Google News is a news aggregator that provides users with a personalized selection of news articles based on their interests and location. To ensure that images are properly optimized for Google News, there are a few best practices that you should follow.
Use Relevant and Descriptive File Names: The file name of your images is one of the first things that Google News crawlers will look at when trying to understand the content of your images. Make sure to use relevant and descriptive file names that accurately reflect the content of your images. For example, instead of using a file name such as “IMG2345.jpg,” you could use a file name such as “spring-fashion-handbags.jpg.”
Use Alt Text: Alt text is a description of an image that is used by search engines and screen readers to understand the content of an image. Make sure to use alt text that accurately describes the content of your images and that contains relevant keywords. For example, instead of using alt text such as “picture” you could use alt text such as “Tom Hanks on stage at the Oscars”
Use High-Quality Images: Google News crawlers prefer high-quality images that are well-lit, in focus, and free of any distracting elements. Make sure to use images that are high-quality and that accurately reflect the content of your articles.
Avoid Using Stock Images: Google News crawlers prefer original images that are relevant to the content of your articles. Avoid using stock images or images that are not directly related to the subject matter being covered in your content.
Use Appropriate Image Sizes: Make sure to use images that are appropriate sizes for your articles. Large images can slow down the loading time of your pages and negatively impact the user experience. On the other hand, small images may not provide enough detail for users to understand the content of your images.
In order for an image to qualify for use in Google News, the image needs to meet certain requirements. Google provides some documentation for images to follow, but the guide says these are for AMP articles. There is no direct guidance for non-AMP content.
According to the Google documentation, the AMP image requirements are:
- The article must contain at least one image. Google’s algorithm will choose what it feels is the most relevant image to display
- Only a marked-up image that directly belongs to the article should be specified in SCHEMA
- Images should be at least 1200 pixels wide
- Image URLs must be crawlable and indexable.
- Images must be representative of the article content
- The file format must be supported by Google Images
- For optimal results, use multiple high-resolution images (minimum of 800,000 pixels when multiplying width and height) with the following aspect ratios: 16×9, 4×3, and 1×1