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Maximizing News SEO Visibility on Google with APIs

As of September 2024, Google continues to dominate the search engine market, holding 90% of market share worldwide, making Google Search and Google News the largest drivers of traffic to news sites.

According to the News Media Alliance: “Google Search combined with Google News accounted for the majority (approximately 75%) of referral traffic to top news sites.”

For news publishers, ranking well on Google is essential. However, SEO for Google News varies significantly based on location and content recency, making manual tracking nearly impossible. The solution lies in Search Engine Results Page APIs (SERP APIs), which provide a reliable way to track rankings across different regions and over time.

In this post, we’ll explore SEO strategies for news websites and how leveraging data from SERP API tools can boost efficiency and improve your rankings in Google News.

SEO Tips for Google’s News Tab

Google displays news articles in several key locations:

  • Top Stories in Google Search
  • Google News Tab
  • Google News App, (on Android, iOS, and news.google.com; mirrors the Google News tab rankings)
  • Google Discover

Top Stories surfaces relevant results for breaking news, while the News Tab and News App serve a broader range of articles, giving users more context. Top Stories and News Tab results are not personalized, but they do vary based on location, language, and timing. Google Discover is personalized and presents content based on individual user history, including both news and other media.

To appear in these sections, it’s essential to meet Google’s specific guidelines for news articles:

  1. Publish newsworthy content: Only content that meets the standard of “news” will be considered.
  2. Follow Google’s technical requirements for news articles: Ensure structured data, URL redirects, and publication dates are optimized. Leverage Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool to verify marketup. 
  3. Create a Google News Sitemap: This helps Google identify eligible articles for Google News, specifically indexing content published within the last two days.
  4. Use a clear URL structure: URLs with relevant keywords can improve ranking likelihood.

Best Practices for Google News Sitemaps

Submitting a Google News sitemap through Google Search Console ensures that Google crawls your articles promptly, which is crucial given Google News’s emphasis on content recency. Automating sitemap creation and submission with each publication increases the chances of your articles appearing in search results soon after publication.

Key best practices for Google News Sitemap:

  • Limiting the sitemap to articles published in the last 48 hours
  • Submitting only 1,000 URLs per sitemap, while updating it regularly
  • Clearly identifying which URLs are new or updated

Adhering to these guidelines boosts your chances of fast indexing and ranking. A SERP API can further assist in tracking these rankings and adjusting strategies to optimize compliance with best practices.

Google Top Stories: Optimization and Rank Tracking with APIs

Top Stories in Google Search presents a curated selection of breaking news content. 

Top Stories relies on a complex algorithm to rank content, considering:

  • Relevance to the search query
  • Prominence of coverage
  • Authoritativeness of the source
  • Freshness of content
  • Location of both source and searcher
  • Language of the content

For Top Stories, freshness is one of the most critical ranking factors. Articles not indexed promptly risk missing high-visibility opportunities. Ensure your site’s HTML <time> element reflects the correct publication date to help Google recognize the most recent updates.

By using SERP APIs, you can automate the monitoring of keyword rankings, track performance across regions, and ensure that you capitalize on breaking news opportunities.

Google Discover Ranking Recommendations

Google Discover, introduced in 2018 for mobile, shows personalized search results before users even enter a search term. It includes news articles, videos, and other content, tailored based on individual search history.


Ranking in Google Discover is more complex and unpredictable due to its personalized nature, but the following tips can increase your visibility:

  1. Prioritize Evergreen or Timely Content: Content that remains relevant over time performs better.
  2. Focus on Engagement: Higher user engagement metrics, like time on page and scroll depth, improve Discover visibility.
  3. Optimize for Mobile: Discover is primarily mobile-based, so ensure your content is mobile-friendly.
  4. Use High-Quality Images: Visual appeal is key; Discover prefers articles with high-quality, engaging images.
  5. Leverage Structured Data: Schema markup provides Google with additional context, aiding Discover placement.

Improve Your Google News Ranking with SERP APIs

Monitoring news content performance on Google is simplified with a news SERP API, which offers real-time data on article rankings across locations and devices. This data enables you to make timely adjustments and ensure ongoing visibility.

