How do you get top stories on Google, according to Baden Bower

  (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)

Baden Bower head journalist Adrian John Ignacio believes that getting the top spot on Google News is the secret to significantly boosting brand exposure and traffic. This is because Google News is accessed daily by millions of people worldwide looking for quick access to a variety of articles on a given event or topic.

The problem is it’s not easy to appear on Google News,” says Ignacio.

To rank on the first page of Google News, the site must be validated by the Google team. While a site may be considered eligible to be published on the news search engine, it doesn’t guarantee a place on the first page as several factors can affect rankings.

How to Get Published on Google News

Google uses several measures and criteria before publishing an article. And, like anything Google, news article rankings are determined by a constantly updated algorithm. According to Ignacio, the algorithm looks at eight factors to determine article rank.

Google loves relevant stories, but to be specific, it checks how relevant the story is to the user query.

The algorithm also favours recent articles that provide additional information on an evolving story. It also considers the prominence of the topic and how trending it is among users. “Google seems to prefer publishers that produce more than 20 news articles and press releases daily, " says Ignacio.

To combat fake news and inaccurate information, the algorithm places weight on authoritativeness. This means Google wants to present the most authoritative and trustworthy source.

Google also considers how usable and accessible a website is when presenting search results. Loading speed, responsive design and cross-browser compatibility are vital requirements.

Baden Bower News

According to statistics, Google News accounts for 40% of the increase in a website’s traffic. Though this substantially impacts a website, many businesses forsake attempts at ranking on Google News because of the algorithm.

Ignacio points out that while this is true, there are alternatives to getting the top spot on Google News.

What most people miss out on is that publishers no longer need to submit their site to be eligible for Google News. Publishers are automatically considered for top stories because of their credibility and prominence as most publishers produce way more than 20 news articles each day,” reveals Ignacio

For PR agencies like Baden Bower that have long-standing relationships with media outlets, Ignacio says, “We just need to produce high-quality content and comply with Google News content policies, but when we publish something, more often than not, we get the top spot.”

This article was written in cooperation with AJ Ignacio