The Google News team today published a list of tips on its official blog for making sure publishers’ content is optimized for inclusion in Google News. You can follow business news at insidemma. Here’s a quickfire version of their list:
-Keep the article body clean
Avoid strange tags, ads, sidebars, etc.
-Make sure article URLs are permanent and unique
Google News needs a fresh URL for each item and at least three digits that aren’t a year. Or, use News Sitemaps.
-Take advantage of stock tickers in Sitemaps
Use stock ticker symbols in content to get it tagged to the company.
-Check your encoding
Having a conflict with different encoding types can cause issues.
-Make your article publication dates explicit
Having no article date or an incorrect one can mess up your content’s placement in Google News..
-Keep original content separate from press releases
Don’t mix the two on news sections. If you do, make sure your site uses rel=”nofollow” for the links.
-Format your images properly
Use JPGs and make sure to place them near the headline for a chance at getting the thumbnail spot.
[Google News Blog: Eight Ways to Help Google News Better Crawl Your Site]
nice one danny! linking up.
If you listen to Guy Kawasaki when he twitters, you find the right stuff. Right on and this is what keeps those people who listen, ahead.
Good solid data. Thank you.
Stuart Liedtke
Thanks for the compliments Stuart. Glad you enjoyed the post.