creating content; you want Google to rank. It stands for:
- Expertise
- Authoritativeness
- Trustworthiness
Basically, your content should match these criteria to get a higher ranking and get your articles included in Google News.
You can meet these signals by including references, writing unique and authentic content, and adding an author bio. Opt for WordPress integrations to rightly channelize your content.
7. Craft newsworthy content
This might sound quite obvious, but many publishers don’t know what newsworthy content is. It is:
- Timely
- On topic
- Relevant to the target audience
- Original and unique
Wrapping it up
Getting your news articles before more readers can be challenging. But Google News offers a huge opportunity for all website owners to generate high-quality traffic. There are tons of news websites looking out to get their content on Google News and drive traffic to their site. You can quickly get your content on Google News by implementing the above tips.
If you are looking for an advanced content management solution, then get in touch with us today. We will assist you in disseminating content on multiple channels without any hassle, which will increase your traffic. Call us today to find out more.
