How to Get Your WordPress Site on Google News (2025 Complete Guide)

Getting accepted into Google News can 10X your traffic from high-value news searchers. Follow this step-by-step blueprint to maximize your approval chances and stay compliant with Google’s strict requirements.

🔍 Google News Eligibility Requirements

Before applying, your WordPress site must have:

✅ Daily original news content (minimum 3 posts/day)
✅ Clear editorial team with author bios
✅ Transparent contact/policy pages
✅ No ads above the fold on article pages
✅ SSL certificate (HTTPS required)
✅ Clean URL structure (no session IDs/parameters)

Automatic disqualifiers:

• User-generated content (forums)
• Press release syndication
• Affiliate-heavy content. Our YouTube channel; https://www.youtube.com/@easythemestore

🚀 8-Step Approval Process

1. Content Structure Optimization

Required Post Elements:

<!-- In single.php -->
<article itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/NewsArticle">
  <meta itemprop="datePublished" content="<?php echo get_the_date('c'); ?>"/>
  <meta itemprop="dateModified" content="<?php echo the_modified_date('c'); ?>"/>
  <div itemprop="publisher" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization">
    <meta itemprop="name" content="Your Publication Name"/>
  </div>
</article>

Plugins for News Markup:

• Schema Pro (auto-generates NewsArticle schema)
• WP RSS Aggregator (for news feeds)

2. Technical Setup

.htaccess Rules for News Crawlers:

# Enable crawling of recent posts only
RewriteRule ^news/([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{2})/ - [L]
RewriteRule ^.*$ - [R=404,L]

Required WordPress Settings:

1. Settings → Permalinks: Use /news/%year%/%monthnum%/%postname%/
2. Disable pagination for archives (prevents duplicate content)

3. Google Publisher Center Setup

1. Go to publishercenter.google.com

2. Verify ownership via:

   • Google Search Console

   • HTML file upload

3. Submit publication name + logo (PNG, 600x60px)

Pro Tip: Create separate “News” and “Opinion” sections if publishing both.

4. News Sitemap Generation

Plugin Method:

1. Install Google News & RSS Feed plugin
2. Generate sitemap at /googlenews.xml

Manual Method (functions.php):

function news_sitemap() {
  if(strpos($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], 'googlenews.xml')) {
    header('Content-Type: text/xml');
    $posts = get_posts(array(
      'post_type' => 'post',
      'posts_per_page' => 1000,
      'date_query' => array(
        'after' => '30 days ago'
      )
    ));
    // XML output here
    exit;
  }
}
add_action('init', 'news_sitemap');

5. Content Publishing Strategy

Ideal Post Frequency:

• Breaking News: Publish within 15 minutes of events
• Evergreen Updates: Refresh old posts with “[Update: 2024]”
• Multimedia Requirement: 1+ original image/video per post

Word Count Guidelines:

6. Application Submission

1. Wait until you have 30+ recent news posts
2. Submit via Google News Publisher Center
3. Typical review time: 3-6 weeks

Rejection Reasons & Fixes:

7. Post-Approval Optimization

Top Stories Ranking Factors:

1. Publish Speed (aim for <5 min after events)
2. Entity Recognition (use WordLift plugin)
3. Click-Through Rate (test 3 headline variants)

Monitoring Tools:

• Google News Dashboard (track impressions)
• News SEO Report in Google Search Console

🚨 Common Mistakes That Get Sites Banned

1. Sneaky Redirects (mobile vs desktop)
2. Aggregating Without Adding Value
3. Changing Published Dates without updates
4. Too Many Opinion Pieces (balance with reporting)

📈 Advanced Tactics for Top Placement

1. Exclusive News Tags

<!-- In article header -->
<meta name="original-source" content="exclusive">

2. Live Blogging Format

Use Live Blog Plugin for:
✓ Real-time updates
✓ Push notifications
✓ Versioned edits

3. Local News Advantage

Add geo-coordinates to posts:

update_post_meta($post_id, 'geo_latitude', '37.7749');
update_post_meta($post_id, 'geo_longitude', '-122.4194');

✅ Approval Checklist

1. 30+ original news posts published
2. NewsArticle schema implemented
3. Dedicated news sitemap created
4. Google Publisher Center profile complete
5. No duplicate/thin content issues
6. HTTPS + clean URLs verified

Approval Rate: ~18% on first try. Persistence pays off!

Pro Tip: Once approved, use Google News keywords like “[BREAKING]” or “[EXCLUSIVE]” in titles for 23% more impressions.