In March 2025, Google News officially completed its transition to automatically generated publication pages, marking a major change for publishers who use the platform.
What’s Changing?
Previously, publishers could manually create and manage their own landing pages on Google News through the Publisher Center, often using RSS feeds or specific web locations. That’s no longer the case.
From now on, Google will automatically generate all publication pages, without using any custom data submitted by publishers. This means:
Manually created landing pages have been removed
Some publications might not have a landing page at all
Users can follow topics, but not specific publications as before
Why the Change?
According to Google, this update is part of an effort to streamline the publisher experience and make the news product more straightforward for users. By automating the process, Google aims to reduce the number of steps publishers need to take while still showing relevant news content across its platforms.
Customization Options Removed
Along with the shift, several customization features in Publisher Center are being phased out, including:
Custom sections on publication landing pages
Custom logos and publication titles (Google will now use favicons and site names instead)
Country-specific distribution controls (except for Google News Showcase)
If you’ve been using Publisher Center to adjust how your brand appears on Google News, you’ll want to review your favicon and site name, as these will now be pulled directly from your website.
What’s Not Affected?
While the look and setup of publication pages is changing, this doesn’t impact how content is selected or ranked in Google News. As long as your content follows Google’s content policies, it remains eligible to appear on news surfaces.
Google’s algorithm will continue to rank articles based on:
Relevance
Freshness
Authoritativeness
Location and language
Overall prominence
Updates on Video and Audio Content
Some features related to multimedia content are also being adjusted:
You can no longer submit YouTube content to Google News or Google Assistant via Publisher Center. However, YouTube videos are still eligible to appear on both platforms automatically.
The text-to-speech feature on Google Assistant that plays news article snippets is being discontinued outside the US. If you want to opt out within the US, you’ll need to use the
nopagereadaloudmeta tag on your site.
Final Thoughts
This update marks a shift toward automation and simplicity in Google News. While publishers lose some control over how their content is displayed, the core goal remains: delivering trusted, high-quality news to users around the world.
For more details, visit the official support page: Google Publisher Center Help
