How Google Ranks 'In the News' Results


Google recently launched a newly revamped 'In the News' answer box that is getting top placement within the search results. Here's an example of a generalized search that is showing top News results.

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As you can imagine, this new feature sparked some controversy on the Google Help Forums. The real concern by publishers is that Google is pulling information, not only from well-renown news agencies (CNN, NY Times, NPR, etc.), but also from social media and other less authoritative news sites. In response, a Google spokesperson mentioned:

"We will be pulling from all over the web which means that we will present as diverse a range of voices as possible to ensure we get users to the answer they are looking for. We are always working to give our users the best possible answer to their question. That might come in the form of a video, a press release, a blog, a photo, a social media post or a news article."

In a recent Google Webmaster Central & Google News Hangout, John Mueller answered the question -- Does being published in Google News affect your Google web search ranking? His response was that if your site is in Google News and/or publishes news, it would be crawled more often (which is a good thing). However, as far as ranking goes, he answered like this...

"...Just because your site is in Google News doesn't mean that your website deserves preferential treatment."

There has also been some sponsored content being prominently displayed within the 'In the News' answer box that have many people wondering how if Google plans to place ads in the box down the road or if these are just bugs that still need to be worked out. So far it looks to be just kinks in the system that will get cleaned up in time.

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