Member Avatar for BamaStangGuy

I have been trying to get into Google News for the longest time. All my top competitors for my Mustang site are in it, Stangnet.com, Mustang.com, Corral.net but every time I submit I get turned down. Here is the latest reason for turning me down:

Hi Brent,

Thank you for your note. We've reviewed <sitename>
and are unable to include it in Google News. We currently only include
articles from sources that could be considered organizations, generally
characterized by multiple writers and editors, availability of
organizational information, and accessible contact information. When we
reviewed your site we weren't able to find this evidence of an
organization.

We appreciate your willingness to provide your articles to us, and we'll
log your site for future consideration.

Regards,
The Google Team

Now looking at Mustang.com I don't understand what is so different about their site than mine.

Do I have to create a contact page that specifically states my name and me as the owner like Corral.net?

It's just really frustrating to get the cold shoulder every time when more than half the time I beat Mustang.com, Stangnet.com and Corral.net to the new news! I beat Stangnet by 12 hours for the latest article and corral.net doesn't even have it up :rolleyes:

Thanks for any input :)

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by BamaStangGuy

Dani AI

Generated

Short version: Google News accepts sites that look and behave like a news publisher — clearly identified editorial ownership, consistent article-format pages with bylines and datelines, and pages that crawlers can reliably access. The frustration and others describe is common: acceptance can feel inconsistent (, ), but there are practical changes that improve the odds without ripping up your whole URL structure.

Practical, low-effort fixes that do not require changing old permalinks:

  • Add a visible masthead/About page and a Contact page with real contact info and an editorial statement.
  • Put bylines and author pages on every news article (even if it is one owner, list an author bio).
  • Create a dedicated news section or subdirectory for future items (e.g., /news/) so new articles have clean, article-level URLs while legacy content stays untouched.
  • Publish a site RSS/Atom feed and a News sitemap for that news section; keep a steady cadence of fresh, original reporting before reapplying.

Technical checklist for crawling and indexing:

  • Ensure article pages are accessible to crawlers (no robots block, noindex tags, or required login).
  • Serve full article HTML without relying on client-side JS to render the text.
  • Use clear publication timestamps, and add standard meta/structured data (NewsArticle/Article fields or simple meta published_time) so machines can find the date/author easily.
  • Verify the site in Google Search Console and register/manage the publication in Google’s Publisher/News tools before reapplying.

A note on distribution: paid press wires can increase visibility but are not required; original, timely material and clean publisher signals are the stronger path. Wait until the above items are in place and you have several weeks of new, properly formatted articles before submitting again.

Recommended Answers

All 9 Replies

Member Avatar for Dani

I am with you on that one. For a year we were being told "We're having a problem indexing you" and when we finally were in and working, two days later they decided our content was apparently not up to par.

Member Avatar for happygeek

Plus they use the 'doesn't have an editor' and 'not multiple writers' or 'not a news organisation' excuses rather a lot as well.

The real reasons are a lot harder to fathom, and I suspect quite a lot of 'boardroom politics' goes on.

Member Avatar for BamaStangGuy

I am with you on that one. For a year we were being told "We're having a problem indexing you" and when we finally were in and working, two days later they decided our content was apparently not up to par.

This is why I do not like Google as a company. All their support messages are canned and their customer support is almost non existent.

I have found how to submit my site to Yahoo! News so hopefully I will have better luck there.

Member Avatar for etechsupport

I found if your news get in prnewswire & prweb, its has good chance to get in google news, also make sure to optimize your press release title.

Member Avatar for BamaStangGuy

I found if your news get in prnewswire & prweb, its has good chance to get in google news, also make sure to optimize your press release title.

I don't want to pay 80 dollars everytime I want something in Google News though.

Member Avatar for BamaStangGuy

Thanks for that list

Member Avatar for Dani

I've been accepted four times and rejected twice so far. Unfortunately, the rejected part is what came last.

Member Avatar for BamaStangGuy

I have decided to not attempt to get into Google News anymore at this time. I do not feel like changing my wordpress permalinks and 301 redirecting the olds ones. My goal is to increase Organic search engine traffic and that is starting to happen. I am not about to start changing urls now :D

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