For WordPress site owners eager to boost their reach and drive more traffic, getting featured on Google News can be a transformative opportunity. As one of the most influential news aggregation platforms in the world, Google News pulls content from thousands of trusted sources globally, presenting an ideal space for your site’s content to be showcased to a wider audience. This exposure can lead to significant increases in site visits, brand recognition, and credibility.
In this comprehensive guide, we will walk you through the essential steps to submit your WordPress site to Google News. From ensuring your content aligns with Google’s strict guidelines to optimizing your site’s technical structure, we’ll cover everything you need to know to successfully get listed and start driving traffic through this powerful platform. By following these steps, you’ll position your website for greater visibility and open the door to a larger, more engaged audience.
What is Google News?
Google News is a comprehensive news aggregation service provided by Google that collects headlines and summaries from a wide variety of global news sources. The platform presents this content in a structured, concise format, making it easy for users to consume. Google News employs advanced algorithms to curate and prioritize stories based on several factors, including relevance, freshness, and user preferences.
The platform allows users to personalize their news experience by selecting topics of interest. As users engage with the platform, it learns from their behavior, refining its content recommendations to better match individual preferences. Google News covers an extensive range of topics, including current events, politics, business, technology, sports, and more.
Publishers, including those operating WordPress sites, can submit their websites for consideration to be included in Google News through the Google News Publisher Center. Once a website is accepted, its content is made available to a wider audience, increasing visibility and potentially driving more traffic to the site. Google News is accessible both as a web platform and a mobile app, ensuring users stay updated with the latest news at all times.
Why You Should Submit Your WordPress Site to Google News
Submitting your WordPress site to Google News comes with a host of compelling advantages that can significantly benefit your online presence and growth:
1. Increased Visibility
Google News is a highly popular platform that attracts millions of users daily who are looking for the latest news. Being listed on Google News allows your WordPress site to gain exposure to this vast audience, increasing your site’s visibility to new readers. With such an expansive reach, your site could experience an increase in traffic and a broader audience base.
2. Expanded Reach
One of the major benefits of being featured on Google News is the ability to reach a much larger audience than your regular readership. This platform exposes your content to users who might not have discovered your site otherwise. As a result, your content could attract new readers, increase subscriptions, and help you grow your overall audience.
3. Credibility and Trust
Appearing on Google News adds a layer of credibility and trustworthiness to your WordPress site. The platform is known for its stringent vetting process, ensuring that only reputable and reliable sources make it to its news feed. Being listed alongside established and respected brands such as The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal enhances your website’s authority in your niche or industry. Users tend to trust content that appears on Google News because of this process, which can work in your favor.
4. SEO Benefits
Being included in Google News can have a positive impact on your website’s search engine optimization (SEO). Content that appears on Google News is often given preferential treatment in search rankings, particularly for news-related queries. This can drive more organic traffic to your site, improving your overall SEO performance. Google News can also increase the frequency with which Google crawls your site, leading to quicker indexing of new content.
5. Enhanced Brand Exposure
Being featured on Google News can help raise awareness of your brand, especially if your site is consistently publishing relevant and high-quality content. This exposure can position your site as a leading source of news and information within your specific niche, whether that’s technology, politics, business, or any other industry. Over time, this can help you build a reputation as an authoritative figure in your field.
6. Monetization Opportunities
With increased visibility and traffic, your WordPress site can open up new avenues for monetization. The surge in traffic that comes from being listed on Google News may allow you to earn more revenue through various methods such as display advertising, sponsored content, affiliate marketing, and other monetization strategies. As more users engage with your content, the potential to turn that traffic into revenue grows exponentially.
Learn how to implement Google AMP on your WordPress site here.
Is Your WordPress Blog Ready for Google News? Here’s What You Need to Know
Starting from December 2019, submitting your website is no longer a mandatory step for Google News eligibility. Publishers meeting the criteria are automatically assessed for inclusion in the ‘Top stories’ featured snippet and News tab on Google search.
Nevertheless, the submission process remains available, and it is advisable to utilize it for better visibility. To be considered for acceptance on this platform, your website must meet several requirements:
1. Publish High-Quality Content
Google News prioritizes original, timely, and relevant news content. To be considered for inclusion, your articles must be well-written, accurate, and provide value to readers. Ensure that your content is consistently informative and addresses topics that are both current and of interest to your audience. Content should meet journalistic standards and add insight or new perspectives to the topic.
