Ever take a close look at the Google News homepage?  It’s dominated by top-o’-the-line sources like Reuters and CNN, but stories from smaller blogs occasionally slip through.  Click one of the “all news articles” links and you’ll see an even greater mix.  Now, if you want to join in, Google’s sharing how.

A post on the Google News Blog suggests that you “keep the article body clean” for starters.  That means being careful with tags, ads, sidebars, and other random stuff.  Then, “make sure article URLs are permanent and unique,” and if it won’t distract your readers, perhaps add a financial feature and “take advantage of stock tickers in Sitemaps.”

Next up: “Check your encoding.”  Basically, you can’t claim you’re using one format and then go with another.  The post compares UTF-8 and ISO 8859-1.  Be clear with your publication dates, too, and try to keep your original content separate from press releases.

Finally, be sure to format your images correctly, and make your title tags match the headlines.

Some of these ideas may sound like common sense, and others may seem pointless.  Obey them all if possible, though, since they’re good tips for SEO even if you have no interest in Google News.  And articles and blog posts on almost any subject can wind up in Google News, so this is a great opportunity for improving a brand and attracting a fresh audience.

Share: del.icio.us Reddit Google Netscape StumbleUpon Technorati