How to get into Google's Tops Stories?

[Saba.Elahi.M.]

Hi All,

I have been doing research for a few weeks and I cannot for the life of me figure out why I cannot get my website (Racenet) into the top stories in Google.

We are in Google News, have "news article" schema, have AMP pages. Our news articles also perform quite well organically and we typically dominate the Google News section.

We have two main competitors (Punters and Just Horse Racing) who are both in top stories and I cannot find anything that we are doing that they aren't.

Apparently the AMP "news article" schema is incorrect and that could be the reason why we aren't showing up in Google Top Stories, but I can't find anything wrong with the schema and it looks the same as our competitors. For example: https://search.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool/u/0/#url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racenet.com.au%2Fnews%2Fblake-shinn-booked-to-ride-doncaster-handicap-favourite-alizee-20190331%3FisAmp%3D1

Does anyone have any ideas of why I cannot get my site into Google Top Stories? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[NickSamuel]

Hi Katherine,

Looks like you've covered most obvious areas of investigation but I'd be happy to take a glance if I get a can.

Please could you share with me some example articles and ones of your competitors which feature in top stories?

Cheers,

Nick

[Saba.Elahi.M.]

Thanks for your reply Nick!

If you type "queen elizabeth stakes" into Google you are likely to see articles from Just Horse Racing.

https://www.justhorseracing.com.au/fields-results/race-fields/nominations/queen-elizabeth-stakes-winx-nominations-2019/513812

https://www.justhorseracing.com.au/fields-results/race-fields/queen-elizabeth-stakes-field-winx-2019/514064

https://www.justhorseracing.com.au/news/australian-racing/maximum-eight-rivals-for-winx-in-qe/514125

https://www.justhorseracing.com.au/news/australian-racing/japanese-raider-to-take-on-winx-in-queen-elizabeth-stakes/514120

And from Punters:

https://www.punters.com.au/news/winx-to-face-eight-rivals_179095/

https://www.punters.com.au/news/winx-1.06-for-queen-elizabeth_179099/

Whereas our article, https://www.racenet.com.au/news/eight-challengers-for-the-winx-swansong-in-the-queen-elizabeth-stakes-20190409 does not appear.

Or if you search "sydney cup", Just Horse Racing and Punters both feature in Top Stories:

https://www.punters.com.au/news/full-field-for-sydney-cup_179100/

https://www.justhorseracing.com.au/news/australian-racing/sydney-cup-favourite-dubhe-draws-gate-four/514145

Our article https://www.racenet.com.au/news/sydney-cup-field-and-barrier-draw-20190409 doesn't

I greatly appreciate any help Nick!