2. Maintain a Regular Publishing Schedule
Google News favors websites that update their content regularly. To meet the platform’s standards, you must ensure your WordPress site consistently publishes fresh news content. This includes timely updates, breaking news, and keeping older articles updated to remain relevant. Frequent updates signal to Google that your site is active and trustworthy, contributing to its eligibility for inclusion.
3. Clear and User-Friendly Website Structure
Your website should have an intuitive, organized structure that makes it easy for users to find and navigate content. Clear headings, categories, and tags help visitors—and search engines—locate content quickly. A well-structured website not only enhances user experience but also makes it easier for Google’s web crawlers to index your content efficiently.
4. Adhere to Google’s Content Policies
Google News has strict content policies that your website must follow. These policies prohibit the distribution of misleading or harmful information, hate speech, adult content, and other violations. Ensure that your content adheres to ethical standards, is accurate, and is appropriate for a wide audience. Google highly values reliability, and following these guidelines will improve your chances of being accepted into Google News.
5. Provide Proper Attribution
Google News values originality and transparency. All content on your website must be properly attributed, meaning you should cite sources when necessary and avoid plagiarism. The platform rewards websites that produce unique, well-researched, and credible content. Offering proper attribution for any external sources you use not only helps avoid legal issues but also builds trust with your readers.
6. Meet Technical Requirements
Your WordPress site must meet technical guidelines to be eligible for inclusion in Google News. This includes ensuring your site is accessible to Google’s web crawlers. Additionally, your website should feature:
- A responsive design: It should be mobile-friendly and adaptable to various screen sizes.
- Fast loading times: Slow websites can negatively impact the user experience and search rankings.
- Secure HTTPS connection: Google gives preference to secure websites. Having an SSL certificate is essential for building trust with your audience and with Google.
7. Register with Google News Publisher Center
To submit your website for Google News consideration, you must register for an account in the Google News Publisher Center. During registration, you will need to provide essential information about your website, such as:
- Publication Name: The name of your website or publication.
- Website URL: The main URL of your WordPress site.
- Language: The language your content is primarily written in.
- Geographical Coverage: The region or regions your content covers.
By completing this process and submitting your website, you increase your chances of being included in Google News, thereby expanding your reach and improving traffic to your site.
Stepwise Procedure to Create a Google News Sitemap in WordPress
It’s crucial to understand that a Google News sitemap differs from a standard XML sitemap. The Google News Sitemap exclusively features news articles, enabling search engines to swiftly identify content intended for the news section. Creating a Google News sitemap in WordPress is a straightforward process. Follow these steps:
A: Install and Activate a Plugin:
The first step is to install a WordPress plugin that supports the creation of Google News sitemaps. One of the most popular and free options is the “XML Sitemap & Google News” plugin. This plugin is known for its comprehensive SEO features, including the ability to generate a Google News sitemap.
To install the plugin:
- Go to your WordPress dashboard.
- Navigate to Plugins > Add New.
- In the search bar, type “XML Sitemap & Google News”.
- Click Install Now next to the plugin and then Activate it.
Once activated, the plugin will automatically generate a Google News sitemap for your website, which will update whenever you publish a new post.
B: Enable the Google News feature:
After the plugin is installed and activated, you need to enable the Google News feature.
- In your WordPress dashboard, go to Settings > Reading.
- Scroll down to find the Google News section (this section should appear after activating the plugin).
- Make sure the option to enable Google News sitemaps is checked. This tells the plugin to create a sitemap specifically for news content.
- After enabling the feature, save your settings.
The plugin will then automatically generate a sitemap feed for Google News. You can access your Google News sitemap at a URL similar to this:
https://yourdomain.com/sitemap-news.xml
This URL is the location where Google will look to find your news articles. The sitemap will list only your latest news-related posts in XML format.
After saving, you can access your Google News Sitemap feed via this link: https://newsmag.awsus3.cdn-alpha.com/sitemap-news.xml. The format will resemble the following example:
C: Submit Sitemap to Google News Publisher Center
Now that you have created your Google News sitemap, the next step is to submit it to the Google News Publisher Center.
- Copy the URL of your Google News sitemap (e.g.,
https://yourdomain.com/sitemap-news.xml). - Sign in to your Google News Publisher Center account. If you don’t have an account yet, you will need to create one.
- Once logged in, navigate to the “Sitemaps” section on the Publisher Center dashboard.
- Paste the URL of your Google News sitemap in the provided field.
- Click “Add” to submit the sitemap.
Submitting your sitemap allows Google to quickly index your news articles and feature them in Google News, which can lead to better visibility for your content.
Sign in to your Publisher Center account, navigate to the “URL” section, and paste the website URL in the provided field. Click on “Add” to complete the process.
