Publications are subject to the ebbs and flows of resonance and relevance as they work to stay relevant in the public eye. To stay ahead of competitors, it’s important to be on top of current affairs and generate captivating material. 

With this in mind, Google News strives to give credit to news publishers who produce distinctive, original articles by giving them an advantage over recycled, copied, or redistributed materials.

Publishers are advised to follow these guidelines:

Restrict access to scraped content

Scraping is exactly as it sounds– lifting content from another site, frequently through automated means. Websites that engage in scraping are highly encouraged to prevent scraped content from appearing on Google News.

Restrict access to rewritten content

If you’re looking to boost your website’s visibility on Google News, it’s time to stop regurgitating content from other publishers.

Instead, opt for a live blogging platform that allows you to be the first to cover a topic. Not only does this minimize the risk of publishing similar content to other publishers, but it also ensures your content is unique and valuable to your audience.

Block or use canonical tags for republished content

Publishers who authorize their content to be republished can ensure that their original version performs better on Google News by requesting the republishing party to block or use canonical tags.

4. Be relevant, prominent and authoritative when publishing

Discovering relevant content has become an art and science for Google, who uses sophisticated news algorithms to connect users with the most pertinent information.

These algorithms are fueled by a myriad of signals such as:

• freshness
• prominence
• usability
• authority
• location
• language
• and even user interests to provide a personalized experience

These signals work in harmony to make a well-informed decision, and no single factor dominates the display of a story. 

Let’s unpack some of these factors.

Relevance

As a start, you’ll want to ensure that your article is sprinkled with the same keywords as your search for relevance purposes. See the full list of Google’s advanced algorithms to determine what’s relevant or not. 

Location

The ranking also highly depends on the location. For instance, if the user is in the United States and searches for ‘football,’ Google will show the American sport. If, however, the user were in England and searched the same term, Google would show soccer game results.

Prominence

In regard to prominence, Google’s new algorithms favor news events that are heavily covered across channels. If an event has been highly cited by other sources or if it contains significant original reporting on it, it’s most likely deemed a prominent topic. 

Authoritativeness

These days, determining who’s an ‘authority figure’ or ‘thought leader’ may seem difficult. 

But Google’s algorithms are designed to identify signals that can help measure which pages demonstrate expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness on a given topic based on feedback from Search raters.

As a rule of thumb, the more topical authority a publication has on a given vertical, the more likely it is to rank for those types of news events in Google News. 

5. Monetize with Google’s Reader Revenue Manager