Google Publisher Center

Google’s Publisher Center allows digital publishers and marketing strategists to submit content to Google News and then manage it. Publishers do this by defining details about their site — RSS feeds, URLs and videos — and can do this for multiple publications in a single account.

Google created Publisher Center by merging Google News Producer and Google News Publisher Center. Google News Producer allowed publishers to create a branded feed of existing content and also serve ads. Google News Publisher Center allowed eligible items in the feed to show up in Google News results.

Publisher Center was launched in 2019 as Google ended its requirement that publishers apply for inclusion within Google News SERPs. Appearance is now determined by the same algorithm used for Google Search.

2.8.2 Does Google Publisher Center Matter for SEO?

The answer to this is more complex than it might seem at first glance.

Google has said Publisher Center’s purpose is to help manage content that’s eligible for Google News surfaces — news.google.com, the news tab of Google Search and the Google News iOS and Android apps — while the algorithm determines whether an article appears or ranks on these surfaces.

So, does that mean Publisher Center has no effect on Google News rankings? Well, not quite.

The issue is that Google has also said that using Publisher Center to define details about your site will make it easier to “index your site”. This means that while you could wait for Google News to crawl your site to find your new story, or update and ping your sitemap to tell the search engine about said piece, Publisher Center offers a more direct way to tell Google News when you’ve published a story.

Indexing is an essential component of appearing in Google News and publishers need to maximize their chance of appearing there.

2.8.3 Why Should You Use Google Publisher Center?

In addition to sharing content with news.google.com, Publisher Center offers additional control over brand identity, data tracking, access to Google News Showcase as well as monetization opportunities.

Content and Branding Control

Publisher Center grants you the freedom to create and manage your own visual styles and designs.

For example, publishers can add their own logo images to Publisher Center, which will not only help build brand recognition but will also customize the user experience by optimizing for light and dark mode.

A publisher’s branding and identity can be key not just to stand out from the crowd. Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2021 (PDF download), for example, found that not only were readers turning more to trusted brands, but that the gap between the “best and the rest” had grown.

It’s no longer enough to publish high-quality and impactful content, media outlets also need to ensure that their audiences remember the source.

Additional Tracking Options

Setting up a publication within the Publisher Center unlocks access to web traffic data in both Google Search Console (GSC) and Google Analytics that is simply not available otherwise.

After a publication has been set up, a “Google News” option will appear in GSC’s “Performance” tab on the left-hand side of the screen.

Source

This option provides valuable insights such as how many website visits have been referred from the Google News apps on Android and iOS as well as from news.google.com. Moreover, it includes the number of impressions as well as the click-through rate (CTR).

Setting up a publication also unlocks additional insights in Google Analytics, with the search giant noting that not only can Google News traffic be isolated for analysis, but that this traffic can be broken down into referrals from the Google News app and browsers by tracking the HTTP labels of “news.google.com” or “news.url.google.com” respectively.

Google Analytics also shows referrals as a percentage of a site’s overall traffic, which can be seen by navigating to “Acquisition”, then “All Traffic” and finally “Source/Medium”.

Newsstand Eligibility

In 2018, Google folded Google Play Newsstand — which displayed a selection of news apps and publications — into the Google News app. These same features now appear in the Newsstand tab of the latter app.

While this Newsstand tab still exists, its functionality has changed since Google News Showcase launched in October 2020.

Google has said that publications set up and submitted to Publisher Center are “eligible to appear in the Newsstand section of the app in applicable countries and regions”.

This suggests that publishers seeking access to Google News Showcase, which requires them to conclude a commercial agreement with Google, must sign up to Publisher Center.

Google has said placement in Showcase isn’t guaranteed, given that algorithms still personalize the publications that appear based on user preferences, but it does pay publishers a monthly mount in exchange for creating and curating branded panels.

Monetization Opportunities 

Publisher Center also simplifies the process of integrating Subscribe with Google (SwG) into your publication.

SwG offers site visitors the option to sign up with their Google account details rather than fill in a new form. Google says it designed the subscription tool to help publishers “drive conversions and engage existing subscribers across Google and the web”.

Once Google has reviewed and approved your publication’s addition to Publisher Center your site is approved, you’ll then be able to use SwG for paywalled content.

2.8.4 How to Set Up Publisher Center

While setting up Google Publisher Center is a relatively simple and straightforward task, taking that first step can sometimes be the hardest.

Here’s a step-by-step guide that should demystify the process and help you get started.

1. Sign in to Publisher Center with a Google account.

2. Click the “Add publication” option in the left-hand options panel.
3. In the dialog box, fill out:
   1. Publication name
   2. Primary website property
   3. Location

NOTE: The checkbox that permanently locates the publication in a specified country must be ticked to proceed.

