How to Get Your Blog on Google News (Step-by-Step)

Google News sent one of my client’s blogs 47,000 visitors in a single week. That wasn’t a fluke. It was the result of proper setup, consistent publishing, and meeting Google’s specific technical requirements. And the best part? You don’t need to be CNN or BBC to get in.

I’ve helped 14 WordPress sites get accepted into Google News over the past 5 years. Some were niche blogs with tiny teams. Others were mid-size publications covering tech, finance, and health. The process isn’t complicated, but most people skip critical steps and then wonder why their application sits in limbo forever.

Here’s exactly how to get your blog into Google News in 2026, from eligibility checks to the WordPress technical setup that Google actually wants to see.

What Google News Is and Why You Should Care

Google News isn’t just another tab in search results. It’s a dedicated news aggregation platform that pulls stories from thousands of approved publishers worldwide. When your site gets accepted, your articles can appear in the Google News app, the News tab in search results, and the Top Stories carousel on the main search page.

That Top Stories carousel is where the real traffic lives. It sits above regular organic results for news-related queries. I’ve seen articles from small blogs outrank major publications in that carousel simply because they published faster and had proper technical markup. One finance blog I worked with went from 800 monthly visitors to 12,000 within 60 days of Google News acceptance.

How Google News Traffic Differs from Regular Search

Regular organic traffic builds slowly. You publish, wait for indexing, climb rankings over weeks or months. Google News traffic works differently. You publish a timely article, and if Google picks it up, you can see thousands of visitors within hours. The traffic spike is dramatic but short-lived, usually 24 to 72 hours for most stories.

But here’s what most people miss: Google News acceptance also boosts your regular search visibility. Google treats approved news publishers with a level of authority that helps all your content rank better. I noticed a 15% increase in organic traffic across non-news pages on one client site after their Google News approval went through. That’s not a guarantee, but the correlation was clear across multiple sites I’ve managed.

The catch is that Google News traffic requires consistent publishing. You can’t post once a month and expect results. Google wants to see fresh, original content regularly. I’ll get into the specific frequency requirements below.

Eligibility Requirements Google Actually Enforces

Google has published guidelines for News publishers, but they’re vague on purpose. After getting 14 sites approved (and having 6 rejected before fixing issues), I can tell you exactly what matters.

Content Quality Standards

Google wants original reporting or original analysis. Rewriting press releases won’t cut it. Neither will aggregating news from other sources with light paraphrasing. Your content needs to add something new: original data, expert quotes, unique perspective, or first-hand reporting.

I had a tech blog rejected twice because most articles were rewritten product announcements. We shifted to original product testing with real benchmarks and specific numbers. The third submission was approved within 3 weeks. Google’s reviewers actually read your content. They’re checking whether you’re producing journalism or just content marketing dressed up as news.

Commentary and opinion pieces are fine, but they should be clearly labeled. Google specifically looks for transparent distinction between news reporting and opinion. If you mix the two without labels, that’s a red flag.

Publishing Frequency

Google doesn’t publish a minimum, but from my experience, you need at least 3 to 5 fresh articles per week to be taken seriously. Daily publishing is better. One client publishes 2 articles per day and their Google News visibility is consistently strong.

The key word is “fresh.” Updating old posts doesn’t count. Google News wants new articles with new URLs covering current topics. Evergreen content is great for regular SEO, but it won’t help your Google News application.

Author Transparency

This is where most bloggers fail. Google requires clear author attribution on every article. That means real author names (not “Admin” or “Staff”), author bio pages with credentials, and ideally links to the author’s social profiles or other published work.

I’ve seen applications get stuck because the site used a single generic author name across all posts. Create individual author profiles for every writer. Include their photo, a 2 to 3 sentence bio explaining their expertise, and links to their LinkedIn or other professional profiles. Google checks this. They want to know real humans are writing the content.

Advertising and Sponsored Content Policies

Google will reject sites where ads overwhelm the content. If your above-the-fold area is 60% ads and 40% article text, that’s a problem. Keep your ad density reasonable. I recommend no more than 3 ad units per article page, and none of them should push the main content below the fold.

Sponsored content must be clearly labeled. If you accept paid posts or affiliate content, mark it clearly. Google’s reviewers will spot undisclosed sponsored content, and it’ll tank your application.

How to Submit Your Site Through Google Publisher Center

The submission process goes through Google Publisher Center. It’s free, but the interface is confusing, and Google’s documentation doesn’t explain every field clearly. Here’s the exact process.

Step 1: Set Up Your Publisher Center Account

Go to publishercenter.google.com and sign in with your Google account. Click “Add publication” and enter your site’s name and primary URL. Google will ask you to verify ownership, which works the same way as Google Search Console verification. If your site is already verified in Search Console, this step is almost instant.

Choose your publication’s primary language and country. This matters because Google News is region-specific. If you publish in English for a US audience, select those options. You can add multiple languages later, but start with your primary one.

Step 2: Configure Your Publication Settings

This is where people rush through and make mistakes. Fill out every field completely. Your publication description should be 2 to 3 sentences explaining what topics you cover and why you’re a credible source. Don’t stuff keywords here. Write it like you’re explaining your blog to a journalist.

