News & blog website setup
Your news site, live in 7 days — ready for the first story.
We set up one of our news, magazine or blog themes with your branding, sections, editorial roles, newsletter, ad slots and the technical pieces Google News looks for. You get a working publication, not a demo with placeholder text.
Theme licence included
Editorial roles
Google News readiness
What Google News asks for
There’s no application form. There is a checklist.
Google says publishers are automatically considered for Top stories and the News tab — as long as the content is good and follows its news policies. The technical side comes down to a handful of precise rules that a WordPress news website should meet from day one.
0
applications needed — publishers are automatically considered for Top stories and the News tab
2 days
how recent an article must be to belong in a news sitemap
110
characters — the most Google recommends for a news headline
Built on our themes
We wrote the theme. So we set it up properly.
Most demos look nothing like a real publication once the sample posts are gone. We start from the demo and turn it into your site — your sections, your masthead, your stories.
- A theme that fits your formatBreaking news, long reads, a magazine or a personal blog — each needs a different homepage.
- Your branding, not the demo’sLogo, colours, menus and categories set up, with placeholder content replaced.
- A licence if you need oneA theme from our catalogue is included if you don’t already have one.
Your 7-day launch
Kickoff on Monday. First story by Sunday.
A fixed plan with one goal per stage. You see the site on day 4, test it on day 6 and publish on day 7.
-
Agree the shape of the publication
We confirm your theme, sections, branding and the tools you already use for email and ads.
- Theme and layout chosen
- Category and menu plan
- Email and ad tools listed
-
Turn the demo into your site
The theme is installed, the demo imported and every placeholder replaced with your branding, categories and pages.
- Logo, colours and fonts
- Homepage sections and menus
- About, contact and policy pages
-
Connect the newsroom
Newsletter signup, ad slots and analytics are wired up, and every writer gets the right account.
- Newsletter form connected
- Ad placements across templates
- Editorial roles and review step
-
Hand over and go live
A live session on writing, scheduling and featuring stories, then final checks and the switch to live.
- Editor training session
- Pre-launch checks
- Site switched live
-
Answer the first-week questions
Small questions that come up once your team starts publishing are covered for 14 days.
- Help with small questions
- Tweaks to settings
- Advice on ongoing care
Editorial roles
No more shared logins. Everyone gets the right key.
WordPress ships with roles designed for a newsroom. We set up an account for every person on your team and a simple review step before stories go live.
Contributor
Writes, can’t publish
Freelancers and new writers draft and manage their own posts, then submit them for review.
Author
Publishes their own work
Trusted staff writers publish and manage their own posts without waiting on an editor.
Editor
Runs the desk
Publishes and manages everyone’s posts — the person who approves, schedules and features stories.
Launch-readiness score
Is your site ready for Google News?
Every item comes from Google’s own publisher guidance. Tick what your current site (or plan) already has — every one of them is part of our setup.
Every article
The publication
Technical
Google Publisher Center — Best practices for article pages · Google News policies — Transparency
The newsroom
From draft to front page, without the chaos.
Your team learns the workflow on a live call, on your own site — not in a generic video.
- A review step before stories go liveContributors submit, editors approve — nothing slips out unchecked.
- Scheduling and featuringHow to queue stories and move the lead story onto the homepage.
- Newsletter signup where readers see itA form connected to your email provider, placed in posts and the footer.
Who wrote this?
Readers — and Google — want to know who’s behind the story.
Google’s helpful-content guidance asks whether it is “self-evident to your visitors who authored your content”, and says trust matters most of all. On a news site, that trust is built into the templates.
Who
Bylines that lead somewhere
Each byline links to an author page with background on the writer and the topics they cover.
When
Dates that tell the truth
Published and updated dates shown on the page and matched in structured data — no fake “freshening”.
Behind it
A publisher you can contact
About, editorial standards, staff and contact pages — the transparency Google’s news policies ask for.
Found from day one
The technical side of Google News, handled.
No one can promise inclusion — Google decides. What we can do is make sure nothing technical stands in the way.
- A news sitemap that stays freshUpdated as you publish, listing only articles from the last two days, as Google asks.
- NewsArticle or BlogPosting markupHeadline, author, dates and images on every story, in the format Google reads.
- Ad slots and analyticsPlacements ready for AdSense or direct sponsors, and analytics running from the first visit.
Plan your launch
What a launch like yours usually involves.
Pick what your publication needs for a ballpark range. Your written quote confirms the exact price before anything starts.
Already publishing on Blogger, Medium or Substack? Moving a large archive takes longer than 7 days — we’ll plan the move and the launch together.
Questions, answered
Do I need to apply to Google News?
No. Google says publishers are automatically considered for Top stories and the News tab, as long as they produce high-quality content and follow its news policies. We set up the technical side; your reporting does the rest.
Should posts use NewsArticle or BlogPosting?
Google supports Article, NewsArticle and BlogPosting. We use NewsArticle for reporting and BlogPosting for blog-style posts, with author, published and modified dates on both.
Which themes can you set up?
Any theme from our catalogue. If you use a theme from another company, ask us first and we will tell you if it fits.
Does 7 days include moving my old content?
The 7 days covers setup on a new site. Importing a large archive can take longer. Moving from Blogger, Medium or Substack is covered by WordPress migration.
Can you guarantee Google News inclusion?
No one can. Google decides what appears in Google News. We set up the technical side so your site meets their published guidelines.
Do I need to provide hosting?
Yes. We can recommend hosts that work well for news sites, and set the site up on the account you choose.
What happens after launch?
You get 14 days of help with small questions. For ongoing updates and backups, many publishers add a care plan.
Get a free quote
Let’s build something great.
Tell us about your project and goals. A WordPress engineer — not a salesperson — will reply within one business day with a plan and a fixed price.
- Free, no-obligation quote within 24 hours
- NDA available on request
- Fixed price — you approve the scope before work starts
