An upcoming update to the Google News app will soon direct users to publishers’ own webpages along with AMP pages. Google will continue using AMP pages in Google News, but it is also incorporating non-AMP web content.
Earlier this year, Google announced it would begin supporting non-AMP content in Google News as part of a page experience update. The update began in June and was completed at the end of August, but there was no further information from Google about expanded support for web content in Google News until now.
Google is currently informing news publishers via email that this update will be available within weeks:
“As part of [the page experience] update, in the coming weeks the Google News app will improve its support for web content, displaying both AMP and non-AMP web content with more regularity from sites worldwide. No action is required of you to enable this.”
This update is coming later than initially announced, but it is on the way. For publications already included in Google News, no further action is needed.
Here are some important points about this update:
### Google News No Longer Relies on RSS
With the shift to presenting publishers’ webpages, Google News will no longer directly render article text provided in an RSS feed. Consequently, functionality in Publisher Center related to feed-based article rendering will be removed. This includes custom Analytics tracking IDs and third-party tracking pixels for tracking in-app reads, along with custom RSS styling and feed ads.
### What is Not Changing?
Google ensures publishers that there will be no changes in how data is tracked. Existing analytics tracking will still allow you to monitor Google News traffic. Google News performance reports in Search Console will remain unaffected.
The changes in the Publisher Center are expected to take effect in early November, and the rendering changes are rolling out now. Google will remind publishers about this change again before it goes live.
