Google is the most widely used media when it comes to providing information. Most of the people chose to browse Google for getting the latest news updates. Even if they have other sources, they try to verify the news using the information provided by Google. Due to this reason, Google has maintained specific standards that have to be followed to qualify for getting your news site approved by the top search engine.
If your news site is approved by Google, the content published at your site will appear on the Google news page. Since Google is a well-known brand and has well maintained high standards, big companies with expert management and experienced teams could easily get their sites verified. The struggle is for the smaller players in the market. Due to a lack of proper experience and guidance, many small players are unable to get their sites approved. As a result, they are never able to present their content to the public using verified sources.
To solve this problem and help the smaller business, we are explaining the main requirements that have to be fulfilled to get your site approved by Google. There are broadly classified as follows:
- General requirements
- Technical requirements
- Quality requirements
A brief idea about what are these requirements is provided below.
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General Requirements
Content of the news
The information that you are providing in the news article should be complete and no notch. It should include all the important facts. If it is based on a report, correct data analysis should be provided. The content should be written professionally and formally. The line-up of the content should also be very careful and well-planned. Try to include the related information as well about the topic in the form of past happenings. Keep your content crunchy and to the point. Do not try to add useless information to make the article wordy. Try not to include any advertisements or other unnecessary things.
Accountability
Try to mention the details about the author of the article in each article. If it is not possible to add details about the author, try to at least mention the name of the person who has written the content. This helps in increasing your chances of getting approved by Google. Increased accountability is always better as people tend to use those websites that provide a bio of the author with the article itself. Big news sites in the market like Forbes mention the name and biography of the writers of each article, and it is one of the most important reasons behind its huge readability in public.
Authority
By authority what is meant here is that try to write about things that you know about. Write news articles about the topics that you are well versed with. This will result in a well-written and knowledgeable content. If you write on a topic that you do not know much about, there are chances that the content written by you might lag in various aspects. Following this simple thing will not only make your chances of getting approved by Google better but also make the job of writing easy and convenient for you.
Sources of the information
Always take your news from verified sources. Google does not approve anything and everything that is presented to it. It verifies the information. It checks the source from which the information is extracted and presented. The news articles that provide the most accurate and true information only are published by Google as the accuracy of content affects the goodwill of goggle as well in the eyes of the readers. If you take news from sources that are not true and well developed, you might end up providing wring information. As a result, your chances of getting approved will be bleak.
Quality of journalism
It is the most important thing that matters. No one wants information that is being provided without any solid base. No one reads news articles that are delivered with biased perspectives and support what should not be supported. To ensure good quality journalism, make sure you discard your personal opinions and biases while writing the content. Favoritism not only fails well-established brands but make it difficult for the experienced entrants as well to go far in their careers. Have a broad mind and a broader perspective. Write content for everyone, not for people who follow a certain ideology or belief.
Cite the sources
Cite all the sources that you refer to while you are delivering the news article. The sources also include other sources of information like from where you collected data, who made the concerned comment, which report verifies your factual statistics etc. this will make your article look wholesome, and the chances of getting approved will improve.
Inclusion of important information
Important information includes everything about the news. Its date, the place where the incident took place or the place which the news concerns, people who got affected or are likely to get affected by the same in the future, the time of when the incident took place, everything. Include the necessary statistics and tables as well if you are providing some news about data-related reports or incidents.
Complete the document before publishing
Do not submit incomplete news articles for approval. Make sure you have done every important thing from designing to formatting the data. Make sure you have mentioned about the sources of the news and provided information about the author of the articles. Ensure that the usage of words is correct. Make sure you have written as per your plans. Ensure that your article has all the relevant information. Check for any errors and mistakes in the content. Correct if there is any.
Do not be deceptive
Do not write anything which is not true. Do not provide false information or data in your news article. If you do that, your news site will be directly disapproved by Google. Anything which deceives the public is not acceptable to be published. Do not even try to misrepresent things to make your content appear interesting. Right things presented in wring manner also count in misrepresentation and deception. This might not only lead to disapproval but land you in legal problems as well. Therefore, be careful about what you say and how you say it.
