News Sitemaps: Requirements for Google News Publishers (2025 Guide)

Running a news site? Then you need a news sitemap—it's your ticket to appearing in Google News.

Here's the deal: News sitemaps are different from regular sitemaps. They have special tags, strict requirements, and are specifically designed for time-sensitive news content.

This guide is for:

News publishers
Online magazines
Blogs with news sections
Anyone targeting Google News

I'll show you the exact requirements, how to create a news sitemap, and common mistakes that get sites rejected from Google News.

What is a News Sitemap?

A news sitemap is a specialized XML sitemap that uses the Google News namespace to provide metadata about news articles.

Basic example:

<?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>https://example.com/news/breaking-story</loc>
    <news:news>
      <news:publication>
        <news:name>Example News</news:name>
        <news:language>en</news:language>
      </news:publication>
      <news:publication_date>2025-11-26T14:30:00Z</news:publication_date>
      <news:title>Breaking: Major Development in Tech Industry</news:title>
    </news:news>
  </url>
</urlset>

Google News Requirements

1. Eligibility Criteria

Your site must:

Publish original news content
Have a dedicated news section
Update regularly (at least weekly)
Follow Google News content policies
Have clear authorship and dates

Content policies:

No hate speech or dangerous content
No misleading information
No sexually explicit content
Proper attribution and sourcing

2. Technical Requirements

News sitemap must:

Only include articles from last 2 days
Use the news namespace
Include publication name and language
Have accurate publication dates
Be updated frequently (hourly recommended)

News Sitemap Syntax

Required Elements

Namespace:

xmlns:news="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-news/0.9"

Publication info (required):

<news:publication>
  <news:name>Example News</news:name>
  <news:language>en</news:language>
</news:publication>

Publication date (required):

<news:publication_date>2025-11-26T14:30:00Z</news:publication_date>

Must be in W3C format
Must be within last 2 days
Should be exact publication time

Title (required):

<news:title>Article Headline Goes Here</news:title>

Maximum 110 characters (recommended)
Should match article headline

Optional But Recommended Elements

Keywords/Tags:

<news:keywords>technology, AI, innovation</news:keywords>

Comma-separated list
Maximum 10 keywords

Stock tickers:

<news:stock_tickers>NASDAQ:GOOGL, NYSE:AAPL</news:stock_tickers>

For financial news
Comma-separated list

Complete Example

<?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>https://example.com/news/2025/11/26/tech-breakthrough</loc>
    <news:news>
      <news:publication>
        <news:name>Example Tech News</news:name>
        <news:language>en</news:language>
      </news:publication>
      <news:publication_date>2025-11-26T14:30:00Z</news:publication_date>
      <news:title>Major Breakthrough in AI Technology Announced</news:title>
      <news:keywords>artificial intelligence, technology, innovation, research</news:keywords>
      <news:stock_tickers>NASDAQ:GOOGL, NASDAQ:MSFT</news:stock_tickers>
    </news:news>
  </url>

  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/news/2025/11/26/market-update</loc>
    <news:news>
      <news:publication>
        <news:name>Example Tech News</news:name>
        <news:language>en</news:language>
      </news:publication>
      <news:publication_date>2025-11-26T10:15:00Z</news:publication_date>
      <news:title>Stock Market Reaches New High</news:title>
      <news:keywords>stock market, finance, economy</news:keywords>
      <news:stock_tickers>NYSE:SPY, NASDAQ:QQQ</news:stock_tickers>
    </news:news>
  </url>

</urlset>

How to Create a News Sitemap

Method 1: Dynamic Generation (Recommended)

Python example:

from datetime import datetime, timedelta

def generate_news_sitemap():
    """Generate news sitemap with last 48 hours of articles"""
    cutoff = datetime.now() - timedelta(hours=48)

