Is it still worth the time and effort to get into Google News?

• I have a weightlifting blog that is updated daily with original and syndicated content from around the world. Yet I can't get that site into Google News no matter what I've tried! Any suggestions about how I can get this done?

Answer: Google News is certainly worth your time and effort, especially considering it's one of the top five most visited news portals in the world. This is a topic we covered in-depth just over a year ago in the following SearchEngineNews.com report...

How to Get Tons of Free Traffic from Google News

That report will cover the important topics. However, we do have some updates on the process and some quick feedback on which sites can and cannot get into Google News these days. The important thing to know is that not everyone can get into Google News. At a minimum, a site looking for inclusion in Google News needs to...

• Contain original content
• Involve multiple authors
• Use proper attribution
• Have top-notch response times

Original content and proper attribution are the easiest of these to take care of. Unfortunately, as you have seen with your weightlifting blog, the second point is where most potential sites run into problems. If your site is a one-person operation it's very unlikely to be listed in Google News.

As discussed in our Google News report above, a minimum of three authors and an editor or two is generally required to get listed. Consider creating a few more author profiles and display them prominently on your blog. Google has even said that great, original content from a single talented writer isn't enough to get a site in; forging relationships with other writers or adding more guest commentary to a site will help improve long-term chances of inclusion.

The final point above deals with the potential server response time. Google's...