Recent Google Updates Have SEOs Scrambling

Like a celebrity sitting down with Barbara Walters, Google News has decided to clear up rumors surrounding how articles are included and ranked. In a post on the official Google News blog, software engineer Andy Golding addressed some assumptions floating around about how articles are indexed. Like a celebrity sitting down with Barbara Walters, Google News has decided to clear up rumors surrounding how articles are included and ranked. In a post on the official Google News blog, software engineer Andy Golding addressed some assumptions floating around about how articles are indexed.

Here are the Myths:

* Having an image next to your article improves your ranking
* Timing the publication of your article improves your article ranking
* There's no way to see why my articles weren't included in Google News
* Publishing a sitemap helps my rankings
* If I put AdSense on my site, my article rankings will improve


And now the Truths:

* Redesigning my site may affect my coverage in Google News
* Articles that are just images or video won't be included
* Updating an article after posting it will create problems with Google News

Things to keep in mind:

* Google News only visits each URL once. If you make updates, it won't be reflected in Google News results. This could change in the future, however.
* If you try to game the system with duplicate content or constantly rewriting stories, you might get flagged in the system as spam.
* Use Webmaster Tools to help analyze your coverage
* A sitemap helps Google News find your content, but not rank it

Via [http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/080403-095920]