    # Query recent articles
    recent_articles = db.query('''
        SELECT url, title, published_at, keywords, stock_tickers
        FROM articles
        WHERE published_at > ?
        AND status = 'published'
        ORDER BY published_at DESC
    ''', cutoff)

    xml = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>\n'
    xml += '<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"\n'
    xml += '        xmlns:news="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-news/0.9">\n'

    for article in recent_articles:
        xml += '  <url>\n'
        xml += f'    <loc>{article.url}</loc>\n'
        xml += '    <news:news>\n'
        xml += '      <news:publication>\n'
        xml += '        <news:name>Example News</news:name>\n'
        xml += '        <news:language>en</news:language>\n'
        xml += '      </news:publication>\n'
        xml += f'      <news:publication_date>{article.published_at.isoformat()}Z</news:publication_date>\n'
        xml += f'      <news:title>{article.title}</news:title>\n'
        if article.keywords:
            xml += f'      <news:keywords>{article.keywords}</news:keywords>\n'
        if article.stock_tickers:
            xml += f'      <news:stock_tickers>{article.stock_tickers}</news:stock_tickers>\n'
        xml += '    </news:news>\n'
        xml += '  </url>\n'

    xml += '</urlset>'
    return xml

Method 2: WordPress Plugins

Yoast News SEO:

Automatically generates news sitemaps
Only includes articles from last 2 days
Updates automatically

To set up:

Install Yoast News SEO plugin
Configure publication name
Sitemap available at /news-sitemap.xml

Method 3: Automated Updates

Cron job to regenerate hourly:

0 * * * * /usr/bin/python3 /path/to/generate_news_sitemap.py

Best Practices

1. Only Include Recent Content

Rule: Articles must be from last 2 days

Implementation:

cutoff = datetime.now() - timedelta(hours=48)
articles = Article.query.filter(Article.published_at > cutoff)

2. Update Frequently

Recommended: Every hour Minimum: Every 4 hours

Why: Google News crawls news sitemaps very frequently.

3. Accurate Publication Dates

Use exact publication time:

<news:publication_date>2025-11-26T14:30:45Z</news:publication_date>

Don't:

Use current time for old articles
Round to nearest hour if you know exact time

4. Consistent Publication Name

Use the same name everywhere:

News sitemap
Article bylines
About page
Google News Publisher Center

5. Proper Language Codes

Use ISO 639-1 codes:

en - English
es - Spanish
fr - French
de - German
zh - Chinese

Common Mistakes

Mistake #1: Including Old Articles

Wrong: Articles from last week

Right: Only last 48 hours

Mistake #2: Wrong Publication Date Format

Wrong:

<news:publication_date>11/26/2025</news:publication_date>

Right:

<news:publication_date>2025-11-26T14:30:00Z</news:publication_date>

Mistake #3: Inconsistent Publication Name

Wrong: Using different names in sitemap vs. site

Right: Same name everywhere

Mistake #4: Too Many Keywords

Wrong: 20 keywords

Right: Maximum 10 keywords, ideally 3-5

Submitting to Google News

Step 1: Create Google News Publisher Center Account

Go to Google News Publisher Center
Sign in with Google account
Add your publication

Step 2: Verify Ownership

Add verification code to your site
Or verify via Google Search Console

Step 3: Submit News Sitemap

In Publisher Center, go to "Content"
Add your news sitemap URL
Wait for Google to process

Step 4: Monitor Status

Check for errors in Publisher Center
Monitor indexing in Search Console (see troubleshooting guide)
Track Google News traffic in Analytics

Monitoring Performance

Google Search Console

Performance → Search Results
Filter by Discover or Google News
Track impressions and clicks

Google News Publisher Center

Article count
Indexing status
Policy violations
Traffic metrics

Next Steps

Create your news sitemap
Submit to Google News Publisher Center
Monitor for errors
Update hourly
Track performance

Key Takeaways

News sitemaps are required for Google News
Only include articles from last 48 hours
Update frequently (hourly recommended)
Use accurate publication dates
Follow Google News content policies

Ready to get your news content indexed faster? Analyze your sitemap to ensure it meets Google News requirements.