At Traject Data, we cater to news publishers’ unique SEO needs, offering SERP APIs that scale as your requirements grow. Our services include:

  • Comprehensive Search Engine Coverage: Access rankings from Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other engines for a full view.
  • Accurate, Real-Time Data: Trustworthy insights allow you to make informed SEO decisions.
  • Seamless Integration: Easily integrate our APIs with your existing workflows, allowing for rapid action.

Ready to enhance your news SEO strategy with reliable search data? Try Traject Data’s SERP APIs for free and gain an edge over the competition.

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We’re your premier partner in web scraping for SERP data. Get started with one of our APIs for free and see the data possibilities that you can start to collect.

Harnessing the Power Of SERP APIs to Spearhead Your SEO Strategy

Organic traffic means interested buyers looking for your product come knocking at your door rather than chasing down each lead one pay-per-click at a time. SEO leads have a 700% higher close rate than outbound leads, and the vast majority of marketers consider organic traffic and SEO to generate more leads than other marketing initiatives. 

But I’m guessing you’re already convinced of the importance of SEO and rank tracking, so the next question is: how do you get there? With the vast ocean of content available today, ranking high on a search page doesn’t happen automatically. You have to put in the work. Smart companies like Zappos have improved their rank in search by investing heavily in SEO to stand out in highly competitive markets. 

To succeed at SEO, you need data—accurate, real-time data—to stay on top of search engine performance. This data is retrieved using SERP APIs (Search Engine Results Page APIs) also known as Search Engine APIs or web scraping APIs. These tools allow marketers to access critical search data directly from platforms like Google and Bing, enabling data-driven decisions that can significantly improve SEO strategies.

Google ranking system continually evolves through algorithm updates that impact search results, which can vary by geographic location, language, device, and user behavior. Additionally, Google frequently conducts A/B tests, meaning that users in test groups may see different results than others. These factors make it impractical to manually track search engine rankings, making SERP APIs essential for efficient monitoring.

Leveraging a trusted SERP API ensures that your data is not only accurate but also up-to-date. With real-time SERP data, you can continuously monitor search trends, competitor performance, and ranking shifts without the hassle of manually gathering information. This automation is crucial to act quickly and seize opportunities in an ever-changing landscape.

What Do SERP APIs Do?

SERP APIs deliver critical search engine result page information directly from the source. By querying search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, and region-specific engines like Baidu and Naver, these APIs provide up-to-the-minute data about how specific search terms are ranking, the appearance of the full search results page, and location-specific performance. This real-time data is invaluable for tracking SEO performance with precision.

Whether you want to monitor keyword rankings, identify which results are appearing in featured snippets, or evaluate local SERPs for more targeted strategies, a SERP API gives you a powerful toolset to gather this information at scale. Unlike manual web scraping or traditional scraping tools, a SERP API provides structured data efficiently, which is crucial for analyzing SERP data and making strategic SEO decisions.

With the right API, you can track an extensive range of metrics:

  • Search term rankings
  • Position changes over time
  • Full-page results, including featured snippets, ads, and related questions
  • Geographic performance, helping you localize campaigns

Using SERP APIs to Make Decisions

Data-driven decision-making is the foundation of modern SEO strategies. By using SERP tracking APIs, you can easily monitor keyword movements in real-time. This enables quick identification of market shifts, helping to adjust content strategies as necessary. If a keyword suddenly drops in ranking, marketers can investigate and take action before losing valuable traffic.

Tracking competitive activity is another major benefit of using SERP APIs. With continuous monitoring, you can stay informed about changes in competitor rankings, keyword targeting, and even their presence in rich results like image packs or featured snippets. This gives you the competitive edge to adjust your strategy and stay on top of the market.

For data analysis, SERP APIs enable the export of search data in various formats. Whether integrating JSON or HTML files into a custom dashboard or analyzing data in tools like Excel or Google Sheets, this structured, exportable data can be visualized to identify trends, gaps, and opportunities.

