Google News algorithm change -does it affect your digital marketing?

Google news has updated its search algorithm. The improved algorithm will Enable Google news to constantly update its result pages with fresh content relevant to the breaking news of the day. So instead of just a static result page, we will also get to see fresh content related to that piece of news being uploaded constantly.

Another change is that Google will also be highlighting the local source of the article published. If a story has a local flavor to it then Google will create its own local content for the story using articles of publishers who are located in or around the story's point of focus geographically.

Google news ranking

Google news ranking depends on a number of factors like timeliness, coverage of recent activities, click-throughs, cluster relevancy, publisher's reputation and most importantly, original content.

An obvious truth is that new news is preferred over old news. Google identifies original articles and strives to feature them higher up on the result page. So chances of higher rankings for original content is far more than that of content which has been republished from another source or taken from news syndication feed. Also, if the article is a republished one indicating its original source, Google would automatically detect this and give the original article a higher ranking.

Google also takes into account the publisher's reputation while ranking an article. It determines the publisher's reputation based on the volume of original content the publisher has created in the past. High CTR's or click-throughs for an article are counted as 'votes' and also have a bearing on its ranking. More clicks mean more votes and therefore a higher ranking.

Tailoring digital marketing for higher Google news ranking

When it comes to Google news, digital marketing strategies like 'one page' optimization do not change much. Generic SEO concepts like crisp and catchy title tags, header tags and search-engine-friendly URL's are factors equally applicable to Google news ranking.

Digital marketing experts need to make sure that as far as possible the content published is original. Since Google news will now be constantly updating its result page, digital marketing experts need to ensure that their sites are the first to publish the breaking news and are also prompt in updating it with fresh articles related to that news. They could also incorporate new tactics into the existing digital marketing strategy, like creating a section on the website that exclusively publishes the breaking news of the day. Another trick that digital marketing experts could use is to publish quality original content by reputed authors on news and current events site other than their own. By doing so, the visibility of the news article and that of its source will increase.

Given the mercurial nature of the digital domain where every second a change is taking place, it is very important for digital marketing experts to constantly incorporate new tactics into their existing digital marketing strategies. It is only innovation and flexibility that can aid an SEO expert in achieving high rankings for his site.

Qudos Digital is a leading digital marketing consultancy and can be contacted on 020 8891 2077 or info@qudosdigital.co.uk

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