Publishers can now analyse search traffic from Google News tab

Google Search Console has been updated with a new filter to identify web traffic acquired from the Google News search tab.

The new filter in Google Search Console helps publishers identify and analyse the search queries used to access their content via the Google News search results. 

We've heard Webmasters ask for it, so today we're launching 📢 a new search type filter: News! 📰 Now you can analyze traffic coming from the News tab on Google Search. Learn more about filtering data on Performance reports https://t.co/mbO1wUafuO pic.twitter.com/Fq2m7OWwjX

— Google Webmasters (@googlewmc) July 21, 2020

The data will be particularly useful to publishers that post regular news articles on their websites in addition to longer-form content. 

The Google News data shows clicks, impressions and click-through rate for any links seen in the ‘News’ tab in Google Search results. To access this data in the report, click the ‘Search type: web’ filter on the top of the report, then select ‘News’.

Previously, the search filters available in Google Search Console consisted of web, image or video. 

How to filter Google Search Console data to analyse Google News traffic 

Within Google Search Console, select the ‘Performance’ tab. 

Then click the ‘Search type: web’ filter on the top of the report, and select ‘News’.

For more instructions, visit Google Webmaster documentation. 

What is the Google News tab? 

The Google News tab allows website users to stay up-to-date with the latest news on the topics that matter to them (by typing in search queries). 

In the past, publishers needed to submit their website to be eligible to appear on the Google News search results, but this has since changed, with Google stating that “Publishers are [now] automatically considered for Top stories or the News tab of Search. They just need to produce high-quality content and comply with Google News content policies.”

But Google does state that signing up to its Pubisher Centre, provides benefits to those wishing to increase their search traffic via the Google News tab. 

More information about Google’s Publisher Centre and appearing in the Google News tab can be found here. 

What is Google Search Console? 

Not to be confused with Google Analytics, Google Search Console identifies and allows the analyses of organic search traffic to websites, providing data around search queries, search click-through rates, and technical issues that may be impeding search rankings. 

Google Search Console data can be connected to appear within Google Analytics so that organic search data can be analysed with other web traffic metrics. 

More information about Google Search Console can be found here.