Google Publisher Center is Google’s admin tool for news publishers. According to Google’s help center, it is used to manage publication details, verify website properties, handle user access and set up products such as Reader Revenue Manager and Google News Showcase. It is not a CMS, and articles stay on the publisher’s own website.
What changed in 2024 and 2025?
On April 25, 2024, Google announced that publishers could no longer set up new Google News publications in Publisher Center. In late March 2025, Google News switched fully to automatically generated publication pages. Since then, Google News no longer uses RSS feeds or web locations submitted in Publisher Center. Logos come from the site’s favicon in Google Search, and publication titles come from the site name Google shows in Search. Guides that describe adding sections or feeds in Publisher Center are outdated.
Do I need Publisher Center to appear in Google News?
No. Google states that it automatically considers all web content for inclusion in Google News, so publishers don’t need to apply. The 2025 change did not alter which content is eligible.
Example
A regional newspaper uses Publisher Center only to manage its Reader Revenue Manager subscriptions. Its articles reach Google News through regular crawling, supported by a news sitemap.
Sources
- Publisher Center overview – Google News Publisher Center Helpsupport.google.com
- Google News transitions to automatically-generated publication pages – Google News Publisher Center Helpsupport.google.com
- Announcements – Google News Publisher Center Helpsupport.google.com
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