Google News URL Structure

[Deepti_C]

Hi there folks I am looking for some guidance on Google News URLs.

We are restructuring the site. A main traffic driver will be the traffic we get from Google News.

Most large publishers use:

www.site.com/news/12345/this-is-the-title/

Others use

www.example.com/news/celebrity/12345/this-is-the-title/

etc.

www.example.com/news/celebrity-news/12345/this-is-the-title/

www.example.com/celebrity-news/12345/this-is-the-title/ (Celebrity is a channel on Google News so should we try and follow that format?)

www.example.com/news/celebrity-news/this-is-the-title/12345/

www.example.com/news/celebrity-news/this-is-the-title-12345/ (unique ID no at the end and part of the title URL)

www.example.com/news/celebrity-news/celebrity-name/this-is-the-title-12345/

Others include the date.

So as you can see there are so many combinations and there doesnt seem to be any unity across news sites for this format. Have you any advice on how to structure these URLs? Particularly if we want to been seen as an authority on the following topics: fashion, hair, beauty, and celebrity news - in particular "celebrity name" So should the celebrity news section be www.example.com/news/celebrity-news/celebrity-name/this-is-the-title-12345/ or what?

This is for a completely new site build.

Thanks Barry

[Brafton1]

Hi Barry,

The purpose of that 3-digit min unique identifier is to make sure the filename is unique.  We recommend our clients add it to the tail end of the URL as part of the filename, so headline-of-article-12345.html

It's a requirement before you apply.  If you're already accepted as a publisher, make sure your News XML is working properly.  You should also start incorporating the new meta keywords tag for GN publishers.  We covered that update recently: http://www.brafton.com/news/google-rolls-out-news_keywords-metatag-to-identify-news-content

Jim