SEO Optimization for News Websites

17/05/2023
SEO for Google News

How News Content Appear on Google SERP?

News appears on the Google SERP in several different ways. It can be appear as text, images, videos, or in a number of different ways.

Google News On SERP

Text

The news can be viewed as text on Google with a headline and description.

Rich Results

News can be seen in the People Also Ask area and in the “how to” areas.

Video

Embedded videos on pages with news content may appear as videos on the search result page.

Image

Images used in news content may appear as news results on search results pages.

Reliable, Helpful and User-Focused Content

News content needs to give readers confidence, experience and help. In the content, the expertise on the subject should be stated and should be prepared in a user-oriented manner.

This is where the concept of EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trust) comes into play.

Specifying the Published Date of the Content on the Site

Indication of the date the content was shared on the site is another important issue in terms of optimization of news sites for Google News.

Specifying a Date on the Page

The sharing date of the content should be in an area that the content reader can see on the page.

Content Shared Date

Specifying a Date with Structured Data

With the Schema.org structured data, the date the news content is shared should be specified to Google. In fact, if the content has been edited, data that it has been edited should also be added.

Content Published Date Schema.org

Images and Videos

There are points to be considered for images and videos in the news content for Google News;

  • Large logos and watermarks should not be used in images.
  • If there is an embedded resource, it should be available as text in a way that it can be searched and indexed on the page.

Google News Criteria

  • EEAT compliance
  • Regularly sharing news content
  • Google News Policies

Google News Policies

Transparency is important, the date should be clearly stated, information about the author should be given (readers wonder who wrote the article)

Advertising on News Pages

  • Ads on the page should not get in the way of the content
  • User experience should be considered
  • Ads should not slow down pages
  • Too many ads should not be added to the pages and the user should not be bored, and ad pop-ups should not be opened continuously.
  • If a link will be given outside the page, sponsored or ugc features should be used together with the rel feature.