  • Track keyword rankings to identify emerging opportunities
  • Analyze Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) for actionable insights
  • Generate automated, real-time reports for easier decision-making
  • Stay ahead of competitors by monitoring their activity

How to Choose the Right SERP API

Not all SERP API providers are created equal. When evaluating a SERP API provider, consider these key factors to ensure you’re selecting the best fit for your needs:

  • Infrastructure: The API should be built on reliable infrastructure to provide real-time data with minimal latency and downtime.
  • Search Engine Coverage: Depending on your market, you’ll need a SERP API that can pull data from various search engines, not just Google. Ensure that your API covers Bing, Yahoo, Amazon, and Ebay. Depending on the geographic markets you want to reach, you’ll also need an API that covers regional search engines such as Baidu, Yandex, and Naver.
  • Performance and Reliability: Fast, reliable SERP data is essential for efficient analysis. The SERP scraper should deliver clean, structured results that comply with search engine API guidelines. Some APIs return data in raw, unstructured formats that require additional parsing to remove extraneous information, which can slow down analysis. Advanced APIs streamline this by automating the parsing process, providing ready-to-analyze data from the start.
  • Integration Abilities: Whether you’re integrating the SERP API into an existing tool or analytics platform, seamless integration is vital. Evaluate the SERP API vendor’s batch automation and delivery options. Can the API provider deliver the required data to your specified destination frequently enough to keep you updated on search results?
  • Scalability: As your SEO requirements expand, your SERP API should be capable of scaling alongside them. Look for a provider that can manage large request volumes—tracking thousands or even millions of keywords and their ranking changes in real time—without sacrificing performance. Flexible, scalable pricing is also key, allowing you to adjust costs based on your current needs as your business grows.
  • Documentation and Support: Good documentation reduces the learning curve for your developers. Additionally, responsive customer support ensures that any issues are addressed promptly, minimizing downtime and enhancing your ability to act quickly on your SEO data.
  • Free Trial: Before committing to a contract, leverage a free trial of a SERP API to explore its capabilities and assess whether it’s suitable for your needs.

Work with Traject Data for Your SERP API Needs

At Traject Data, we understand that every business has unique SEO needs. That’s why we offer three distinct SERP APIs tailored to fit different business models with the ability to scale as your needs scale:

  • SerpWoW supports web scraping tools for all major search engines, including Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, Yandex, Naver, Amazon and Ebay. 
  • Scale SERP provides clean and trusted search data for Google, including localized search results. 
  • VALUE SERP is a pay-as-you-go API that gives you the data you need when you need it, at the best price.

Ready to optimize your SEO strategy with reliable search engine data? Learn more about how Traject Data can help you stay ahead of the competition.

Ready to See What Traject Data Can Help You Do?


We’re your premier partner in web scraping for SERP data. Get started with one of our APIs for free and see the data possibilities that you can start to collect.

Prime Big Deal Days: Rainforest API Helps Customers Gather Valuable Data

To build their own effective pricing and product strategies, Amazon sellers and competitors need to keep an eye on the strategies of successful brands, especially during major sales events like Prime Days. Rainforest API captures timely deal and discount data to keep your Amazon analytics and tools fresh.

  • Track ASINs at scale without worrying about maintaining web scrapers
  • Monitor competitor pricing
  • Learn how to optimize your assortment
  • Analyze competitor ad strategy

      In the weeks leading up to the recent Prime Big Deal Days, the Rainforest API team added new features which expanded Prime deals data collection from multiple page (request) types. In the days leading up to the sale, the team carried out testing to prepare for enhanced blockers. What were the results?

      • 24.6M Product Requests with a 94.16% success rate
      • 7.29 M Offers Requests with a 99.5% success rate
      • 6.21M Search Requests with a 99.82% success rate

      Here’s the latest on how Rainforest API can support your competitive and market insights during Prime sales events:

      Rainforest product results capture Prime Exclusive deals and deal badge

      Rainforest API returns results with is_prime_exclusive_deal when request type=product to indicate whether a product is a Prime Exclusive Deal. View docs.

      [NEW since last Prime Day] Rainforest can now return results with deal_badge when request type=product to indicate that a deal badge is present and the text presented.

      [NEW] Rainforest deals results capture Prime Day and Prime Exclusive deals

      Rainforest API now returns deal_badge when request type=deals to indicate the type of deal presented. On the Amazon page, the badge is currently the red text to the right of the % off.  Examples of this include “Limited Time Deal,” “With Prime,” and “With Prime early access.” View Docs.

      [NEW] Rainforest search results return a deal object

      Rainforest API returns a deal object with a type=search request. The object returns three possible results: link, text and badge_text. View docs.

