Google Introduces its News Publisher Center

Google has addressed its news site problems by introducing its News Publisher Center, a new portal where publishers can manage their news sites within Google News. Eric Weigle, Software Engineer at Google, made the announcement today.

Initially, when news publishers made changes to their site, Google couldn’t always detect their new content. If publishers were not regularly checking their Webmaster Tools, they would not know if their content was appearing on Google News, which was a “lost opportunity” for both readers and the publishers.

Through the News Publisher Center, site owners can now make changes to Google’s record of their site, the only condition being that their ownership is already verified with Google’s Webmaster Tools. If it is not, they can go through the verification process in order to manage their news site with the Publisher Center.

According to Weigle, here are some of the things publishers can manage for their site:

Update your news site details, including changing your site name and labeling your publication with any relevant source labels (e.g., “Blog”, “Satire” or “Opinion”)
Update your section URLs when you change your site structure (e.g., when you add a new section such as http://example.com/2014commonwealthgames or http://example.com/elections2014)
Label your sections with a specific topic (e.g., “Technology” or “Politics”)

Should publishers make any of the changes to their site, it is recommended that they check Google’s record of it in their Publishing Center and update “if necessary.”

Weigle says the Publisher Center will become the avenue for Google News and news publishers to “work together to provide readers the best and most diverse news on the web.” As a new feature, he has also encouraged feedback from publishers to know “what works well and what doesn’t.” It is currently only available in the U.S., but Google is planning to launch it in other countries soon, along with additional features.

Users can take a look at the Google News Publisher Center here or can visit the News Help Center for further information.

What do you think of Google’s new center for news publishers? Will it truly benefit publishers and readers? You can share your insights below in the Comments section.

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