How to Get on Google News

Google News is Google's dedicated news aggregation service that collects articles from thousands of verified news publishers worldwide. It surfaces content in multiple places across the Google ecosystem:

• The News tab in Google Search — when users click "News" after searching
• Top stories carousel — the news box that appears at the top of regular search results for newsworthy queries
• Google News app & website — news.google.com and the dedicated mobile app
• Google Discover — the personalized content feed on Android and the Google app

Not every website can appear in Google News. Google only includes content from approved publishers that meet their editorial and technical standards. This is what makes Google News valuable — it's a curated, authoritative news source that users and search engines trust.

For businesses, appearing on Google News means getting in front of users who are actively engaged with news content — a highly attentive audience that's more receptive to new information about companies, products, and industry developments.

Google News isn't just another traffic source — it provides unique advantages that standard organic search can't match:

Additional Search Real Estate: Google News results appear separately from organic results. When your business is featured in both the News tab and organic results, you occupy more space on the search results page. The "Top stories" carousel appears above organic results for many queries, giving your content prime positioning.

Faster Indexing: Google News content gets crawled and indexed significantly faster than standard web pages. While a typical blog post might take days or weeks to get indexed, news articles on Google News-approved sites can appear in search results within hours of publication.

Higher Trust Signals: Being featured on Google News-indexed publications sends strong E-E-A-T signals to Google. It tells the algorithm that your business has been covered by editorially vetted, trustworthy sources — which can positively impact your overall SEO performance beyond just the news article itself.

Massive Reach: Google News serves over a billion users worldwide. The Google News app alone has hundreds of millions of active users. When your article appears in Google News, you're tapping into one of the largest news audiences on the internet.

AI Visibility: AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini heavily reference Google News-indexed sources when generating answers. Content published on Google News outlets is among the most likely to be cited and recommended by AI assistants.

There are two primary paths to getting your business featured on Google News. They require very different levels of effort, time, and investment.

For the vast majority of businesses, press release distribution to Google News-indexed outlets is the practical path. Getting your own website approved as a Google News publisher requires a dedicated editorial operation with consistent, original news content — which is the core business of media companies, not typical businesses.

The most reliable way to appear on Google News is by getting your article published on outlets that are already approved Google News publishers. Here's how the process works:

If you operate a media site or publish original news content regularly, you can apply to have your website included as a Google News publisher through Google Publisher Center. Here are the requirements:

Original News Content: Your site must publish original, timely news content — not aggregated, repurposed, or promotional material. Google requires a consistent stream of articles with genuine journalistic value.

Editorial Standards: Content must follow journalistic best practices — accuracy, attribution, clear distinction between news and opinion, and transparent sourcing. Google evaluates editorial quality as part of the review process.

Technical Requirements: Your site needs clean URLs, proper article markup (Article structured data), a Google News sitemap, and a responsive design. Articles should have clear publication dates, author bylines, and unique URLs.

Transparency: Google requires clear information about who runs the site, including an About page, contact information, author bios, and editorial policies. Sites without clear ownership and editorial transparency are rejected.

Publishing Frequency: Google News expects consistent publishing. Sites that post sporadically or only publish a few articles per month are unlikely to be approved. Most successful Google News publishers post daily or multiple times per week.

This path is realistically only viable for media companies, news organizations, and large content publishers. For typical businesses, the press release distribution method provides Google News visibility without needing to become a full-time news publisher.

Whether you're distributing a press release or publishing on your own site, content that performs on Google News shares these characteristics:

Timeliness: Google News prioritizes fresh, timely content. Articles about current events, recent developments, or new announcements perform best. Evergreen content without a news hook rarely appears in Google News results.

Factual Accuracy: Claims must be verifiable. Include specific data, dates, names, and sources. Vague or unsubstantiated claims can prevent your article from appearing in Google News or lead to it being deprioritized.

Clear Structure: Use a journalistic structure: headline, lead paragraph (answering who/what/when/where/why), supporting details, quotes, and a conclusion. This format is what Google News algorithms expect and what readers of news content prefer.

Original Reporting: Duplicate content or lightly rewritten articles from other sources don't perform well on Google News. Original insights, unique data, exclusive quotes, or a fresh angle on a trending topic all help your article stand out.

No Promotional Language: Articles that read like advertisements or use excessive promotional language get filtered out. Write in a neutral, informative tone. Present facts and let the reader draw conclusions rather than explicitly selling your product or service.

Proper Attribution: Cite sources, attribute quotes, and link to references where appropriate. Google News values transparency and proper journalism practices. Articles with clear attribution rank higher in Google News results.

Google News visibility delivers specific SEO advantages that complement your broader search optimization strategy:

High-Authority Backlinks: Articles on Google News-indexed outlets generate backlinks from sites with DA 70–94. These are the most valuable backlinks for domain authority growth. A single Google News campaign can generate enough quality backlinks to measurably increase your domain rating.

Rapid Indexing: Google crawls News-indexed sites much more frequently than standard websites. When your article goes live on a Google News publisher, it's typically indexed within hours — compared to days or weeks for content on most regular websites.

Multiple Search Placements: A single article can appear in Google News results, the News tab, the Top stories carousel, Google Discover, and organic search results simultaneously. This means one piece of content can occupy multiple positions across Google's ecosystem.

Brand SERP Improvement: When someone searches your brand name, Google News articles from authoritative outlets appear alongside your website. This creates a strong, professional first impression and pushes down any irrelevant or competitor results.

E-E-A-T Boost: Being covered by Google News-approved publishers sends strong Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness signals. This doesn't just help the news article rank — it strengthens the E-E-A-T profile of your entire domain, potentially improving rankings across all your pages.

Referral Traffic Spikes: Google News articles can drive significant traffic spikes, especially when your content aligns with trending topics. Unlike organic search traffic which builds gradually, news traffic can deliver thousands of visitors within hours of publication.