Local news outlets could gain more exposure and get some additional traffic – from both regular results in search results as well as Google News Showcase, Google announced today.
Google rankings improvement. Google has announced an improvement in its ranking system. This update is designed to assist users in finding stories that come from “authoritative local, relevant media source.” Google also said that this change will mean local news sources should be featured alongside national news sources in sites such as Top Stories.
Google News Showcase panels. Publishers who are participants in the Showcase program are now able to choose what content will be featured within their news local panels of Google News. In essence, it’s a straightforward way for publishers to emphasize the things they believe are the most important stories today.
Google News Showcase is Google’s content-license program, which pays the publishers for curating content through stories panels. Since the launch of News Showcase in October 2020, Google has signed deals with more than 1,200 news publications across more than a dozen countries.
The Local section in Google News on the left side navigation, or in this local area in For You. For You feed in the Google News app.
Google News Showcase real-time reporting: Also in today’s announcement, Google mentioned that it has recently begun publishing publishers with the ability to see, in real-time, how their readers are engaged through the Showcase content. Google stated that this information can assist publishers in responding quickly to trends, give more context to stories or create related panels for stories that are getting attention.
What is the reason we are concerned?
All of this could be good news for local news publications. Google offers a large portion of the traffic for publishers – however, they often compete with big, national media companies that are the dominant force in Google News and regular search results. Each publisher’s aim is to increase their traffic and reach. If you’re creating high-quality articles and performing appropriate News SEO practices, and potential is waiting for you to grab it.
