News Search SEO

TL;DR

Google News ranking involves crawling, grouping, and ranking articles.

Transcript

Hi, my name is Maile Ohye, and I work at Google as a Developer Programs tech lead. I'm so glad to be speaking to you today because for me and on my behalf of all my colleagues at Google, we understand how important it is to have a strong news ecosystem so I hope you find something in this presentation that you find useful. Today we're going to talk... Read More

Key Insights

• Google News ranking involves three main processes: crawling, grouping, and ranking. Each phase plays a crucial role in determining which articles appear in search results.
• Crawling is conducted by Googlebot, which discovers new articles through discovery crawls and News Sitemaps, respecting the Robots Exclusion Protocol.
• Grouping categorizes articles by analyzing content for keywords, helping classify them into sections like Business, Health, and Entertainment, and determining geographic relevance.
• Story ranking and article ranking are two phases of ranking. Story ranking prioritizes clusters based on editorial interest, while article ranking evaluates individual articles within clusters.
• Article ranking considers factors like freshness, originality, local relevance, and trusted sources, using data-driven methods to assess user behavior and trustworthiness.
• Submitting News Sitemaps gives publishers greater control over which articles are crawled and indexed, providing meta-information like publication dates and keywords.
• Multimedia content optimization involves using trusted platforms like YouTube for videos and following specific guidelines for images, such as using large, descriptive, and inline images.
• Best practices for publishers include using permanent URLs with digits, avoiding article body fragmentation, placing dates correctly, and separating original content from press releases.

Questions & Answers

Q: What are the main processes involved in Google News ranking?

Google News ranking involves three main processes: crawling, grouping, and ranking. Crawling is conducted by Googlebot, which discovers new articles through discovery crawls and News Sitemaps. Grouping categorizes articles based on content analysis for keywords, helping classify them into sections and determining geographic relevance. Ranking consists of story ranking and article ranking, focusing on editorial interest and article relevance.

Q: How does Googlebot discover new articles for Google News?

Googlebot discovers new articles for Google News through discovery crawls and News Sitemaps. Discovery crawls involve Googlebot identifying new URLs and crawling those articles. News Sitemaps are submitted by publishers, listing new URLs to be crawled. This process respects the Robots Exclusion Protocol, ensuring only permitted content is crawled.

Q: What factors influence article ranking in Google News?

Article ranking in Google News is influenced by several factors, including freshness and objectivity, duplication and novelty detection, local and personal relevancy, and trusted sources. Fresh articles with substantial information lead clusters, while original sources are prioritized over duplicates. Local sources are given more weight for relevant news items, and trusted sources are determined by data-driven user behavior.

Q: What are the benefits of submitting a News Sitemap?

Submitting a News Sitemap offers several benefits, including greater control over which articles are crawled and indexed by Google News. It complements the discovery crawl, allowing publishers to specify new articles. News Sitemaps also enable publishers to provide meta-information like publication dates and keywords, enhancing article visibility and indexing accuracy.

Q: How can publishers optimize their multimedia content for Google News?

To optimize multimedia content for Google News, publishers should use trusted platforms like YouTube for videos, ensuring a reliable user experience. They should include textual descriptions and transcripts to associate videos with relevant topics. For images, publishers should use large, descriptive, and inline images with captions and alt text, preferably in JPEG format, to improve inclusion in search results.

Q: What are some best practices for publishers to improve their Google News ranking?

Publishers can improve their Google News ranking by following best practices such as using permanent URLs with at least three digits, avoiding fragmentation of the article body, placing publication dates correctly, and ensuring titles are indicative of the story. Additionally, separating original content from press releases and creating unique, informative content can enhance ranking.

Q: How does Google determine trusted sources for article ranking?

Google determines trusted sources for article ranking through data-driven analysis of user behavior. Trusted sources are identified based on user interactions, such as clicks and engagement with articles. This trust is established on a section and category basis, meaning a source may be trusted for specific topics or regions but not universally across all content.

Q: Why is PageRank less significant in Google News compared to Websearch?

PageRank is less significant in Google News compared to Websearch because the linking structure for newly published articles differs from older content. Instead of heavily relying on PageRank, Google News emphasizes other signals like timeliness, local and personal relevancy, and editorial interest to determine article ranking. This approach ensures that fresh and relevant news is prioritized in search results.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Google News Search optimization involves understanding the processes of crawling, grouping, and ranking. Crawling is done by Googlebot through discovery crawls and News Sitemaps, while grouping categorizes articles based on content. Ranking is divided into story ranking and article ranking, focusing on editorial interest and article relevance.

• News Sitemaps offer publishers control over article indexing, allowing them to provide meta-information like publication dates and keywords. Multimedia content optimization is crucial, with YouTube as a preferred video platform and specific guidelines for images to enhance inclusion in search results.

• Publishers should follow best practices such as using permanent URLs with digits, maintaining article body integrity, correctly placing publication dates, and separating original content from press releases. These practices help improve article visibility and ranking in Google News Search.