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Technical Requirements
URL of the news article
The URL or the link of your article should be unique and permanent. Your URL should be irreplaceable. It should not have been used before on the internet by some other organization. Earlier a unique number was required to be added into each URL, but it is not a requirement anymore. However, you could consider adding this number as it will increase the chances of getting a brand-new URL for your website.
Formatting of the article
Whenever you publish your article for approval, provide it in the form of an HTML file. Do not provide documents or word files as Google will not be able to crawl in those files, and your approval will get rejected. Google crawl is only possible with HTML format. If Google crawl is unable to access your document, you will not be approved.
Content in the form of multimedia
Do not add any multimedia files like images or videos in the HTML document. It is because they do not separately constitute a part of the news. The multimedia added to your document will be shown in the images or videos section.
Use of meta tags
Meta tags or robots.txt is a form of text which could be assessed by Google crawler. To make your document eligible for Google crawl, use meta tags in your documents properly and carefully. Proper usage of meta tags will improve the chances of your site getting approved.
Google news sitemap
A Google News sitemap is considered important for new websites and dynamic content. Google news sitemap is detailed information about the content. It is the basic requirement for getting approved because it helps in faster browsing of news on Google.
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QUALITY REQUIREMENTS
Readability
The content that you are providing should be presented in a properly readable manner. The font that you chose and the way you design the whole document affect its readability. Smaller and fancy fonts are difficult to read, so try to use standard fonts with proper sizing. Keep the background of the text as simple as possible as designed, or decorated backgrounds make the text difficult to read. Try to identify the potential readers and write as per your understanding of their maturity level.
Engagement
The article that you are presenting or any data that you are showing should engage the readers. It should be presented in such a manner that the readers enjoy reading it. It should be delivered in such a way that the reader chooses your site over the other available sites. For this, write in a structured and organized manner. Avoid using technical and big words. Even if you use them, provide a glossary clarifying the same. Unengaging content brings losses and a bad reputation for Google analytics. So, If you are unable to excite and engage the readers with your writing, there are chances that your site will not be approved.
Clarity
Clarity is one of the most important that you should keep in mind while writing anything. Do not write things that are not important or not related to the issue at hand. Write in a simple and understandable language to make it clearer. Use easy and short sentences to form small paragraphs. Do not sound confused. Be clear about what you are writing and to whom you are writing. For this, you could also take help from professional content developers for your website.
Content
Your content should be of high quality. Say no to the use of informal language. Use good words that suit with the sentence structure. Make proper usage of punctuation marks and other things that directly affect the delivery of your content. Be confident in your sentences; it should be evident from the writing that the author has been very sure and dedicated to writing a particular piece at hand. Your content should be full-fledged without having any loose ends. Leave no scope for improvement and present an error-free standard level content. For getting a better idea about how to write content like an expert, take reference from the already approved sites.
Design your page
The ways you present your news article affect the chances of it getting approved. Well designed and well-presented articles have better chances of getting approved as compared to the clumsy and unplanned articles. Design your article with proper fonts and formats. Use spacing and other features to make the article look more attractive and appealing to the readers. A well-formatted and delivered article has better chances of getting approval. For understanding the same, you can take a look at the already approved sites. It will provide you with a clear understanding as to what you are required to present for approval.
Conclusion
All these above-mentioned tips are very simple and could be easily followed. Smaller businesses will easily get approved by Google if they take care of all these things before presenting their content for approval. Even if you have tried once for getting your site approved, do not lose hopes. Work on your site with more dedication and put more effort into designing. Improve your content and then apply again for the approval.
Take a note of the fact that if your approval request is getting rejected a number of times, there is some problem with the work. Try to find out those errors and get them sorted.
If you find any difficulties in following these tips or designing the website or content as per these requirements on your own, you could hire an expert or a team of experts to help you. Once the content is presented in the proper manner, and Google finds it appropriate, your site will be approved. Stay confident and stay hopeful!
Anika Sharma