Marketing experts have already figured out what makes web content great—it has to be beneficial, entertaining, and must be able to tell a story. But then again, there are still a few people out there who do not know how to get their content discovered and read. This is one reason why SEO can be challenging and at times frustrating. More often than not, small brands find it difficult to compete with or try to outmatch bigger publishers.
What is Google News
Google News offers a subscription package used as a PR strategy by PR professionals to deliver and circulate press releases to a number of media channels simultaneously. Those press releases will also be posted to blogs, relevant sites, and search engines. A lot of sites are designed to share a press release every time it includes specific keywords associated with that specific site. Lastly, the press release will be posted to common news websites, such as Yahoo News and Google News.
Using Google News, however, does not give the assurance that a news channel will publish your piece of web content. In fact, it does not promise that a reporter will open or read your press release. But then again, when used tactically, Google News can boost your probabilities of earning major exposure. It’s unusual for a reporter to reach out to do an interview and then write an entirely new story.
As a business owner or marketer, you want to see your news releases published on a news aggregator or a press release distribution site. Of course, if your plan is to spend money, you better spend it on building a direct relationship with the media, like Google News.
It is important to know when to submit a press release through Google News for the reason that it could save you both time and money. Newswires such as Google News fill up with new topics and different stories every day. For your web content to be noticeable, you have to concentrate on creating and producing an interesting and out of the ordinary news beat which is relevant to your target audience. Press releases via Google News which pull off a major success are those which have impact, relevance, and are interesting to the readers.
Here are samples of newsworthy stories that you ought to communicate through Google News:
- Nationwide campaign unveilings
- Mergers and procurements
- Major financial arrangements
Pros:
- You can see your web content on multiple websites.
- Your press release may get picked by reporters who may later write a story about it.
- If your web content is something of value to readers and reporters, you could benefit from SEO.
- Making a worldwide announcement will have Google News translate your press release.
If your web content is not of national interest, it is improbable that you will achieve success with a press release via Google News. As an alternative, web content which is of interest only to local audiences ought to be proposed to your local media publications directly, instead of wasting both time and money on the newswire.
Here are samples of newsworthy stories that you ought to send through Google News:
- Occasions
- Launchings
- New employs
Cons:
- Because press releases published via a distribution platform can be seen on multiple sites, Google fines companies because the same content appears on more than two sites.
- There is only a little SEO value in using Google News because its set of rules always changes.
- Press releases published through Google News may only be shown on site for a short period of time, and then its direct link would cease to be visible.
That is why, as an alternative to using Google News, you may want to just publish press releases on your company website’s news section. Then make it known to people by sharing it on social media. Or you may want to consider other sets of tools, like Prowly, which is designed to help you build audiences around companies, brands, and people.
Before you decide to use Google News as your PR strategy, here are some of the things you need to know:
- Google’s News Evaluation Process Has Changed
Google News implements stringent rules for the way it assesses and includes web content in the newswires. This is because news releases are way different from web content.
Organic Search News Block
Google News announces your content to audiences by means of its particular Google News filter and organic search.
The freshly announced news block in an organic search engine response page provides producers, who are well acquainted with Google News, the chance to jump brands in search without the need for broad link-building traditions or conventional SEO tactics.
But then again, this also makes it more difficult for web content managers to gauge the scope of their web content in Google News. The referral foundation is given to organic search when visitors click on web content that is included in the news block. While publishers only got to and influenced an audience because they were received into Google News, reporting proves that they are growing traffic by means of organic search.
Writing Still Comes Off
A lot of web content marketers were surprised when Google publicized not long ago that it would balance back authorship structures in their search results. The photos of authors would no longer be counted in organic search results. For this reason, some have even started to question Google’s purposes. But then again, Google said as well that photos, even if they are much smaller, would still be counted in Google News results intended for breaking news.
It is without a doubt that Google News has a significant role in the way that a lot of people gather and learn information. While Google News’ editorial principles may not be as firm as they once were, users get and benefit great value from the collection of web content within the website’s search results.
Being whip-smart when it comes to PR stands for having knowledge of when, where and how to share your press releases for the purpose of gaining more positive and complementary exposure to increase your general brand awareness as well as status.
Every press release is only one of its kind. In fact, each one needs different circulation and sharing strategies for the purpose of getting the best exposure. Only because a certain piece of web content was able to be successful on the newswire does not necessarily mean that the next press release will.
If you are a PR pro or a marketer, the key is to be resourceful and flexible in your communication strategy to achieve success as well as to have an understanding of Internet usage statistics, trends, and data.
