Top Stories
Top Stories is a Google search feature that shows recent, newsworthy articles in a carousel or list near the top of the results. It appears for searches about current events and trending topics, and it can send large amounts of traffic to the publishers featured, often within minutes of publication.
How Top Stories works
When Google detects that a search is about something happening now, it may show a Top Stories box. This links to the idea of query deserves freshness: for some searches, recent content is more useful than older pages. Each card shows a headline, image, publisher name and how long ago the article was published.
Top Stories is closely related to Google News, but sites do not need to be listed in the Google News app to appear. Any page that is indexed and meets Google News content policies can be considered.
The feature can look different depending on the device and the search. On mobile it is often a horizontal carousel of cards, while on desktop it can appear as a list or grid. Google sometimes groups related coverage, live blogs and opinion pieces together under the same story.
The AMP change
In the past, only AMP pages could appear in the Top Stories carousel. Since June 2021, when the page experience update rolled out, AMP is no longer required. Any page that meets Google’s policies can appear, and page experience factors are considered alongside relevance.
What helps an article appear
- Timeliness: publishing quickly when a story breaks or develops.
- Relevance: a headline and opening that clearly match the story people are searching for.
- Authority and trust: a track record of accurate reporting on the topic, with clear author bylines and publisher information.
- Fast discovery: a news sitemap and strong internal links from the homepage and section pages.
- Clear dates: visible publish times and matching structured data.
- Good images: large, high-quality images that are crawlable.
How to optimise for Top Stories
- Follow the guidance in Google News SEO, including the content policies.
- Add NewsArticle or Article structured data with headline, image, dates and author.
- Link new articles from the homepage and relevant topic pages straight away.
- Update developing stories on the same URL rather than publishing many thin versions.
- Keep pages fast and avoid intrusive ads that hurt page experience.
Measuring Top Stories traffic
Search Console does not label Top Stories as a separate feature in the main report. Publishers usually look for sharp traffic spikes on news articles and compare with the News tab filter and the Discover report. Third-party rank trackers may also record when a domain appears in the carousel.
Common mistakes
- Assuming AMP is still needed.
- Changing dates to make old articles appear new.
- Clickbait headlines that do not match the article.
Key Takeaways
- Top Stories shows recent articles for news and trending searches.
- Sites do not need to be in the Google News app to appear.
- AMP has not been required for Top Stories since June 2021.
- Speed of publishing, trust and clear dates all matter.
- News sitemaps and strong internal links help Google find articles quickly.
Related Terms
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