Insights into How Articles are Ranked by Google News

A new survey released by Perfect Market, Inc. Newsknife and Local SEO Guide gives some insights into how articles are ranked by Google News (http://www.googlenewsrankingfactors.com). Respondents included the news publishing industry’s most influential online strategists. Participating news SEOs have worked with publishers including The New York Times Company, The Tribune Company, Time Warner and Conde Nast.

The result of the survey is a list of the “Top Ten Most Important Google News Ranking Factors,” including tactical approaches and insider commentary on emerging trends. The report reveals many new insights about how to get content ranked highly on Google News and also clarifies myths and misperceptions around how articles make it to the top of the Google News page.

News ranking factors may surprise many online strategists. Unlike ranking factors in Google.com, where domain authority is widely believed to carry influence, ‘category authority’ is “massively important” when determining Google News rank. Similarly, ‘authority’ matters, but it’s much more likely the category focus of the site pulls more weight within the news ranking algorithm.

Other insights from the survey include the fact that being the first to publish isn’t necessarily important when determining Google News rank while neither is the publisher’s authority.

Commentary:

“Media companies are particularly interested in learning more about the ins and outs of Google News ranking factors, which are quite different than the standard Page Rank algorithms associated with web search optimization,” said Tim Ruder, chief revenue officer, Perfect Market. “News SEO requires an intricate, specialized understanding. My colleague Sheigh Crabtree and I are grateful to the news SEO experts who participated in this survey, lent us their expertise and helped form the analysis for this groundbreaking research.”

“Ranking for top stories in Google News is the Holy Grail for news sites, yet there has been little public discussion within the SEO community of how to do it,” said Andrew Shotland. “As an SEO consultant who has worked on some of the largest news brands in the world, I thought others would benefit from asking some of the best SEOs out there to share their knowledge of how Google News works.”

“Clearly news publications that rank consistently at the top of Newsknife spend effort to get there,” said Neil Pharazyn, founder of Newsknife. “These Google News ranking factor insights will give news SEOs a better focus on what works.”