Google keeps its algorithms for ranking websites firmly under wraps. However, the company just revealed its methods for choosing which news stories to publish on Google News. Even explaining the way it works, however, Google shows some contradictory rules. According to a video released by Google, there are four basic rules used to rank news stories.

The algorithm attempts to immitate consumer behavior as closely as possible. To do this, it looks for new stories with established citations. It also gives more weight to local sources but prefers trusted sources. Striking the right balance seems to be the key to a highly ranked news story. This also applies to the search engine, for which Google has not and likely will not reveal its algorithm.

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