Google News is a free news aggregator that serves to select the most relevant news stories from thousands of publications around the world.
| Period | April 2019 |
| Client | Newly established media portal |
| Provided services | Submission of an application to add the website to Google News |
| Objective | To prepare and oversee the implementation of all website requirements necessary for submitting the application. To prepare and submit the application to Google News and obtain approval from the moderators. |
Benefits of Being Included in Google News
➤ Increase the level of user trust in your website. ➤ Your content may receive a large number of backlinks, including those from authoritative resources. ➤ News aggregators are capable of generating a significant amount of traffic.
Work Completed
At the beginning of March, we received a request from a newly established media portal that wanted to be included in Google News. We took on this project despite the expected challenges—the portal was completely "green," a blank slate with no history for search engines and several unresolved technical issues.
First of all, we prepared a technical specification containing all the necessary requirements and handed it over to the client's developers for implementation. Once all the required technical and organizational issues had been resolved, we moved on to the next stage—completing the application for the website's inclusion in Google News. The application was prepared and submitted on 05.03.2019.
Normally, applications are reviewed within three weeks of submission, but we received a response as early as 11.03.2019, and unfortunately, our website was rejected.
We began investigating the possible reasons for the rejection. An analysis of the website for technical errors and a review of discussions on the Google News Help Forum led us to the following conclusions:
➤ Not all content within the /news/ category was actually news-related.
➤ The website did not have a sufficient level of trust and authority for inclusion in Google News. For example, one of the news articles was published on our client's website on 11.03.2019, and on 12.03.2019, the same article was republished by another, more authoritative website. Google News displayed the article from the second website despite the copied content and the absence of any contact information or attribution to the original source and author. In addition, when checking Google's search results using a text excerpt, the other website ranked higher than our client's website, confirming the greater authority of that domain and Google's higher level of trust in it.
➤ Example of a response from a Google News Help Forum expert: Without even looking at the site, the short duration of the site is causative to being rejected. Google is seeking sites that have a longer term history of providing great quality news, typically 6 months. Translation: Even without looking at the website, its short period of existence is a reason for rejection. Google looks for websites with a long history of publishing high-quality news, typically at least six months.
Conclusion: The application was rejected due to content that did not fully meet Google News requirements and the insufficient authority of the domain.
Recommendations
Based on the identified issues, several recommendations were prepared to improve the website's authority and increase search engine trust:
➤ Create author pages displaying all publications by each author and add links to the author pages within news articles. ➤ Add the legal entity's details to the "Contacts" page in text format.
Results
According to Google News guidelines, a rejected application can only be resubmitted after 60 days. During this period, all of the recommendations described above were implemented in cooperation with the client, and a new application was submitted on 13.05.2019. On 16.05.2019, we received confirmation that the request had been approved and the website had been successfully added to Google News.
Summary Process Table
| Stage | Date | Action | Result |
| First application submission | 05.03.2019 | Preparation and submission of the Google News application | Rejected (11.03.2019) |
| Analysis of rejection reasons | 11.03.2019 | Review of errors and Google News Help | Content and domain authority issues identified |
| Implementation of recommendations | March – May 2019 | Creation of author pages and addition of contact information | Increased website credibility and trust |
| Resubmission of the application | 13.05.2019 | Application resubmitted after implementing the recommendations | Successfully added to Google News (16.05.2019) |
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