Google's decision to sunset the Publisher Center marks a significant shift in how news content is discovered and distributed through its platforms. As an SEO professional who's been closely following these developments, I believe this change will have far-reaching implications for publishers and content creators.

Let's break down what's happening and what it means for the industry:

The End of Manual Submissions

On, April 25, 2024, Google announced that publishers can no longer manually add their publications to the Publisher Center. This tool, which allowed news outlets to submit their content for consideration in Google News, is being phased out in favor of a fully automated system.

For years, the Publisher Center served as a gateway for many news organizations to gain visibility on Google News. It provided a sense of control and direct communication with Google. Now, that's changing.

Automated Discovery Takes Center Stage

Google is transitioning to an entirely algorithmic approach for identifying and including news content. This means their systems will automatically detect and evaluate news sources without the need for manual submission.

While Google has been moving in this direction since 2019, the complete removal of manual submissions represents a final step in this evolution. The company states that content adhering to its policies will be automatically eligible for consideration in Google News and across other news surfaces.

The goal is to create valuable, trustworthy content that serves your audience – the tech will follow.

What This Means for Publishers

1. Less Control: Publishers lose the ability to directly influence their inclusion in Google News through manual submissions.
2. Increased Importance of SEO: With automated discovery, on-page SEO factors and overall site quality will become even more crucial for visibility.
3. Focus on Content Quality: Google emphasizes that content must demonstrate high levels of expertise, authority, and trustworthiness to be considered.
4. Potential for New Voices: The automated system could potentially discover and include a more diverse range of news sources that may have been overlooked in the past. Do I think this will be the case? Sadly not. I expect the authority news outlets to bury the smaller publishers.

Timeline and Transition

Google has stated that the changes are effective immediately for new submissions. However, existing publishers with manually created publication pages will retain access to customization features until later in 2024. After that, all publication pages will shift to being automatically created.

Implications for SEO Strategy

As an SEO professional, I see this change as both a challenge and an opportunity. Here's how I recommend adapting:

1. Double down on technical SEO: Ensure your news site is easily crawlable and follows all best practices for news SEO.
2. Focus on E-E-A-T: Create content that clearly demonstrates expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness in your niche.
3. Optimize for news-specific ranking factors: Pay attention to elements like freshness, relevance, and prominence in your content strategy.
4. Leverage structured data: Implement news-specific schema markup to help Google better understand your content.
5. Monitor performance closely: Use Google Search Console and other analytics tools to track how these changes impact your visibility in news surfaces.

Potential Challenges

While Google argues this change will lead to a more inclusive and diverse news ecosystem, there are concerns. Smaller publishers or those new to the space may find it harder to gain initial traction without the ability to manually submit their sites. There's also the risk that the automated system might miss quality sources that don't fit neatly into its algorithmic criteria.

Looking Ahead

Google's decision to fully automate news discovery and inclusion reflects broader trends in search and content distribution. As AI and machine learning continue to advance, we can expect to see more moves towards algorithmic curation across the digital landscape.

For publishers and SEO professionals, staying ahead of these changes will require a commitment to producing high-quality, authoritative content while also mastering the technical aspects of digital publishing. It's a challenging landscape, but one that also offers opportunities for those willing to adapt and excel.

As we navigate this new era of automated news discovery, it's crucial to stay informed, remain agile in our strategies, and continue to prioritize the creation of valuable, trustworthy content for our audiences.

Expert Insights: What This Means for Publishers

As someone who's been closely following Google News developments, I'd like to share some key takeaways on these changes:

1. Not a Surprising Move: This shift away from manual submissions has been in the works since 2019. Google has been gradually moving towards a fully automated system for identifying and including news content.
2. Minimal Impact on Traffic: I want to emphasize that this change shouldn't significantly affect traffic or earning potential for most publishers. The manual submission process has already become less critical in recent years.
3. Focus on Quality Over Process: Instead of worrying about manual submissions, publishers should double down on creating high-quality, authoritative content. The fundamentals of good journalism and SEO remain crucial.
4. Optimizing for Automated Inclusion: To improve chances of being included in Google News automatically, publishers should:
   • Prioritize original reporting and unique angles on stories
   • Target specific, underserved audiences within broader topics
   • Incorporate personal expertise and experiences in content
   • Use clear category structures that align with Google News categories
5. The Importance of Google Discover: While Google News inclusion is valuable, I want to highlight Google Discover as a potentially huge traffic driver. Optimizing for Discover could be a key strategy moving forward.
6. Maintaining Trust Signals: Even without manual submissions, it's crucial to continue building trust and authority signals into your site. This includes having clear authorship, relevant policy pages, and demonstrating expertise in your content.

By focusing on these areas, publishers can adapt to the new automated landscape and potentially increase their visibility across Google's news surfaces. Remember, the goal is to create valuable, trustworthy content that serves your audience – the tech will follow.