Upload your publication logo in the required dimensions (1000×1000 pixels square). Use a clean, high-resolution version. Add your contact information including a physical address or at least a city and country. Google wants to verify that a real organization stands behind the publication.

Step 3: Add Content Sections

Google Publisher Center lets you organize your content into sections. Each section maps to a category on your site. For a WordPress blog, these typically match your main categories. Add at least 3 sections, and for each one, provide the RSS feed URL or the section URL.

For WordPress sites, your category feed URLs follow this pattern: yourdomain.com/category/your-category/feed/. Add each major category as a separate section. This helps Google understand your content structure and index articles into the right news topics.

Step 4: Submit and Wait

After configuring everything, click “Submit” and wait. Google’s review process takes anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks in my experience. I’ve seen some go through in 5 days and others take 6 weeks. There’s no way to speed it up. Don’t submit multiple times thinking it helps. It doesn’t.

If you’re rejected, Google will send a generic email with a broad reason category. The feedback is frustratingly vague. But based on my experience, rejections almost always come down to content quality, publishing frequency, or author transparency issues. Fix the specific issue, wait 30 days, and resubmit.

Technical Requirements That Most People Miss

Getting approved is only half the battle. Your site needs specific technical elements for Google to properly crawl and display your news content. This is where WordPress sites either shine or fall flat.

News Sitemap

A news sitemap is different from your regular XML sitemap. It only includes articles published within the last 48 hours and uses a specific schema format with news-specific tags like publication name, language, and publication date. Google explicitly recommends news sitemaps for all approved publishers.

Your news sitemap URL should be submitted in Google Search Console and referenced in your robots.txt file. The sitemap should auto-update every time you publish a new article. On WordPress, this is easy to automate with the right plugin (I’ll cover that in the WordPress section below).

Article Structured Data

Google requires Article or NewsArticle structured data on every news piece. This JSON-LD markup tells Google the headline, author, publication date, modified date, and publisher information. Without it, your articles might get crawled but they won’t show up properly in Google News results.

Here’s what the markup needs to include at minimum: headline, author name, author URL, datePublished in ISO 8601 format, dateModified, publisher name, publisher logo, and the main image. Missing any of these fields reduces your chances of appearing in Top Stories. I’ve tested this repeatedly. Sites with complete NewsArticle schema consistently outperform those with partial markup.

AMP in 2026: You Don’t Need It

This is a question I get constantly. No, you don’t need AMP pages to appear in Google News anymore. Google dropped the AMP requirement for Top Stories back in 2021, and in 2026, AMP is essentially dead for news publishers. I removed AMP from 8 client sites over the past 2 years and saw zero negative impact on Google News visibility.

Focus on page speed instead. Google wants your articles to load fast on mobile devices. Target a Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) under 2.5 seconds and a Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) under 0.1. Those Core Web Vitals thresholds matter more than any AMP implementation ever did.

Page Speed Requirements

Google doesn’t publish a specific speed threshold for News, but from tracking 14 approved sites, I can tell you that every single one had LCP under 2.5 seconds on mobile. The fastest-performing sites in Top Stories typically load in under 1.5 seconds.

For WordPress, this means running a proper caching plugin (I use FlyingPress), optimizing images with WebP format, and using a fast hosting provider. Shared hosting won’t cut it if you’re publishing time-sensitive news content. I recommend a VPS or managed WordPress host with server-level caching. The difference between a $10/month shared plan and a $30/month VPS can be the difference between showing up in Top Stories and not.

WordPress Setup for Google News

WordPress powers about 43% of all websites, and it’s actually well-suited for Google News if you configure it correctly. Here’s the specific setup I use on every client site that targets Google News.

News Sitemap Configuration

The Yoast SEO plugin generates a basic news sitemap if you have the Yoast News SEO addon ($79/year). It works fine, but I’ve found that the XML Sitemap for Google News plugin (free) does the same job without the Yoast tax. Install it, configure your news publication name to match exactly what you entered in Publisher Center, and select which post categories should be included.

Your news sitemap should only include categories that contain actual news content. If you have an “About” page or “Resources” section, exclude those. Google News sitemaps should be lean and focused. After setup, verify the sitemap is accessible at yourdomain.com/news-sitemap.xml and submit it in Search Console.

Article Schema Implementation

For structured data, I use Rank Math on most WordPress sites. It auto-generates NewsArticle schema for posts in your designated news categories. The setup takes about 10 minutes: go to Rank Math settings, enable the Schema module, and set the default schema type to “NewsArticle” for your news categories.

If you prefer manual control, the Schema Pro plugin works well too. The critical thing is making sure every news article has complete JSON-LD markup with all required fields. Test your markup using Google’s Rich Results Test tool (search.google.com/test/rich-results) after publishing each article until you’re confident the automation is working correctly.

Author Pages and Bylines

WordPress author pages are often neglected, and that’s a problem for Google News. Every author on your site needs a complete profile with their full name, bio, photo, and links to their published work or social profiles. The default WordPress author page (yourdomain.com/author/username/) should display all their published articles.