4. Click the info box’s “Add publication” button.
5. Click “Publication settings” on the upper right-hand side of the page.

NOTE: To delete the publication, click the three dots menu button to the right of “Publication settings”.

6. Fill in the remaining fields, including:
   1. Primary language
   2. Additional website property URLs
   3. Contacts
7. Click the “Verify” button in “Publication settings” to verify domain ownership through Google Search Console (GSC), remembering to select the domain name and not a subdomain.

8. After verifying ownership, click “Next” at the bottom right to begin adding logos and fonts in the “Visual styles” section.

9. After editing the visuals, click “Save” in the upper right-hand corner of the page.
10. Click on the Google News module and then click “Edit”.

Note: Google News is just one of three modules available, with the other two being Subscribe with Google (SwG) and News Showcase. These two modules, however, only become available when certain conditions (paywalled content and a signed deal with Google respectively) are met.

11.  Set the publication’s description and category as well as the distribution parameters.

NOTE: Editing distribution parameters allows publishers to decide in which counties their content will appear as well as whether the content can appear on Google’s Chromecast, Video News on Assistant and Text-to-speech News on Assistant properties.

12. Click “Next” to view “Content settings” and fill in:
    1. Sections: These are bespoke tabs for a publication in the Google News app.
    2. Access groups: Publishers can restrict access to the above sections.

13. Click “Next” to review the publication’s details before submitting it for Google’s approval.

14. Test your publication has the Follow feature added.

2.8.5 Using Publisher Center to Submit Content

Once Google has approved  your site, it’s time to go about submitting content to Google News. As noted above, you can submit RSS feeds, individual URLs and videos via your publication’s Google News module in Publisher Center.

Setting Up a Feed

You can submit content via an RSS or Atom feed, but you need to make sure you comply with Google News’ content policies to do so.

To create a Feed section:

1. Click Content settings within the Google News module.

2. Click on “New section”.

3. Select “Feed” from the drop-down menu.

4. In the pop-up window Include your feed’s name.

5. Enter a valid RSS or Atom feed URL.

6. Under “View access,” define who in your organization can see the section.

7. To save your edits, click “Add”.

In addition to Google News’ content policies, it’s also important to adhere to Google’s

feed content and technical feed guidelines.

Feed Content Requirements

According to Google, your feeds should:

• Only include recent content.

• Avoid article duplication by not generating new <guid> tags whenever an article is updated.

Technical Feed Parameters

Google has said the Google News feed follows these parameters:

• Feeds are fetched every 30 minutes, unless the WebSub protocol is used to notify Google News of changes.
• Articles are limited to 1 MB in size, while feeds are limited to 2 MB each.
• Google News only fetches up to 60 new articles each time, without including previously read articles.

2.8.7 Avoid These Common Pitfalls

After walking through how to get started with Publisher Center, we’re now going to quickly cover how to get around problems commonly encountered by new users.

Speed Up Fetch Times

While Google’s technical guidelines note that a Google News feed will be fetched every 30 minutes, the Publisher Center UI notes that content will update on an hourly basis.

The solution to this is to use the WebSub protocol to instantly push the latest news articles to the Google News app. WordPress users can install the WebSub plugin to achieve the same result.

Proper Indexation

Check to make sure your articles are properly indexed by using the “site:” command — for example, “site:yourpagehere.com” — in both the Google News tab in Search as well as in news.google.com.

Entering the command will return a list of a website’s pages that, if indexed properly, will appear in chronological order of publication.

If it displays the pages out of order, then it’s time to troubleshoot the site’s indexation and peruse Google’s best practices.

Understand Your Categories

Publishers should conduct a competitor analysis — using either Google News results or Google Trends to understand topic coverage — to ensure their publication is using the right category to surface in the Google News app.

For a deep look at Google Trends, review our dedicated module on the topic.

Don’t Forget Traffic Analysis

Evaluate the performance of published content using both Google Search Console (GSC) and Google Analytics to determine its value.

Poor audience engagement will become apparent immediately, encouraging an adjustment of editorial strategies.

A Lock Out Isn’t Game Over

Publishers shouldn’t worry about losing their Top Stories rankings or Google News visibility if they lose access to their Publisher Center profile and need to create and verify another.

2.8.8 Actions and Takeaways

Now that you’ve completed this module you should have a clear idea as to how Publisher Center can help Google index your content more quickly.

Publisher Center is a fairly straightforward tool that provides a host of incentives for publishers looking to build brand awareness, simplify the reader subscription process,and appear in Google News Showcase.

It’s a relatively simple process to set up a publisher account, but it’s important to follow Google’s various content and technical guidelines carefully to ensure you maximize the tool’s value.