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Updated April 10, 2008.
Newsknife rates news sites on relevance (how),
based on our analysis of the main Google
News site.
This page gives tips and links to information that may assist news
sites to improve the ranking of their listings at Google News. if you have tips we could consider for this
page.
Tip posted April 10, 2008
The official Google
News blog has cleared up some myths about getting your site
content onto Google News. It seems that...
TRUE
1. Updating an article after posting it will create problems with
Google News
2. Articles that are just images or video won't be included
3. Redesigning your site may affect your coverage in Google News
MYTH
1. Having an image next to your article improves your ranking
2. If you put AdSense on your site, your article rankings will improve
3. Publishing a sitemap helps your rankings
4. There's no way to see why your articles weren't included in Google
News
5. Timing the publication of your article improves your article
ranking
more...
Tip posted September 3, 2007
"the people that will benefit are any creators of original content.".
Josh Cohen, Business Product Manager, Google News, talks about the
inclusion of wire service stories at Google News, and not listing
duplicates of the wire stories.
Tip posted January 24, 2007
"the most important driver of all readers [to our site] is Google,
except for people who know us and come directly".
The Editors Weblog comments on news sites efforts to improve traffic
from Google:
Writing an article the Google way.
More details from The Wall Street Journal.
Tip posted December 17, 2006
Lee Odden gives tips on getting listed in news search engines, at
Online Marketing Blog.
Tip posted November 3, 2006
If you want to study a rising star visit Houston
Chronicle. In 2004 Newsknife ranked them 110th for sites
we found on the home page of Google News. In 2005 we ranked them
44th. In 2006 to the end of September we ranked them 19th. Who said
newspapers are struggling with the Internet?
Tip posted July 19, 2006
If you're a local news site or special interest web site you can
appear on the home page of Google News. These two examples suggest
a tip for success...
During July 2005 Newsknife found Honolulu
Advertiser on the Google News home page for an item about
Afghanistan. We didn't see them on the home page again until May
2006, reporting $80M funding for a Kroc Community Center in Kapolei,
Hawaii.
On closer examination the Afghanistan article had a Hawaiian link:
bodies recovered in Afghanistan included Pearl Harbor-based Navy
SEALs.
Also during July 2005 Newsknife found National
Geographic on the home page of Google News. The item was
about Hurricane Dennis.
We didn't see them on the home page again until May 2006 for an
item an imminent volcano eruption in Indonesia.
You'd expect that National Geographic could have an expert opinion
on both these items.
It was smart of Google News to give star billing to these two news
sites when a major story turned up that they had special knowledge
about. We're all better informed.
The tip for news site owners is: keep a close watch on major news
items. Then think hard and quick. Could your site say something
important about the item, something you are particularly qualified
to say? Get in and say it. We believe you'll increase your chances
that Google News will tell the world about it (and you).
|
NYT
MONTH
2005
|
HOME
PAGE
|
HOME %
|
H+10
TOTAL
|
|
JAN05
|
53
|
19.41
|
273
|
|
FEB05
|
33
|
15.21
|
217
|
|
MAR05
|
39
|
16.12
|
242
|
|
APR05
|
43
|
16.17
|
266
|
|
MAY05
|
13
|
14.77
|
88
|
|
JUL05
|
41
|
12.89
|
318
|
|
AUG05
|
40
|
12.20
|
328
|
|
SEP05
|
37
|
8.10
|
457
|
|
OCT05
|
43
|
8.74
|
492
|
|
NOV05
|
39
|
8.94
|
436
|
|
DEC05
|
48
|
11.01
|
436
|
Tip posted February 3, 2006.
Charging for content may increase your traffic from Google News
This table shows the appearances Newsknife found during 2005 for
The New York Times on
the Google News home page, and as a % of the total appearances we
found on the home page and 10 sub-pages deep.
Note the dramatic shift in September. The total appearances increased,
resulting in a one-third drop in the home page %.
"Times Select" was launched September 19. Users pay a
fee to access that section of the site. If this caused the sudden
shift in our figures (and it does look like more than a coincidence),
can anything be learned by other news sites?
Here are two possible conclusions. Firstly, charging for news
can increase your Google News listings (and therefore potential
traffic). Perhaps this is because material you charge for may be
superior - more appealing to humans and Google's algorithm.
And secondly, the home page % bounce back in December suggests
that your superior material will start migrating to the Google News
home page where the big click-thru traffic is.
Tips summary posted December 15, 2005
We have extracted the following features Google News might look
for in a news site, from the tips posted on November 24.
* track record
* credibility
* the number of stories from all news sources
* average story length
* number of stories with bylines
* the number of the bureaux cited
* how long they have been in business
* the number of staff a news source employs
* the volume of internet traffic to its website
* the number of countries accessing the site
Tips posted November 24, 2005
"Google
searches for quality not quantity" - New Scientist, April 2005
A useful list of criteria Google News could be intending to use
to improve their results.
"How
Google News changed the world" - The Editors Weblog, May 2005
Comments by Krishna Bharat at the 2005 12th World Editors Forum,
about Google News rating criteria.
Google statements on Google News.
Google
Friends Newsletter Google Principal Scientist Krishna Bharat
discusses how relevance is determined.
About
Google News
Newsknife in-depth information tools:
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