Everyone knows and agrees that Google has, and continues to dominate in the search engine market. So much so, that ‘googling’ is now a verb for searching something on the internet. Which is why website owners scram to get listed, and constantly seek to piggyback on google, trying to bring traffic from google to their own web page. One such strategy is to list on Google news.

What is Google News?

Google News is a vertical search engine that compiles and aggregates news, latest updates, and relevant stories from sources worldwide. The factors Google uses for listing them on Google News are pretty similar to the general search results itself – web page authority, relevance, user preferences, content freshness, and location.

Google News is a wonderful way to not just gain traction, but also keep content freshness, and get more visibility.

Google officially clarified that websites would be featured in their “top stories” automatically, provided they had relevant and high quality content, in compliance with the Google News content guidelines.

But, why Google News?

So, your web-page features on google already. Should you make efforts to list on Google News as well? The answer is yes. Google News enjoys higher trust among users, the word news automatically connotes reliability. This converts into customer reach, B2B business opportunities and revenue beyond Google Search.

With a few thumb rules and practical guidelines it is a breeze to get featured in the Top Stories section of Google search results?

Safety first:

Ensure you web page is safe to browse. If your website poses a risk of malware, has security issues or is constantly down, Google News drops it automatically from its search results.

Please make sure to regularly monitor site safety, and keep the SSL certificate intact at all times.

Be in the know – generate news

The most common dilemma any business comes up with when the idea of being featured in google News is pitched to them is, ‘But we are not a News site, a blog or journal, notes an expert from a leading SEO company in Hyderabad.

To set things straight, Google News treats any website that has good, honest , recent and relevant information as its’ potential content. So, even if you are a small business with a niche clientele selling scientific illustrations, or hand-loom clothing you should come up with relevant information in your field, and boom! Chances are you’ve got the first step to get featured on Google news right! The idea is to generate information that is of use to audience looking for it.

Make Use of The Publisher Center:

One must have tool if you want to get featured on Google News is the Publisher Center. With the publisher center tool, you can share content through RSS feeds, videos website URLs, design and brand your content, and also use it to run ads through Google Ad manager.

If your publication has a lot of business terms, Google News’ in house team select and feature them separately too!

Focus on formatting:

We aren’t here for language lessons. But, it is widely accepted that a  well-formatted article keeps the reader interested, and is easier to read.  While there are many formatting tools available online for a quick help, keep in mind the following ground rules:

·      Choose an appropriate font, and maintain space between headers, pay attention to page breaks, grammar and spelling.

·      Break the content down into proper paragraphs. Remember no one wants to read essays.

·      Make a point to maintain character encoding.

·      Look up for Google News content guidelines and make sure your content complies with it.

Score with originality:

Whether you feature publications, articles or images in Google News original, unique content will score over the rest. Embedding thumbnails or the same images multiple times in your feed will only increase chances of degrading the quality of your post. Ditto with written content. Posting the same article to maintain content freshness is not actually a clever idea, because remember Google is cleverer.

Everyone likes it fresh:

It is an obvious fact that Google News is programmed to feature latest, and fresh publications of what is happening at that given point of time.

Try an include relevant terms from your field based on current affairs. Remember there should be a delicate balance between freshness, relevance and current happenstances. Quality is paramount, and Google News content policies clearly emphasis that content must be both recent and of high standard.

Update Your Web page Regularly:

Even if your business isn’t a news page, there is always potential to be in the news. Google News follows and picks stories with a journalistic flavor to its content. So you must create good, relevant stories, post them regularly, and keep it professional.

Train your writers in the journalistic format that Google News currently follows. Little details like introducing authors, other publications authored by them, and their role in the team, contact details are requisites for submissions to Google News. It also makes  the feature extremely genuine and professional.

To finish up..

Now that you are ready to go get featured on Google News, the most important of them all – get a plan. If you are still not convinced that Google News is a gold mine, sample this:

Of the 6 billion clicks per month Google News sends, even if you convert 0.0001%, imagine the impact. Always think big, suggests one of the top Digital Marketing Agency in Hyderabad.

So, brainstorm, create a road map, list out other peer sites that are doing well being featured in Google News and go slay!