Big changes are coming to Google News! Starting in March 2025, publishers will no longer be able to manually design or customize their publication pages. Instead, Google News will automatically generate all publication pages.
What’s Changing?
Until now, publishers could design their Google News publication pages, choosing what content to highlight and how their pages appeared. That’s going away. From March 2025:
- Custom publication pages created by publishers will no longer be visible.
- The **Google News tile** will be removed from Publisher Center.
- Custom sections publishers previously set up for landing pages will no longer be available.
For full details, check out Google News transitions to automatically-generated publication pages.
Will This Affect Visibility in Google News?
No, this change **does not** impact how news articles appear in Google News or Google Search. As long as publishers follow Google’s content policies, their articles can still rank in Google News.
Google’s ranking systems will continue to consider factors such as:
- Relevance: How closely the content matches user interests.
- Prominence: How important the content is in the news cycle.
- Authoritativeness: Whether the source is credible.
- Freshness: How recent the article is.
- Location & Language: Whether it’s relevant to the user’s region and language.
For more details, visit How news ranking works on Google.
Logos and Titles: What’s Changing?
Another major update affects how publication logos and titles are displayed in Google News. Publishers will no longer upload custom logos or names via Publisher Center. Instead:
- Google will now use the **favicon** (the small site icon appearing in browser tabs) as the publication’s logo.
- The **site name** will be pulled directly from Google Search.
To ensure their branding remains clear, publishers should ensure their **favicon** and **site name** are correctly set up in Google Search. However, those in **Google News Showcase** or **Reader Revenue Manager** can still submit logos via Publisher Center.
Learn more about updating logos and titles here.
Why Is Google Making This Change?
According to Google, this update is meant to:
- **Simplify publisher workflows**, making content management easier.
- **Create a more consistent experience** for Google News users.
- **Automatically maintain publication pages**, reducing effort for publishers.
What You Need to Do
- Prepare for the **automatic generation** of publication pages in March 2025.
- Ensure your **favicon** and **site name** are correctly set up in Google Search.
- Continue following Google’s content policies to maintain visibility in Google News.
This change aims to **streamline** how news is presented while ensuring content remains easily accessible to readers. Stay prepared and make sure your branding is up to date!