Google News infographic: a mock Top stories carousel with fictional publishers, six things Google News weighs (relevance, prominence, authoritativeness, freshness, usability, location and language), what doesn't help (paying Google, ads, disguised sponsored content), and three steps on what to do.

Oct 5, 2026

How to Get Into Google News and Top Stories (Infographic)

How publishers get into Google News and Top stories: automatic eligibility, how Google News ranks stories, what doesn't help, and article page best practices.

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<a href="https://searchinsider.io/infographics/google-news"><img src="https://searchinsider.io/research/google-news/google-news-infographic.png" alt="Google News infographic: a mock Top stories carousel with fictional publishers, six things Google News weighs (relevance, prominence, authoritativeness, freshness, usability, location and language), what doesn't help (paying Google, ads, disguised sponsored content), and three steps on what to do." style="max-width:680px;width:100%;height:auto;" /></a><p>Source: <a href="https://searchinsider.io/infographics/google-news">Google News and Top stories infographic</a> by Search Insider.</p>

How do you get into Google News and Top stories?

The short answer: There's no application. Publishers are considered automatically if they produce high-quality content and follow Google News policies. Clear dates, bylines and transparency help; paying or running Google ads doesn't.

Based on Google Publisher Center Help and Google Search Central.

What it shows

Publishers are automatically considered for Top stories and the News tab.
Google News ranking factors include relevance, prominence, authoritativeness, freshness, usability, and location and language.
Google doesn't accept payment to improve ranking, and AdSense participation has no effect.
News sources should provide clear dates, bylines, author information and contact details.
Concealing sponsored content as editorial breaks Google News policies.
News sitemaps should only include articles from the last two days, up to 1,000 per sitemap.

What to do

Every story: Show one clear date, a real byline and author pages.
Transparency: Publish contact details and label sponsored content.
Discovery: Add a news sitemap with the last two days of articles.

The walkthrough

How do you get into Google News?

There's no application. Publishers are automatically considered for Top stories or the News tab of Search, and Google may find a site through its normal web crawl ^[1]. Sites need high-quality content that complies with Google News content policies, and eligibility doesn't guarantee good rankings ^[1].

How does Google News rank stories?

Google lists relevance of content, prominence, authoritativeness, freshness, usability, and location and language as ranking factors ^[2].

Can you pay to rank in Google News?

No. Google doesn't accept payments to improve a site's search appearance or ranking, and participation in advertising programs like AdSense has no effect on ranking ^[2].

What should a news article page include?

Show one clear date and time, and don't refresh a story's date without significant new information ^[3]. Clearly mark bylines, use images relevant to the story rather than logos, keep headlines under 110 characters, and add structured data such as datePublished, dateModified, headline, image and author.url ^[3].

What content isn't allowed in Google News?

Google News policies prohibit dangerous, deceptive, harassing, hateful, manipulated media, medical, sexually explicit, violent extremist, violent and gory, and vulgar content ^[4]. Sponsored content concealed as independent editorial content isn't allowed, and news sources should provide clear dates, bylines, author information and contact details ^[4]. These policies apply only to news surfaces ^[4].

How do news sitemaps work?

Only include URLs for articles created in the last two days, with up to 1,000 news:news tags per sitemap ^[5].

Sources

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