I customize author pages on every Google News site I set up. Add an author bio box at the top of the archive page showing their credentials, expertise areas, and a professional photo. Many themes include this feature, but if yours doesn’t, the Simple Author Box plugin adds it cleanly. Google’s guidelines emphasize E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust), and strong author pages are one of the clearest signals you can send.

Publishing Workflow for News Content

Speed matters in news publishing. Your workflow should get articles from draft to published in minutes, not hours. I set up a specific workflow for news sites: writers draft in Google Docs, editors review within 30 minutes, and the WordPress admin publishes immediately after approval.

Disable the WordPress revision system for news articles or limit it to 3 revisions. This keeps your database clean when you’re publishing multiple articles daily. Also, set your permalink structure to include the date (/%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%postname%/) so Google can identify publication timing from the URL alone. This isn’t required, but I’ve noticed Google crawls date-based URLs slightly faster for news content.

Tips That Actually Increase Your Acceptance Chances

After 14 successful applications (and those 6 initial rejections), I’ve identified patterns that separate approved sites from rejected ones.

Build Topical Authority First

Don’t apply the day you launch your blog. Google wants to see a track record. I recommend having at least 50 published articles in your niche before submitting to Publisher Center. These should be high-quality, original pieces that demonstrate expertise in a specific topic area.

A site covering “everything” is less likely to be approved than a site focused on, say, cryptocurrency regulation or healthcare technology. Google News favors publications with clear topical focus. One client of mine got rejected when their blog covered tech, lifestyle, and cooking. We narrowed the news focus to tech only, created a separate section for lifestyle content, and the resubmission was approved.

Demonstrate Original Reporting

If every article on your site starts with “According to a report by…” you’re aggregating, not reporting. Google can tell the difference. Include original quotes from sources, your own data analysis, or first-hand accounts. Even opinion pieces should reference original thinking, not just reactions to what other publications wrote.

I tell my clients to aim for at least 60% original content and no more than 40% commentary or analysis of existing news. That ratio has worked consistently across the sites I’ve gotten approved. Original reporting doesn’t mean you need a team of investigative journalists. It means adding value that doesn’t exist elsewhere.

Get Your Technical Foundation Right Before Applying

Don’t submit to Google Publisher Center until your technical setup is complete. That means your news sitemap is generating correctly, your structured data is validating without errors, your author pages are complete, and your site loads in under 2.5 seconds on mobile. I’ve seen sites get rejected for technical issues that would have taken 30 minutes to fix beforehand.

Run through this checklist before submitting: news sitemap accessible and error-free, NewsArticle schema validating in Rich Results Test, all author pages complete with photos and bios, Core Web Vitals passing on mobile, no more than 3 ad units per page, clear navigation and site structure, and contact information visible on the site. Miss any of these, and you’re risking a rejection that delays your approval by months.

Consistency After Approval

Getting approved isn’t the finish line. Google monitors approved publishers continuously. If you stop publishing for weeks, your visibility in Google News drops fast. I had one client get effectively de-indexed from Google News after going 3 weeks without publishing during a holiday break.

Maintain your publishing schedule. 3 to 5 articles per week minimum. If you’re going on vacation, schedule articles in advance or bring in guest contributors. Google News rewards consistency above almost everything else. The sites that publish daily, even just one article per day, consistently outperform those that publish in bursts.

Common Mistakes That Get Applications Rejected

I want to save you time by listing the mistakes I see most often. These are the reasons behind 90% of the rejections I’ve dealt with.

Poor Content Quality

Thin articles under 300 words, AI-generated content with no human editing, and rehashed press releases are the top content reasons for rejection. Google’s reviewers read your site. If your articles read like they were churned out by a content mill, you’ll get rejected. Every article should be at least 500 words, well-researched, and clearly written by someone with knowledge of the topic.

Missing or Incomplete Author Information

“Admin” as your author name is an instant red flag. So is a blank author page with no bio or photo. I fixed this issue on 4 of the 6 sites that were initially rejected. It took less than an hour each time, but missing it cost weeks of waiting through the review process again.

Too Many Ads, Not Enough Content

If a reader has to scroll past 3 banner ads to reach your article text, Google will notice. Keep the user experience clean. Ads are fine, and Google understands publishers need revenue. But the content should be the primary focus of every page. I recommend loading your first ad unit after the second paragraph, not before the article begins.

No Clear Editorial Standards

Google looks for signs of editorial oversight. That means having a clearly stated editorial policy, fact-checking processes, and correction procedures. Add an “Editorial Policy” or “About Us” page explaining how your publication handles accuracy, corrections, and editorial independence. This takes 20 minutes to write and significantly improves your credibility in Google’s review.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Here’s what to do right now: set up your Google Publisher Center account, install a news sitemap plugin on your WordPress site, and make sure every author on your blog has a complete profile with photo, bio, and credentials. Then run your site through Google’s Rich Results Test to verify your structured data is clean. Once your technical foundation is solid and you have at least 50 quality articles published, submit your application. The whole setup takes about 2 to 3 hours if you follow the steps above. Google News approval isn’t reserved for big media companies. I’ve proven that with 14 client sites, and yours can be next.