How to get your blog on Google News

Google News is a great way to get your blog content in front of a wider audience. It’s become easier to feature personal or company blogs, as Google has eased its criteria.

Google News requirements 

Google requires your blog to be:

• original 
• informative
• inoffensive

Read Google’s content requirements and technical requirements.

While Google advises that your posts should include a clear date, author, and contact details, this isn’t strictly enforced. I’ve seen articles, like a news piece from Asda’s corporate site, appear in Google News without meeting these specifics.

How to submit your blog

You don’t actually need to submit your blog. Google claims that if it’s good enough, they’ll find it automatically. However, manually submitting your blog can kick start the process.

To submit your blog to Google News, do the following:

1. Go to the Publisher Centre
2. Enter your blog URL, name, country, and language
3. Where it says ‘Google News not started’, select ‘Open’

The next part can be tricky. You might find yourself going round in circles filling in all the information required. To start, click ‘Edit’ in the top-right corner.

You’ll need to do the following:

• Choose the publication category
• Verify site ownership – if you’re using the same Google account for Google News and Google Search Console, verification is straightforward
• Upload a square logo – either PNG or JPEG, ideally 1000×1000 px, minimum 512×512 px
• Add the location of your blog posts

To add where your blog posts are located, click on ‘New section’. You can either choose a URL path or opt for an RSS feed, which is generally the better choice. For WordPress blogs, an RSS feed is automatically generated – go to https://your-domain.com/feed/.

You should now be able to hit ‘Publish’ to submit for review.

After submission, Google will review your blog. If it meets their criteria, you’ll receive an email confirming its inclusion in Google News.

Increasing your chances to get listed in Google News

Getting accepted into Google News doesn’t automatically ensure your blog will be featured. Consistently publishing high-quality, relevant, and niche content is crucial. However, your site’s overall authority and SEO performance also play a significant role.

Another way to boost your chances is by following Google’s technical requirements. One of the key requirements is the correct use of structured data markup. The example below shows how it should look.

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Article",
  "headline": "DALL e versus Midjourney",
  "description": "OpenAI's latest version of DALL e, a cutting-edge image AI, is now part of ChatGPT Plus. Do I keep paying for Midjourney",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Peter Brumby",
    "url": "https://www.pbrumby.com/about/"
  },
  "publisher": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Digital and tech blog by Peter Brumby"
  },
  "datePublished": "2023-10-09T12:54:51+01:00",
  "dateModified": "2023-10-21T22:02:05+01:00",
  "image": "https://www.pbrumby.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Two-choices.png",
  "isAccessibleForFree": true
}
</script>

Tracking performance

You can check how well it’s working by looking at your Google Search Console. Once your blog is accepted by Google News, you’ll see related info under the ‘performance’ heading in Google Search Console.

To regularly show up in Google News, keep publishing quality, relevant articles and track your results.