News publishers want to appear in three places: Top Stories, Discover and AI answers. Google documents the first two requirements clearly. This guide covers what it says. We have not reviewed Google News policies in detail, so check them if you target Google News.
Be eligible first
Google says content is automatically eligible for Discover if it is indexed and meets Discover’s content policies, and that no special tags or structured data are required. Eligibility does not guarantee appearance. For AI Overviews and AI Mode, Google says a page must be indexed and eligible to show in Search with a snippet, with no extra requirements.
Get the headline and image right
For Discover, Google recommends avoiding clickbait and sensationalism, using titles that capture the essence of the content, and offering timely content, good storytelling or unique insights. It recommends large, high-quality images at least 1200 pixels wide, enabled by max-image-preview:large, and warns against generic images such as logos. Google also says Discover traffic is less predictable than keyword search traffic.
Keep dates honest
Google’s guidance on dates says to specify datePublished and dateModified in Article-type markup, keep them consistent with the visible dates, and not use future dates or the date of the event described. Its helpful content page warns against changing dates to look fresh when content has not substantially changed.
Show who wrote it
Google’s Article documentation recommends author name and a URL to a page that identifies the author, and suggests marking up internal author pages with profile page markup. Its content guidance warns against fabricated author profiles. See our guide on brand entity clean-up.
What to do
- Confirm indexing of each new story in Search Console.
- Write headlines that match the story, with no withheld details.
- Use a large relevant image and allow large previews.
- Mark up honest dates and update them only for real changes.
- Link bylines to author pages with true background.
- Treat Discover as a bonus, not a plan.
Sources: Google Search Central documentation, as linked above.