      If you’re new here, check out Rainforest API.

      Ready to See What Traject Data Can Help You Do?


      We’re your premier partner in web scraping for eCommerce data. Get started with one of our APIs for free and see the data possibilities that you can start to collect.

      Search and eCommerce APIs: The Smarter Way to Shop Data for Marketers

      In today’s world, marketers need access to reliable, up-to-date data for their campaigns and strategies in order to remain competitive. Traditional methods of accessing data, such as subscription platforms, can take time and effort. There is a more innovative way to shop for data — search and eCommerce APIs. 

      By purchasing this kind of data directly from an API, marketers can benefit from quick and easy access to valuable data, while saving time and money in the process. This blog post will explore the advantages of shopping for search and eCommerce data via APIs.

      Benefits of Buying Search and eCommerce Data from an API

      Buying data from an API saves time and money

      As a marketer, you know the importance of data when it comes to creating effective campaigns and identifying insights about your target audience. But accessing and analyzing all the necessary data can be costly and time-consuming. Statista reports that a whopping 9,932 martech solutions were available to marketing professionals in 2022. 

      That’s a lot of solutions to sift through to find the right one for your business. And chances are, it’s still not going to have everything you need. That’s why, according to Martech Today, the average marketer uses 6.2 different marketing data platforms to collect and analyze information. That’s a lot of platforms to pay for, maintain, and make sense of.

      Buying data directly from an API is a more cost-effective solution. APIs provide an efficient and affordable way to access the data you need without having to pay for multiple platforms. How? APIs are the powerhouse behind all the marketing platforms you’re currently using for data and insights, such as SEMrush, Moz, IRi, NPD, Nielsen, etc. 

      With an API, you only pay for the data you need, without the overhead costs associated with maintaining a large data infrastructure (i.e. platform). Additionally, you can often choose from different pricing plans that allow you to pay for the amount or level of access you need — APIs often charge based on usage or volume, which can be more affordable than paying an ongoing subscription for a large data platform. 

      APIs are more accurate and timely

      Platforms have to be updated — and the data refreshed. APIs provide real-time data as you request it. And APIs are capable of delivering data at lightning-fast speeds, with many capable of providing updates within mere seconds or even milliseconds. This is particularly useful for tracking trends and dealing with a frequently changing market, as it allows you to stay ahead of the competition by accessing the latest data as soon as it becomes available.

      For example, let’s say you are running an eCommerce store and want to track the performance of your latest product launch. By obtaining data directly from an API, you can access real-time information about customer search behavior, purchase patterns, and competitor pricing. This allows you to quickly identify any issues or opportunities and make informed decisions about how to optimize your marketing and sales efforts.

      Further, because APIs are designed to be constantly updated and maintained, the data you obtain is more accurate and reliable — there is no backend manipulation happening to it. This means you don’t have to worry about spending time and resources analyzing and validating data through multiple sources.

      Timely and accurate data is critical to marketing success. Customer behavior, purchase patterns, and market trends change constantly. Using APIs to get real-time data, you can better optimize your marketing strategies to target the right audience at the right time, with the right message.

      Ready to See What Traject Data Can Help You Do?


      We’re your premier partner in web scraping for eCommerce and SERP data. Get started with one of our APIs for free and see the data possibilities that you can start to collect.

      Most APIs are built for flexibility and scalability

      With APIs, you can quickly access the information you need and customize it to fit your specific business needs. According to Mulesoft, 77% of businesses use APIs to improve their data analysis capabilities. That’s because APIs can be integrated with just about any dashboard or visualization tool you prefer, providing you with greater control and visibility over your data. And you can use multiple APIs to get a full picture across multiple markets, channels, or products. 

      How it works: 

      APIs are designed for automated data retrieval and to handle any spikes in demand, ensuring that your data delivery is always seamless and uninterrupted. This means you can access all the data you need, whenever you need it, without having to worry about scalability issues. 

      Get Started with a Search or eCommerce API Today

      In today’s fast-paced world, where trends and consumer behavior can change in a matter of hours, timely data is essential. Obtaining data directly from an API ensures that you have the most accurate and up-to-date information available — at a price your organization can afford.

