Today I’ll explain how to create content for Google News. I’ll give you tips that will help you create optimized SEO content. This will guarantee a high position in search engines and generate a lot of traffic to your website.
Writing for Google News and Top Stories have similar technical features, but in reality, you have to do things differently. A lot depends on whether you want to become a news publisher or have been one for some time. Let’s get started.
Contents
Google News Titles
Your material should have three titles. What should they be?
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SEO titles
This is the title that is displayed in Google search results before entering the website. It is not visible to the user on the website but stored in the code in the <head> section between the <title> title Seo </title> tags. You can place it manually in the website code, or with the use of appropriate SEO plugins or modules. In Prestashop, it is called “Meta-Title”. In CMSs, if you do not enter it yourself, it will be the same title as the editorial title by default.
SEO title characteristics
- Characterized by the appropriate length,
- should be as short as possible and ideally fit into 600 pixels.
- preferably descriptive,
- must contain a key phrase at the beginning.
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The editorial title
This is the main title that the user sees on the website.
The editorial title should not exceed 110 characters. Why? It is a Google News requirement. In traditional search results, your page is linked to your SEO title. On the other hand, the editorial title is the link in the news bulletins so, you understand that how it is written is of great importance to your position in the search engine.
A call to action in an editorial title is much more important than a regular SEO title. Why? Look for any phrase that uses a Google News block. Note that there are 2-4 materials competing side by side. In traditional results, the first position gives the best click-through rate. However, in the news block, this position does not highly impact the click-through rate. What’s the best way then?
- Create an interesting and engaging editorial title.
- Put a key phrase at the beginning of the title.
- Add good-quality photos to your material.
If you fulfill these three conditions, success is almost guaranteed.
I also have one more tip when it comes to the keyword phrase. Google News prefers unchanged forms. It does not understand grammar, inflectional variations, or synonyms. What should you do? Try to use the keyword phrase in the nominative singular form in the titles and body of your material. Only if it’s fitting, of course. You don’t want to ruin the content’s appearance.
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OG title – Open Graff meta tags for social media
Open Graff are meta tags created by Facebook, but today other social networks also have their equivalents. What is Open Graff for? It allows you to define how your website is displayed after being shared on social media.
Open Graff is nothing but a code snippet in the <head> section of the website. You can apply it manually by entering the appropriate tags in the page code. The title tag is og: title and the code snippet would look like this: <meta property = “og: title” content = “given page title” />. Other basic tags are og: url for the address, og: type for the content type, og: description for the description, and og: image for the photo to be displayed in the shared post. Often there is no need to enter these tags manually because plugins and modules have been created for most CMSs. For WordPress, this will be the Yoast SEO plugin. There is a module for Prestashop called “Prestashop Facebook Open Graph Tags”.
Why are we talking about social media tags? Google News may use them as a substitute for the editorial title from time to time. Therefore, they cannot be neglected and should be optimized for Google News.
Google News leads
A lead is a short text placed on the page immediately below the title. It is one paragraph, two or three sentences maximum. This piece of text usually (but not always) displays as a description in Google search results.
A lead should contain the key phrase in the first sentence. Repeat the key phrase in the lead one more time. Let at least one of the repetitions be similar to the title, in the basic form. The repetitions in the paragraphs should also be in a similar form as in the title and the lead. Remember that the content in the news must count to at least 80 words, but the whole material cannot be long. It is also a good practice to write the lead in bold and preferably contained in <b> … </b> tags instead of <strong>.
Google News characteristics:
- short life span – a maximum of 48 hours,
- it’s dynamic,
- it should reach the audience as soon as possible, while it’s still fresh news.
Dates
The date is crucial for the publisher and the Google News algorithm. It has to be placed on the site and is often placed just below the title of the material. Note! It’s good to have two dates in your page code. The date of the first publication and the date of updating the news. Of course, we don’t have to display both on the website. It is better to showcase the updated date.
Internal links
Every material that you want to publish must have at least one link. The internal link has to contain the phrase the material refers to. If you don’t add the link, you may miss the block. I recommend having three links:
- a link from the home page,
- category listing,
- other news.
Include a link from the older publication in the updated news, but only if it still appears in the search results.
News content language
The last but equally important issue is the language of the news content. Are you just trying to get on the news? Do not mix non-news content with news content. Avoid using swear words, the language of exclusion, and the language of violence in your text. Don’t use threats or incite to break the law. Eroticism, pornography, promotion, and sales are also unacceptable.
Verify information before publishing. It is necessary! Why create fake news, right? It will not bring a bigger audience.
Be real, inspirational, fresh, and non-controversial. Use popular keywords and saturate your content with them. There is a tool that can help you! SurferSEO is an effective tool for optimizing texts on the website. You can read more about it in one of my previous articles.
Summary – is it worth creating content for Google News?
I hope you now know how to create content for Google News. Certainly, not every website, let alone a store, will be able to write news. However, if you have an idea, don’t hesitate to implement it since Google News is not very popular. It means that there is a good chance of smaller competition in your niche and a possibility of getting additional traffic to your website.
Good luck with creating Google News content!
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