D: Fill in the Publication Details
After submitting the sitemap, you’ll need to provide more details about your publication.
Complete the required fields and click “Save” to move forward.
In the Publisher Center, click on “Add Publication” to proceed to the next step.
Google will prompt you to provide specific information about your publication, such as:
The name of your publication (e.g., Your Website’s News).
Your website’s URL.
Language settings.
Geographical coverage.
E: Verify Sitemap Submission:
After adding your publication, it’s time to verify that your website and sitemap are properly submitted and recognized by Google News.
- Google will ask you to verify ownership of your website through Google Search Console.
- In the Publisher Center, under the “URL prefix” section, enter your website’s URL.
- Follow the instructions to verify your website’s ownership. This process usually involves adding a verification tag or uploading a verification file to your website.
- Once verified, return to the Publisher Center and click “Verify”.
You should now see a confirmation message indicating that your publication has been successfully submitted and is under review by Google. Once processed, your content will start appearing in Google News, and you will be able to track your site’s performance through the Publisher Center.
Troubleshooting Common Issues After Submitting Your WordPress Site To Google News
1. Website Not Indexed
If your site is not being indexed by Google News, the first thing to check is whether it complies with Google’s content policies and technical requirements. Make sure your website is accessible to Google’s crawlers and that there are no issues preventing indexing. You can use Google Search Console to diagnose crawling or indexing problems and fix any issues that may arise.
2. Low-Quality Content
Google News only features high-quality, original news content. If your site is rejected repeatedly, it may be due to the quality of your articles. Review your content to ensure it meets Google’s standards: provide well-researched, timely, and relevant information. Prioritize clarity, originality, and value for readers, ensuring your content is engaging and error-free.
3. Technical Errors
Technical issues, such as broken links, slow page speeds, or poor mobile compatibility, can prevent your site from being accepted into Google News. Use tools like Google Search Console or PageSpeed Insights to identify technical problems. Fix any issues related to website performance, ensure a mobile-friendly design, and improve loading times to enhance user experience.
4. Violation of Google’s Guidelines
Google News adheres to strict content policies. Practices such as keyword stuffing, cloaking, or publishing misleading or harmful content will result in penalties or exclusion from the platform. Always follow best practices for SEO and ensure your content is accurate, transparent, and trustworthy. Violating Google’s guidelines can seriously damage your chances of being included in Google News.
5. Incorrect Metadata
Metadata plays a vital role in Google News indexing. Incorrect or missing metadata (titles, publication dates, summaries) can harm your content’s visibility. Make sure each article has accurate, clear, and relevant metadata to ensure Google can properly index and categorize it. Double-check your articles for missing or incorrect metadata before submitting them.
6. Duplicate Content
Google News does not accept duplicate content, which can result in rejection. If your content closely mirrors that of other websites, ensure it provides unique insights or adds a fresh perspective. Avoid copying content from other sources, as it can lead to penalties. Use plagiarism detection tools to verify that your content is original.
7. Relevance and Timeliness
Google News values fresh, timely, and relevant news. If your content is outdated or irrelevant, it’s unlikely to gain traction. Focus on publishing newsworthy content that covers current events or emerging trends. Ensure your articles are always up-to-date and provide fresh perspectives on topics your audience cares about.
Google News Submission Tips: What Works and What Doesn’t for WordPress Blog
Successfully submitting your website to Google News can significantly enhance your site’s visibility and drive substantial traffic. By addressing the common issues outlined above, you can fine-tune your content and increase your chances of being included. Make sure your site adheres to Google’s technical and content guidelines, prioritize creating high-quality, relevant news articles, and consistently update your content to stay current.
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FAQs on Content Submission for Google News
How long does it take for Google to review and approve my WordPress site for inclusion in Google News?
The review process can change in duration, but typically, it may take several weeks for Google to review your site and make a decision. During this time, it’s crucial to continue publishing high-quality news content and ensuring compliance with Google’s guidelines.
What should I do if my WordPress site is rejected by Google News?
If your site is rejected, Google will provide feedback on the reasons for rejection. You can address these issues and re-submit your site for review. It’s essential to carefully review Google’s feedback and make necessary improvements to meet their guidelines.
Once my WordPress site is approved for inclusion in Google News, how can I optimize its performance?
You can optimize your site’s performance by consistently publishing high-quality news content, optimizing for search engines, monitoring traffic and engagement metrics, and staying updated on Google’s guidelines and best practices. Regularly reviewing and refining your approach will help maintain and enhance your presence on Google News.
