You can use the following tags to provide Google with more information about the content of your articles:
- The <access> tag specifies whether an article is available to all readers or only to those with a free or paid membership to your site.
- The <genres> tag specifies one or more properties for an article, namely, whether it is a press release, a blog post, an opinion, an Op-Ed piece, user-generated content or satire.
Because these properties can directly affect the experience of a user, it is essential to characterise your articles accurately in Google News.
Tag values:
Note: Values for the tags <access> and <genres> are required, when applicable, and restricted to the list provided below. Please make sure that you include these values in English only. Our system will display the visible designations automatically in your site's language when displaying your articles on Google News.
- The <access> tag takes one of the following values:
- Subscription (visible): an article which prompts users to pay to view content.
- Registration (visible): an article which prompts users to sign up for an unpaid account to view content.
Omitting the <access> tag means that the full article is accessible to all users for at least 30 days.
- The <genres> tag takes one or more of the following values, separated by commas:
- PressRelease (visible): an official press release.
- Satire (visible): an article which ridicules its subject for didactic purposes.
- Blog (visible): any article published on a blog or in a blog format.
- OpEd: an opinion-based article which comes specifically from the Op-Ed section of your site.
- Opinion: any other opinion-based article not appearing on an Op-Ed page, i.e. reviews, interviews, etc.
- UserGenerated: newsworthy user-generated content which has already gone through a formal editorial review process on your site.
Below is an example to clarify the use of these tags:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"
xmlns:news="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-news/0.9">
<url>
<loc>http://www.example.org/business/article55.html</loc>
<news:news>
<news:publication>
<news:name>The Example Times</news:name>
<news:language>en</news:language>
</news:publication>
<news:access>Subscription</news:access>
<news:genres>PressRelease, Blog</news:genres>
<news:publication_date>2008-12-23</news:publication_date>
<news:title>Companies A, B in Merger Talks</news:title>
<news:keywords>business, merger, acquisition, A, B</news:keywords>
<news:stock_tickers>NASDAQ:A, NASDAQ:B</news:stock_tickers>
</news:news>
</url>
</urlset>
Please note that although you can specify <access> and <genres> in your Sitemap, Google News may also add such designations to certain articles, as necessary. Please let us know if you believe that a content type has been added incorrectly.