      APIs are a powerful tool for marketers. By leveraging them for data and insights, you can gain a competitive advantage by accessing the most current and reliable information available, allowing your organization to make smarter, data-driven decisions that drive growth and success. 

      With APIs, you can leverage data insights to optimize your campaigns, increase conversions, and stay ahead of the competition. But not all APIs are created equal. Traject Data offers the largest suite of search and eCommerce APIs available. With our APIs, you get: 

      • A scalable flexible pricing model so you can purchase as little or as much data as you need, when you need it
      • Raw, robust, real-time data at the highest volume and granular enough to answer even your most specific questions 
      • Data in a variety of formats so that you can integrate it with any platform you choose and customize your analysis for unique insights

      Explore our APIs to get more data, for less.

      Quit Building Your Own APIs: Leverage API Products

      Building and maintaining your own API requires a lot of time and expertise. Unless you have a very specific use case in which you need special features and functionality, chances are you can find an already available API to meet your needs — thanks to the growth of APIs as a product. The prevalence of organizations creating an API as a product or just API products has grown significantly. 

      What are API Products? 

      To define API as a product, it’s best to start with the three categories of APIs: 

      1. Public API: Public APIs are open-sourced, meaning anyone can access and use them. Usually, they’re built by individuals and provided for free. There are tons of examples of public APIs that provide data on the weather to sports to just about anything else. 
      2. Partner API: Partner or third-party APIs require specific rights or payment to access. Either you are doing business with an organization that provides you with access or you pay for access — such as the case with APIs as a product. Examples of partner APIs include PayPal or those you use to integrate your CRM with other tools. 
      3. Private API: Private or internal APIs are the ones built by your internal development team for your unique use case or needs. 

      The number of public APIs has grown exponentially in the past few years, some estimate more than 200 million and counting. But because public APIs are free, they may not be actively maintained and thus suffer from performance issues and a lack of reliability. Further, they may not have important security measures in place to protect your data. 

      Our business, like others, has seen the potential in providing APIs as a product to alleviate the burden on organizations of having to build their own and avoid the risks of using a public API. API as a product is the monetization of partner APIs for business purposes. It’s treating an API like a product by actively updating, maintaining, and marketing it. 

      Ready to See What Traject Data Can Help You Do?


      We’re your premier partner in web scraping for eCommerce and SERP data. Get started with one of our APIs for free and see the data possibilities that you can start to collect.

      Benefits of Using API Products

      Google has observed that teams that use API products rather than build individual APIs for project purposes are more likely to realize the potential value of APIs as business accelerators and maximize productivity.

      Just some of the benefits your organization can get using an API product instead of building your own include: 

      • Time savings: Using an API product saves time by allowing your in-house developers to reuse resources, rather than building everything from scratch. They can focus on the core functionality of your application or service instead of working on maintaining parsers and proxy networks.
      • Scalability: Product APIs also provide access to large datasets that would be difficult, if not impossible, to collect on your own. This data can include anything from SERP results to product prices to reviews and more. And since the API is built as a product, it’s usually able to withstand large volumes of requests. 
      • Easy integration: Since product APIs are being sold as a product, they have to be able to integrate with a variety of data ecosystems. This can be highly beneficial if you’re working with multiple data environments. 
      • Better user experience: Product APIs can help provide a better user experience by allowing developers to spend less time on the maintenance of an API and more time on creating additional features and content in your applications – which makes your product more valuable and engaging to users. 

      APIs are how data — arguably the most valuable currency for businesses outside actual money — is transferred. So it’s no surprise that 83% of organizations consider APIs a critical part of their business strategy. But to use them only as an integration tool or project-by-project is short-sighted. 

      We strongly feel APIs are a strategic asset and aim to provide companies with all the API products they need over the long term — so they can focus on doing what they do best while we worry about the maintenance of the API. Explore all our APIs or learn more about evaluating and selecting the right API provider for your needs. 

      Traject Data is Your Premier Partner in Web Scraping


      Join thousands of satisfied users worldwide who trust Traject Data for all their eCommerce and SERP data needs. Whether you are a small business or a global enterprise, our entire team is committed to helping you achieve your goals and stay ahead in today's dynamic digital landscape. Unlock your organization's full potential with Traject Data. Get started today.

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